Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen archive: our two most popular stories this week were V-House (top left) and Fabric Facade Studio Apartment (bottom right), both in the Netherlands, so we’ve compiled a selection of stories from the Dezeen archive about Dutch houses. See all the stories »

See all our archive stories »

American graphic designer Ben Hermel created this typeface by layering blended shapes over classic script letters.

Called Ghost Script, the design creates a vector file that can be scaled as needed and altered by adding or removing layers.

More typefaces on Dezeen »

Here are some more details from the designer:

Ghost Script is an exercise in bringing a contemporary aesthetic to script typefaces, a style of type that is more commonly used in a traditional manner to convey ‘classic’ and ‘refined’.

Ghost Script is intended for more contemporary applications without losing these attributes.

The objective was to find the balance between appearing completely new but feeling timeless.

To meet this objective blended shapes were overlaid on classically proportioned letterforms, with each layer adding depth and movement without affecting the type’s proportions.

Ghost Script was created utilising blends and transparency in Adobe Illustrator, resulting in a vector file which can be scaled as needed.

Building the letterforms using layers results in the flexibility to adjust the typeface in different ways.

A lighter version of the typeface was created by removing layers, resulting in a simpler typeface but retaining the essence of the letterforms. Color can also be added layer by layer to create greater depth.

The experiment that inspired this typeface was an attempt to bring life to helvetica using layers and blends.

I am a freelance designer based in Portland Oregon, specialising in both graphic and product design.

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Earlier this year Peter Hall of DesignInquiry wrote up a fantastic case study and origin story of Humanair’s Air Purifier, now re-branded the Personal Zone Air Purifier. After six months with the unit, we now bring you the “Living With” product review.

If you work in an open-plan office, there are certain things that belong to everyone and certain things that belong just to you. That light coming in from the windows and the overhead lamps is for everyone; the task lamp on your desk provides light just for you. The electricity piped in is for everyone, but the outlets under your desk are just for you to plug into. But one thing that you typically cannot get is your own air supply.

This is an area that Humanscale is addressing with their Personal Zone Air Purifier. Their goal was to provide a desktop source of clean air, qualitatively different than the air piped into the larger space around you, that would essentially encase the user in a sort of bubble of freshness.

(more…)

Our video of the largest known collection of magic books, nestled in a secret NYC location

by Greg Mitnick

Nestled in a hidden location in midtown Manhattan, the Counjuring Arts Research Center is ground zero for illusionists and historians alike. The Center provides a range of services, publishes scholarly journals, and teaches hospital-bound kids magic through its Hocus Pocus program. It is perhaps best known as home to one of the largest known collections of historic books, letters, and other media, which the center makes available online.

Bill Kalush, the center’s founder and director, explains how he built the collection piece-by-piece and shows us some of its highlights.