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Learn more about the book "Marcel's Letters" and the font P22 Marcel Script, which is based on the handwriting of conscripted WWII laborer Marcel Heuzé
Carolyn Porter, Marcel Heuzé, Marcel's Letters, Graphic Design, Font Design, P22 Marcel Script
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  • Carolyn Porter's 2012 TypeCon Type Crit, Milwaukee, WI
  • Carolyn Porter's 2012 TypeCon Type Crit, Milwaukee, WI, focus on John Downer
  • Carolyn Porter's 2012 TypeCon Type Crit, Milwaukee, WI, focus on Akira Kobayashi
October 6, 2017

2012 TypeCon Type Crit: Photo Evidence!

Photos: 2012 TypeCon Type Crit. Akira Kobayashi reviewing the test print.
Intense stares from John Downer and Roger Black (just looking at this photo brings about a wave of anxiety).
©May Chung

 

Several weeks ago, at the ATypI conference in Montreal, I met a delightful woman named May Chung; May is design professor at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. I don’t recall how we happened upon the topic, but we ended up talking about the 2012 TypeCon conference in Milwaukee. I mentioned I had participated in the Type Crit that year. May’s eyes lit up. She said she watched those critiques, though she didn’t remember the specifics of my critique (…why would she?!). May was holding a big SLR camera in her hand, and I asked her if she had, by chance, taken any photos during the 2012 Type Crit. Yes, she told me, she was certain she had photos from the 2012 Type Crit—though she made no promises whether she had taken any photos of me or during my critique.

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September 4, 2017

Interview with Ann Marie Ackerman, author of Death of an Assassin

 

CP: Congratulations on the release of “Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee” (Sept 1. 2017, Kent State University Press). This fascinating story would have been entirely lost to time if you hadn’t put together these German and American puzzle pieces — congratulations! Tell us a bit about the mystery you solved:

AMA: Thank you, Carolyn! Actually, it was two mysteries, one on each continent.READ MORE

  • TypeCon spelled out in balloons, TypeCon Boston 2017
  • Building signage with beautiful letters showing word "STREET", Boston
  • Beautiful engraved plaque, Boston, honoring John Pitcairn, Battle of Bunker Hill
  • "TypeCon 2017" printed by Richard Kegler
  • Carolyn Porter and Sairus Patel
  • Variety of fun rubber stamps at TypeCon 2017
  • Xandra Y. Zamora giving calligraphy demo, TypeCon 2017, Boston
  • 2017 TypeCon Type Crit with judges John Downer, Akira Kobayashi and Jill Pichotta
  • Carolyn Porter's 2017 TypeCon Type Crit, Boston 2017 with judges John Downer, Akira Kobayashi and Jill Pichotta
  • 2017 TypeCon Type Crit judges John Downer, Akira Kobayashi and Jill Pichotta
September 3, 2017

TypeCon 2017

I recently returned from five days in Boston attending TypeCon 2017, presented by the Society for Typographic Aficionados. It was five days jam-packed with lectures on type design, designers, type history, type across languages and cultures, along with time to connect with other type designers.READ MORE

August 21, 2017

Sad news from France

MARCEL HEUZÉ 1949–2017

Yesterday — August 20, 2017 — brought sad news from France: Marcel Heuzé, son of Marcel and Renée Heuzé, passed away.READ MORE

August 6, 2017

OTD August 6, 1944: The Daimler-Marienfelde factory was bombed

Library of Congress image USZ62-59134
Upper left: Before; Center: During. Lower right: After.

On this day seventy-three years ago, eighty-three Army Air Force B-17 bombers targeted Daimler’s Marienfelde factory. “The bombing is very effective,” the mission record stated, “and ten major [targets] are severely damaged during one of the best days that the Eighth [Air Force] experiences.”

If you’ve read “Marcel’s Letters,” you’ll know I scoured military mission records to find out how and when the factory where Marcel worked had been bombed. If you have the book, you can read the passage about the search—and this specific bombing raid—on pages 109–112. The photo above is first referenced at the bottom of page 110.

May 25, 2017

Book Club Questions

Have you selected Marcel’s Letters for your Book Club? Use this list of questions to frame a lively discussion about the book. Or, you know, you can pretend to discuss the book and just drink wine. I know how some Book Clubs roll. I won’t judge.

Do you want me to join you? Drop me an email at carolyn (at) porterfolioinc.com and we can arrange a virtual meeting via Google Hangouts.

Click here to see the BookClub handout

May 23, 2017

1943 French Compulsory Labor Service Census Certificate

In one of the letters Marcel mailed from Berlin, he mentioned having to show his papers to the German police. My guess is that he showed them his arbeitskarte (worker card) which likely included his photo and listed basic biographic information. The arbeitskarte might have also been inked with his fingerprints.READ MORE