update #3: what happened to typography?

Some who know me well may remember that I've been overloading myself with studios since I came to grad school, and may have consequently noticed something missing from my fall work.

I'm not posting anything from my typography class fall quarter. I essentially treated it as a skills class, and have nothing from it that I'd care to show to anyone. You'll just have to be content to see my typography get better and better as you see the rest of my projects, culminating in my own typeface, which should be finished sometime in June. No, it won't be called 'Erin,' but will be named after ArcoSanti, the community on which it is based. So I'll leave you with the knowledge that during a portfolio review the other day, I was finally declared to be "a competent typographer," and one of the more formally inspirational photos of ArcoSanti:

those curves! those notches! They'll be letterforms someday, I swear it! I'm still debating sans-serif vs. slab-serif vs. wedge-serif, but that will be decided this weekend. And, I can always do ArcoSanti Slab now, with the knowledge that I can add ArcoSanti Sans later on to make it a happy little family of kooky Soleri inspired goodness.

I originally wanted to base the typeface off of the drastic differences between what Soleri had planned and what had actually been built, but soon came to the realization that those differences are rather depressing. I mean, what was I thinking, that I could just design 3% of the typeface (to reflect that the community is only 3% complete)? So, while I hope to present a slightly more realistic vision of ArcoSanti than Futura (their current typeface of choice) does, it will in general still be an optimistic outlook.

Seattle Parks - Freeway Park

This is post #1 in the Seattle Parks series. Freeway Park is a hidden gem in the midst of downtown Seattle, designed by Angela Danadjieva. A concrete 'lid' has been constructed on top of a portion of I-5, and populated by walkways, plants, and fountains. This hidden gem is a great example of the character of Seattle itself, with the large expanses of concrete directly bordered by verdant landscape. It is full of interesting textures, beautiful dappled light, lunching workers from nearby corporate towers. I don't blame them --- if I worked downtown I would lunch here, too. Full photoset can be found on Flickr.

Expo Line Funding In Jeopardy

Shhhh, they're trying to keep it quiet, so quiet it was just a tiny nugget buried in today's LA Times, but the State of California may pull funding out from under Phase II of the light rail line intended to connect downtown Los Angeles and the University of Southern California to the ocean at Santa Monica.

"There is talk in Sacramento about major budget cuts in transportation spending — and that has implications for the Expo Line. Work is now beginning on a light-rail system from downtown L.A. to Culver City. But transportation officials said cutbacks could hurt the chances of building Phase 2, from Culver City to Santa Monica. That could be bad news for Santa Monica. The city has already purchased land for a possible rail station."

As this snippet mentions, Phase I Expo Line has already started construction. Phase I will begin at the 7th Street Metro Station in downtown LA, heading south parallel to the Blue Line before breaking away west to connect with USC, Exposition Park, the neighborhoods of Crenshaw, Baldwin Hills, and La Brea before ending (temporarily, we hope) at the northern edge of Culver City near the start of the Ballona Creek bike path. fortunately, this phase of the Expo Line has funding in place, community support, and is set to go.

Phase II of the Expo Line is apparently not so lucky. This phase intends to pick up where phase one leaves off, and continue west via one of two routes: either by integrating into Venice Blvd, then jogging north up Sepulveda Blvd and then returning to the westerly course; or by following the Exposition Right of Way all the way to Santa Monica. I happen to be partial to the Venice/Sepulveda detour, as it places a station right next to my apartment building, and through a couple of neighborhoods that I know could use the added transportation option, but either option is better than nothing.

I can only support a project with such laudable goals as enhancing the connectivity of Los Angeles, reducing traffic congestion along the always busy east/west parking lot known as the I-10, and providing viable transportation options for those who either cannot afford to or morally oppose owning a personal automobile. So it frankly confounds me why the bureaucrats in Sacramento would rather fund highway expansions that let more people sit alone in their cars on the freeway than fund a mass transit option that enhances one of the most crowded commuter routes probably in the nation. The Expo Line will have millions of riders either way, but letting it hang out there half-finished would be a guffaw to rival the move in which Metro allowed the Green Line to not quite make it to the airport.