TYPO SF 2012 - Jim Parkinson (6945516422)

Jim Parkinson (born October 23, 1941, in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

) is an American

type designer Type design is the art and process of designing typefaces. This involves drawing each letterform using a consistent style. The basic concepts and design variables are described below. A typeface differs from other modes of graphic production su ...

in Oakland, California.

Life

Parkinson studied advertising design and painting at the

California College of Arts and Crafts California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

in Oakland, graduating in 1963. In 1964, he worked as a lettering artist for

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was award ...

under Myron McVay with some consultation from Hermann Zapf. Afterwards, Parkinson moved back to Oakland and freelanced as a lettering artist doing work for rock bands (including Creedence Clearwater, Taj Mahal, The Doobie Brothers, Kansas, et al.), sign painting, advertisements, packaging. In the mid-1970s Dan X. Solo introduced Parkinson to

Roger Black Roger Anthony Black MBE (born 31 March 1966) is a retired English athlete who competed internationally for Great Britain and England. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic Ga ...

who was, at that time, the newly appointed Art Director for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine in San Francisco. Black hired Parkinson to design a series of typefaces and redesign the logo for ''Rolling Stone''. RollingStone

Although Parkinson's lettering sensibility is rooted in old

wood type In letterpress printing, wood type is movable type made out of wood. First used in China for printing body text, wood type became popular during the nineteenth century for making large display typefaces for printing posters, because it was lig ...

and signage from the 19th century and during the first part of his career he used pen and ink for finished pieces, in 1990 Parkinson put away his pen and ink and embraced digital technology while working for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'', designing fonts. Parkinson now operates his independent type foundry in Oakland. His more high-profile clients include ''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...

'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'', ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

'', and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. His font designs have been inspired by lettering and often by the work of

William Addison Dwiggins William Addison Dwiggins (June 19, 1880 – December 25, 1956), was an American type designer, calligrapher, and book designer. He attained prominence as an illustrator and commercial artist, and he brought to the designing of type and books so ...

, including adaptations of his

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

and Electra typefaces for the ''Chronicle'' and

Letterform Archive Letterform Archive is a non-profit museum and special collections library in San Francisco, California dedicated to collecting materials on the history of lettering, typography, printing, and graphic design. It is curated by graphic designer Rob S ...

Typefaces

Typefaces designed by Jim Parkinson include: *LfA Aluminia, 2017 *Amador, 2004 *Amboy, 2001 *Antique Condensed No.2, 1995 *Avebury, 2005 *Azuza, 2001 *Balboa, 2001–2003 *Balboa Plus, 2015 *Benicia, 2003 *ITC Bodoni (with Janice Prescott Fishman, Holly Goldsmith, and

Sumner Stone Sumner Stone (born 9 June 1945 in Venice, Florida) is a typeface designer and graphic artist. He notably designed ITC Stone while working for Adobe. A specimen of ITC Stone is shown at his personal website. Career Stone studied at Reed College, g ...

), 1994 *Bonita, 1996 *Cabazon, 2005 *FF Catchwords, 1996 *Chuck, 2004 *Commerce Gothic, 1998 *Comrade, 1998 *Diablo, 2002 *Dreamland, 1999 *El Grande, 1998 *Fresno, 2001 *Generica, 1996 *FF Golden Gate Initials, 1996 *Hoosier Daddy, 2012 *Hotel, 2001 *Industrial Gothic, *Jimbo, 1995 *Keester *FF Matinee, 1996 *Meatball, 2012 *Modesto, 2001–2005 *Mojo, 1960 *Montara, 2002 *FF Motel, 1996 *Parkinson, 1994 *, 2011 *Poster, 1993 *Pueblo, 1998 *Richmond, 2003 *ITC Roswell, 1998 *Showcard Gothic, 1993 *Showcard Moderne, 1995 *Sutro, 2003-2004 *Sutro Deluxe, 2014 *Wigwag, 2001

Nameplates

Parkinson has designed and cleaned up numerous newspaper and magazine nameplates, making subtle adjustments to letterforms and character spacing to improve their appearance and legibility. Redesigned nameplates include ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

'', ''

New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'' and ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' daily newspapers; ''

'', ''

'' and ''

'' magazines; ''

The Daily Californian ''The Daily Californian'' (''Daily Cal'') is an independent, student-run newspaper that serves the University of California, Berkeley, campus and its surrounding community. It formerly published a print edition four days a week on Monday, Tuesd ...

'' college newspaper at the University of California, Berkeley; and alternative weeklies ''

Santa Cruz Weekly ''Santa Cruz Weekly'' was a free-circulation weekly newspaper published in Santa Cruz, California. It began publishing under its current name on May 6, 2009; publication ceased when operations were merged with the competing Good Times weekly on A ...

'', '' North Bay Bohemian'' and '' Pacific Sun''.

Publications

*“Creative Characters” Edited by Jan Middendorp, MyFonts. The Netherlands: BIS Publishers, 2010 *“Indie Fonts 2” Edited by Richard Kegler, James Greishaber and Tamye Riggs. Buffalo, N.Y: P-Type Publications, 2003

External links

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkinson, Jim 1941 births Living people American typographers and type designers