Andy Mangold

This past semester I was really digging on my lettering course, but also feeling compelled to connect more directly with my community, and maybe even help somebody with my work. So, for my final, I decided to try and unite my aesthetic, passionate interest in lettering with philanthropy and community focused design. I set out to create an old-fashioned hand painted sign, for one of the many well meaning organizations in Baltimore with less than wonderful signage. After some research, I decided on “The Action Upscale Cultural Community Thrift Store,” a secondhand store nearby my apartment, run by volunteers, that puts on programs for “women, youth, young adults, and the elderly”.

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Soooooooooo for my Experimental Lettering course we had to expand on our monogram/cipher sketches from last week and apply the finalized design to some medium. I chose to create a letterpress wood block I can use on any typesetting things I tackle in the future. So, I got up real early on Saturday, went down to the wood shop, cut a piece of wood to the perfect size, went over to the lasercutter/etcher and waited my turn in line, and etched the design into the end grain of the block. The result was this:

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I bought myself some new shoes this past week, something I haven’t done in a long time. After extensive research, I decided on going with some old school, Bob Cousy PF Flyers. I am exceptionally happy with my purchase; I think the shoes fit my personality and design sensibilities. But that is not what’s got me thinking this evening.

What’s got me thinking is just how different the retail market, and the whole process of buying something, is today. Thanks to the internet, I can, and did, shop around to dozens of different sites, looking at hundreds of different shoes, reading reviews and specs, and finding the lowest price. This is a luxury generations before ours did not have.

This is certainly not a new realization; however I did something tonight that made me think. I, a 21 year old, grown-ass-man Googled “how to lace up and tie your shoes”. Why you ask? Because I wanted to t figure out the absolute best way to lace up and tie my new shoes, which I spent so much time and energy picking out. And, of course, I found exactly what I was looking for, a nice man named Ian who seems to know everything there is to know about lacing up and tying one’s shoes. Basically, the internet allows me to appease my perfectionist tendencies, allows me to do almost anything, no matter how simple, in the best way imaginable.

I am interested to get you people’s thoughts on this. Is this kind of diversification of information, including the mundane, allow each of us to uniquely pick our path through this world from the countless choices before us? Or, is this kind of obsessive perfection a detrimental waste of time to society, suffocation original ideas? Let me know what you 400 anonymous subscribers think!

Ian on How To Lace Up Your Shoes (I decided to go with the Over-Under)
Ian on How to Tie Your Shoes (Secure Shoelace Knot for me!)

The newest addition to my fleet, and another Craigslist acquisition: the Klinedinst Special. I know very, very little about this bike and cannot find any information about it, or the company. The guy who sold it to me seems to think its from the 1930s and another fellow from a vintage and collector’s bicycle forum says it looks like its from right around WWII. Either way, its certainly old and unique. The frame has an interesting geometry: low and long with 26inch wheels. I am going to be fixing it up and making in ride able again. I am not going to throw around the word “restoration” because I am certainly not holding the original parts in reverence; but I am going to keep it looking pretty similar to how it does now.

Please, if anybody knows anything about this company or bike, let me know!

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or at least what I haven’t lost, thrown away, sold, or gifted.

I certainly had a very book centric semester, but I think it worked out quite well in the end. I now have the book thing added to my belt to help me execute some bigger ideas. I will continue to make books over the summer, perhaps some small editions to make some cash. Also, my portfolio will be updated soon as well, perhaps along with my website??? WHO KNOWS! Stay tuned.

Super secret spy shots! I am excited about this project, expect in depth photo documentation, packaging, videos of it in action, etc. within the month.