Author Archives: Brian Lawler

About Brian Lawler

Brian Lawler is an Emeritus Professor of Graphic Communication at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and was a Guest Professor at Hochschule München from September, 2021 to September, 2022. He writes about graphic arts processes and technologies for various industry publications, and on his blog, The Blognosticator.

Typographical archaeology for Lining Livermore

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Brian Lawler

Continued from yesterday’s blog… After I created the scan of my type proof, I opened it up in Adobe Photoshop and made some corrections (I rotated the G and the O), and I did some tonal clean-up to make the … Continue reading →

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Digging into history for a “new” digital type design

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Brian Lawler

I am the faculty advisor of the Shakespeare Press Museum at Cal Poly. The museum is a working collection of type and printing presses that collectively represent the history of relief printing from 1850 to 1950. This is one of … Continue reading →

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Things are getting better

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Brian Lawler

Five months ago yesterday I was hit by a pick-up truck while riding my bicycle to the university. On the back of the bike, in my panier bags, were my Canon camera, three lenses, a Really Right Stuff carbon-fiber tripod, … Continue reading →

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Crafting a graph in Adobe Illustrator CC

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Brian Lawler

The Graph tool in Adobe Illustrator has been around a long time, and has not been improved much since it was first released. It’s a strange tool because it is capable of generating some lovely visual information, but it’s frustrating … Continue reading →

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Calligraphy in a Millennial world

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Brian Lawler

I’m teaching Advanced Typography this quarter to students in their 20s. Part of that course involves studying the origins of letters and letterforms, pen-drawn lettering and constructed lettering. I wrote this today with the Copic Wide pen, which uses an … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Typography | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

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Posted on April 13, 2014 by Brian Lawler

When I was 17 years old I bought my first professional 35mm camera. It was a Nikon F. My high school friend Bill’s dad was a pilot for Braniff Airlines. His schedule took him from San Francisco to Tokyo every … Continue reading →

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The demise of the Big Photo

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Brian Lawler

I knew when we put it up that the almost 60-foot-long panoramic photo of San Luis Obispo that I call the View from Daniel’s Point – would eventually come down. John Cleek, the wallpaper expert who put it up, painted … Continue reading →

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A method for mounting large prints on foam core

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Brian Lawler

One of the things I learned while making my large photo exhibition was how to mount huge photo prints without getting wrinkles or bubbles. I am a user of permanent self-adhesive foam core board. I love this stuff. My favorite … Continue reading →

Posted in Mistakes you can avoid, Panoramic Photography, Photography, Printing and Printing Processes | Tagged , , , , , | 49 Comments

My solar system goes live

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Brian Lawler

As you might have read in my earlier blogs on the subject, I installed solar panels on my roof in the fall, finishing in late November. I bought the panels, racking and hardware and did the rooftop installation myself. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventures, New technology, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Planning and preparation pay off

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Brian Lawler

How do you explain to students, children, associates, business partners – anyone – how important it is to plan? I am a pretty good planner, and I was especially careful to plan my photo exhibition that opened last Friday at … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Panoramic Photography, People, Photography, Printing and Printing Processes | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments