Folk typography: a pet hate named Lobster

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I have a secret pet hate. It’s a font, called Lobster. In the last 2 years I have literally seen it used in about 10 different logos, from a bottle store in the Cape Town CBD to a new retail centre in Woodstock. I’ve seen it on a book cover about South African design. I’ve seen it on the side of a truck. I’ve seen it on a billboard for cheap insurance. My partner, I’m sure, is tired of hearing me say… there’s that font again! The font says hipster, it says vintage, it says hand crafted. It reminds me of the original shop signs that were carved out of wood – not quite ‘ye olde shoppe’ but a bit later, and a bit more American. It reminds me of that old restaurant in the nineties called Woodcutters, who served you steakhouse fair on wooden placemats. You know the vibe.

It’s not the font itself that I hate, it almost has a place; but it’s the prevalence, and the lack of attention given to where and how it’s used.

Last week, Seth Godin wrote about a phenomenon he calls Folk Typography, which made me feel a bit better, because he nails it on the head. Here it is:

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Lifestyling.co.za – a new online publication

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We always love a side project – and lockdown in South Africa has been the best time for embracing digital tools and investing in online platforms. For many businesses it’s been an accelerator – for better or for worse – and one notable outcome in our industry has been the very sad closure of a number of print publications. But it’s also made room for a new brand of online magazine. One that favours quality content over quantity, in-depth reads over clickbait and fake news, and which retains the keen art direction and aesthetic of the glossy magazines we’ve recently said goodbye to.

Enter Lifestyling.co.za, a “new online source that heroes informed aesthetics, opinions and insights,” and which showcases both South African and international design and culture, including art, music, food and wine.

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Art Venue, Cape Town – Photography Essay

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One Day Co intern Jabulani Xaba shares his Cape Town experience through a photo essay: Art Venue, Cape Town

I remember listening to Swimming, an album by the late American rapper Mac Miller. “Life ain’t a life till you live it,” he said in one of his songs. The type of music that relates to you. That song that you can attach to a particular phase in your life. It is only when you have seen the world that you can share wisdom and tell stories.

This is my second time in Cape Town. The first was in December 2016. I’ve been here since September doing an internship with One Day Company, in pursuit of figuring out a career.

“What you do right now in your 20s will determine the kind of person that you will become in your 30s,” says Sarah Jayne Fell, co-founder of One Day Company.

This photography essay will take you through my experiences in Cape Town. As landscape photographer Destin Sparks said in one of his iconic quotes, “Photography is the story I fail to put into words.” This is a collection of photographs that illustrates the life I’ve experienced in the city of Cape Town.

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Coffee with Skinny laMinx’s Heather Moore

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Sit down with Heather Moore and Laura Turok of Skinny laMinx over coffee and date balls in a buzzing Cape Town café. Heather’s textile brand (named after her Siamese cat!) is a gorgeous Cape Town success story of a small female-owned and run business that’s grown to be massively popular with fans and customers around the world. We absolutely love her patterned tea towels and her new Colour Pop Pillows, which complete her range of Palette + Print scatter cushions.

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Bofred: With art at the heart

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Friends, business partners and occasional housemates, Carla Erasmus and Christa Botha met each other through mutual friends at a braai one Friday night in 2014. Less than a week later they had established Bofred – the name a quirky combination of Christa’s surname and Carla’s second name, Frederika – a boutique art, furniture and design business based in Cape Town.

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Design = doing

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Inspiration is everywhere. Of course it has always been everywhere but it seems to be more of a commodity these days thanks to the internet and social media.

Grandiose a term as it may be, inspiration is also somewhat wishy washy. Defined as “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative”, it implies that the capacity for action exists but it doesn’t mean the action will happen.

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Begin with brand

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Brand/branding is a sexy term. All the cool kids (Apple, Google, Nike etc.) are seen as brands, rather than businesses per se. Brands are what teenagers covet and trendsetters worship. But ultimately branding is what sets the brilliant apart from the bla.

Considered more severely, good branding can elevate an average product into something awesome and, similarly, a lack of branding or inappropriate branding can significantly devalue or diminish an amazing product.

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C… how to do it on Instagram

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Today Instagram, the social media network that started out as a photo editing app for iOS back in 2010, has 500 million users, of which 60% use Instagram every single day, according to the official Instagram blog.

That’s an impressive number for a social media channel driven exclusively by photos and videos. It’s a channel that brands with a creative/design slant can’t afford to ignore. The key to a successful Instagram account is a strategic and consistent approach, underpinned by plenty of creativity and clear communication.

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