Copter Design Studio » News

An die Musik NYC

cj — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 14:48:28 +0000

An die Musik NYC is a concert series bringing the people of New York City high-quality classical music at affordable prices. It presents internationally renowned performers alongside rising talents from the NYC community.

We developed a flexible identity system, using big bold typography in a playful way to showcase the composers around which the programs are built. The circular and diagonal forms move like melody and harmony, working as a counterpoint to the rhythmic gridded elements.

The logo mark is built of geometric shapes which get deconstructed and rearranged for each poster and application.

The website uses Dunbar Low for large headlines. The very low x-height of this typeface gives it lots of vertical movement and an expressive, lyrical quality. For body copy and navigation Dunbar Text provides solid and complementary accompaniment.

CJ Type

cj — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 15:12:44 +0000

Identity and website design for CJType.com, an independent digital type foundry.

The site includes e-commerce for selling digital fonts as family packages or individual styles.

The first release for CJType is the Dunbar series, including Dunbar Tall, Dunbar Low and Dunbar Text families. For promotion of this release, we built a Dunbar “mini-site” to show off the design features, research, and process.

More than just eye candy, the site includes meaningful content via an essay by typographer and professor Indra Kupferschmid on the history of geometric sans serifs, which helps to contextualize this release and provide meaningful background information.

Kelly Slater Chia Shop Signage

cj — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 20:38:23 +0000

I designed this lettering to be used on signage in a Kelly Slater commercial and pop-up shop. Kelly Slater, the 11 time world champion surfer, cares greatly about healthy living and a healthy diet. Working with The Chia Company, he created a pop-up shop across from the world-famous Banzai Pipeline surf break to give out free Chia Pods to the local community.

After doing some brush lettering test, I refined the script with pencil before drawing the final vector art. I paired my script with D’amico Gothic from Photo Lettering which I found to be a perfect fit.

Kill Screen Virtual Reality Issue art direction

cj — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 04:43:18 +0000

I art directed the latest print issue of Kill Screen, a video games arts and culture publication.

The issue’s theme was Virtual Reality, and the articles looked into the past, present and future of VR.

I commissioned the very talented Dark Igloo and kidmograph to create the cover artwork, which referenced the “Virtual Wonderland” of ‘90s VR imagery. Along with the print version of the cover, we created an animated version to be used for promotion of the issue.

I really enjoyed the chance to commission some of my favorite artists for this project, namely: Overture, Shane Jessup, Kiji McCafferty, Keith Telfeyan, Dark Igloo & Kidmograph, Dana Paresa, Dave Kloc, Naomi Butterfield, Chris Nickels and PJ McQuade.

Kiel Mead × CJ Dunn: diamond etched monograms

cj — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:03:34 +0000

Brooklyn based jewelry and product designer Kiel Mead commissioned me to design a bespoke typeface for a series of diamond-etched monogram rings and coasters. The rings feature solid letters, while the large brass coasters feature decorative versions of the letters.

Language Arts: Contrast Magazine

cj — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:47:15 +0000

Contrast Magazine interviewed me about Language Arts, the type & lettering exhibition I had at The Human Imagination in May.

Some the of the handpainted signs I created for Language Arts
Original typeface I designed for the exhibition which I had laser etched into wooden blocks

Polar Shift: lettering & custom typeface

cj — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 00:25:14 +0000

For Polar Shift, the latest record from the band Judgement Day, I created custom lettering for the cover as well as a custom typeface for the tracklisting and spine, inspired by old victorian books from the artistic printing tradition.

Why create a custom typeface? Well, I was originally interested in using an existing revival typeface from that period like Brioche by Jessica Hische or Alabaster by Jesse Ragan, but Brioche wasn’t bold enough and Alabaster wasn’t released yet. So rather than compromise, I decided to draw a custom typeface to match exactly what I was looking for. I researched original source material from the turn of the century, drawing inspiration from historical sources and adding details of my own.

Some original sources I looked at are below:

And here are some of my early sketches:

And a specimen of the final design:

Also, an early sketch for the cover:

Past to Present Exhibition Branding

cj — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:30:56 +0000

As an alumni of the Idyllwild Arts Academy I was honored when the school hired me to design the branding for “Past to Present,” the Visual Arts Alumni Exhibition at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. The exhibition includes work by artist such as Shepard Fairey, Nate Lowman, and many others who were once students at this prestigious arts school and have gone on to achieve success in the visual arts.

The Idyllwild Arts Academy is an arts school located in a secluded mountain town, so for the exhibition branding I created a “typographic mountain” which also includes the school’s iconic tree logomark on the left side “growing” out of this formation. The primary typeface is a proprietary typeface design which I started while at the Cooper Union postgraduate typeface design program. It is a revival typeface design based on the work of Morris Fuller Benton from the 1920s.
In addition to the original design, I created a custom display version of the typeface with extra thin hairlines which was used for the vinyl lettering on the gallery wall.

In conjunction with the exhibition there were lectures given by alumni including Shepard Fairey and myself, CJ Dunn.

Screenprints from the exhibition by Shepard Fairey

Painting by Monica Lundy

Screenprinted Canvas by Nate Lowman

Sculpture by Hawkeye Glenn

Original Typeface Design Specimen, Letterpress Print by CJ Dunn

Society of Scribes: redesign

cj — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:11:13 +0000

As part of the Society of Scribes redesign we created a new logotype, working with master calligrapher Alice Koeth, founding member of the organization. The new logotype references the original lettering created for the organization in 1974, but has been completely retooled and redesigned in the horizontal orientation for more effective and consistent use across print, web, and digital communications.

With the new website, our goal was to build a more inclusive, interactive environment for the membership while creating an online destination for the calligraphy community at large. This involved integrating dynamic elements to the site such as live flickr/twitter feeds and a blog, as well creating a space for academic resources and publications on calligraphy where out of print material will be digitized by the organization and shared with those interested in learning about calligraphy.

Website before redesign

Website after redesign

For the site’s typography, we chose the humanist sans-serif Agenda by Greg Thompson (Font Bureau). As it is based on the work of Edward Johnston, considered a father of modern calligraphy, it is sympathetic to the calligraphy showcased on the site while remaining firmly typographic and not competing with the calligraphic work. For the serif type we chose Georgia by Matthew Carter (Font Bureau) for it’s high level of craftsmanship and readability on screen at small sizes.

More about the logotype:
As an organization focused on the lettering arts, the fine details of the logotype required special care. Precise attention was given to the width of each letter depending on its surroundings, for example the “S” in Society is not the same as the “S” in Scribes, all to create a balanced effect across the logotype. The same was true for the spacing between the letters, adjusted contextually and done according to calligraphic spacing conventions (which are in some ways different from typographic spacing conventions). Additionally during the digitization process we made sure to precisely capture the letterforms while maintaining the warmth of the original calligraphy.

Original calligraphy detail:

Digital logotype detail:

Special thanks to Alice Koeth, Society of Scribes Founding Member, and Cara DiEdwardo, Society of Scribes President.

Nike: Harlem Team Hyperfuse

cj — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 09:34:52 +0000

Nike released a Harlem team hyperfuse using the branding we designed for the Battle of the Boroughs innitiative.