One of the best executed and smartest negative space logos was created by FEDEX. The hidden arrow between the E and the X in the FEDEX is a simple and very effective example of how powerful negative logo design can be.

See more  examples of  the Negative Space in Logo Design here , Negative Space in Logo Design Ideas by Julie Pena

1. Above all, a good logo is based on a good idea.
2. A good logo is simple and instantly recognizable.
3. A good logo can be reproduced using many different media.
4. A good logo can be reproduced in different sizes.
5. A good logo can be reproduced in colour or in black and white.

Being into calligraphy, I felt really good watching this speech, as it was really nice to know that Steve Jobs him self was into calligraphy and it was his interest in calligraphy that inspired him towards developing the typography for Apples, Macs and Now Iphones  …. Here’s that famous excerpt:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Now do you see why Apple fans love beautiful fonts? And, in case you didn’t know, Steve Jobs never graduated from college.

Excerpt from http://contemporarycalligraphy.blogspot.com/2010/01/out-of-africa.html

Out of South Africa comes the truly unique work of Andrew van der Merwe – beach calligraphy, he calls it. Andrew writes about his work: “If a calligrapher is someone who loves writing, then I have been a calligrapher since my very first writing lessons. Or is it just a love for women? I dunno but I did think the teacher who gave me all those gold stars was beautiful! Either way, it wasn’t women who had me breaking my academic trajectory in philosophy and politics, but calligraphy. To help pay my way, I started freelancing while I was at university and went full time soon after that.

The intimacy of a handwritten letter with a turkey quill and taking the time to create beautiful handwriting is rare.
Yet, this centuries-old tradition is kept alive by Paul Antonio Attong. In this age of high technology where a large portion of the world no longer writes but types, Trinidad-born Attong has made an international name for himself and his craft.

Do you have a large clientele?
I have a huge client list—some of my fashion clients include Asprey, De Beers, Chopard, Louis Vuitton. We do a ton of weddings and have just stared a stationery company. Our tag line for the stationery is ‘We Only Print What We Write’ so we don’t use any typefaces in our work—all of it is done by hand first then digitised then printed in one of a few high-quality print processes. Some of our corporate clients include RBS, London Business School (for invitations and certificates). Numerous party planners include the Admirable Crichton, Atom Events, Freud Communications.

Would you advise others to make a career of calligraphy?
It is very difficult to become a professional calligrapher. It requires years of dedication, and not making any money while you come to terms with your skill. It is also not easy to train as there are so few courses running. Getting a good hand is one thing but it is getting it consistent all the time that is the trick. You not only need to know what you do inside out—as you will get asked to write on all kinds of things, but you need to be able to deal with people and convince them that you are what they need! Invariably it is either you are good at art or good at business but you have to be good at both if you want to make a decent living. It is not something that happens easily. It takes time, patience, dedication, application and research.
Is it lucrative?
It is only in the past three years I have been earning a decent living. But what is lucrative? It is not only about making money—it is also about the standing amongst your peers on an international stage. It is about contributing to the corpus of knowledge in one’s field of expertise. But then there is personal wealth. Making money comes with much stress and sometimes you need to make a decision if you actually want the added stress. That is a tricky question to answer. A lot of the time making money and earning a living is to the exclusion of research—but one is financially lucrative and one is personally lucrative.

But here’s something you didn’t know. After Jobs dropped out of Reed College, he went back to school as a drop-in and studied a subject that turned out to be vital to the development of the computer as we know it…He took a course in calligraphy.

It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating….

If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them.

So there you have it. Whether you’re using a Mac or a PC, your computer owes everything to Steve Jobs’ understanding of the intricacies of sans serif.

The Creativity of Calligraphy
But we started to wonder what else a crash course in the art of writing might have done for Steve Jobs. Did all those curlicues and italics spark Jobs’ creative juices, get his ideas flowing and lead him to build a company that owes as much to the appearance of the gadgetry as the whiz-bang programming under the hood?

And what could it do for anyone? Could it help you to create a tech company as stylish as Apple?

Maybe, says Alok Hsu Kwang-han, a Chinese artist who specializes in creating calligraphic art, but it depends on you. He told us:

Practicing anything, including calligraphy, can enhance one’s creativity or it can reinforce an old rut and mindset! It all depends on whether you bring to the practice a willingness to be playful, to be fully present without expectations, to experiment without judgment, and to thoroughly enjoy yourself! The truly original creativity cannot be practiced…

I think Steve Jobs by dropping out of college and dropping into what he loved to explore, brought these qualities to his enjoyment of calligraphy at Reed College.

That potential to release creativity (rather than create it) is particularly true of Chinese calligraphy, adds Alok. Its technique allows the brush to move vertically as well as horizontally, and calls “the calligrapher to be very present and available to the possibilities offered in each moment of the movement. It offers an alertness and a letting-go that promotes creativity.”

Zen and the Art of the iPod
That’s all very nice but Steve Jobs was practicing western calligraphy rather than the sort of Asian brushwork that involves turning complex characters into flowing artworks. He was also talking specifically about the benefit of having a variety of fonts available on computers rather than releasing his own hidden creative talents.

And yet if you compare the sort of minimalist images produced by Alok Hsu Kwang-han with the stark style of the iPod with its white space and hidden buttons, you can’t help but feel that maybe there’s something to it. Even if Jobs spent his time learning Times New Roman and letter spacing rather than shufa and the thickness of xuan paper, could his being in the moment — while being in that calligraphy class at Reed College — have helped him to appreciate the value of having nothing but a click-wheel on the front of an all-white media player?

More importantly, could the creativity of calligraphy — and the sense of just letting go that comes with any successful endeavor — do the same for you?

Well, maybe not with calligraphy and maybe not with Asian calligraphy in particular. According to Alok, it doesn’t really matter what the practice or art form is; it’s the fit and the result that matters:

[It] depends on who the person is. Dance, theater, song writing, drumming, to name a few, are also good ways. I have discovered that calligraphy is a very good way for those attracted to engaging themselves in it. As Chuang Tzu says, “If the shoe fits, wear it.”

So what does that mean for you?

It might mean that all of those lava lamps, bouncy balls and basketball hoops that are as de rigueur in Silicon Valley offices as paper shredders are compulsory in the Pentagon actually do something useful. By letting their programmers play, companies are benefiting from what Alok Hsu Kwang-han would call “The Creativity of Non-Doing.”

And it might mean that when you’re sweating over a keyboard unable to see the way forward and with a deadline fast approaching, the best thing to do might not be to strain harder, but relax. Pick up a brush and a stick of Chinese ink. Or beat a rhythm on the bottom of your wastepaper basket. But try dropping out, doing nothing and just being there. It might be enough to let your ideas back in… and let you create the next Apple.

Watch this video where Julien Breton explians (In FRENCH ) on his LightGraff work …

Another Lightgraff Guru Michael Bosanko @ work : -
A behind the scenes tutorial from light graffiti artist Michael Bosanko, in which the he explains how to create your own light graffiti images, as part of the launch of a new TV advertising campaign

Here is another fabulous implementations of Light-Graffiti …

Self-employed publisher Peter Drinkwater from Shipston with examples of his delicate handwriting skills.

“Every letter Peter Drinkwater of Shipston writes is a protest against progress,” the Journal reported 20 years ago, “and everyone who has received a letter from him won’t even throw the envelope away.”

The report of 1990 continued: “As an accomplished calligrapher Mr Drinkwater uses exquisite colours and a delicate hand that stretches the elegance of 16th century handwriting across each letter and each envelope. The stamp in the right- hand corner alone identifies his letters with the 20th century “According to Mr Drinkwater, his skills hark back to a time when writing was done with a high degree of care – good handwriting was a point of etiquette.

…. read more www.cotswoldjournal.co.uk

“Friends and acquaintances, both locally and as far as Australia, receive letters from Mr Drinkwater.

“And as one lady from Lower Lemington says, she would never dream of throwing her envelopes away.”

Hassan Musa is a Sudanese artist who works and lives in Domessargues in the south of France…

“Poésie” – Pol’n – Nantes – 2007
calligraphy and photography : Julien Breton

“Vivre libre” – Amphithéâtre de Fourvière – 2008
Calligraphy : Julien Breton – Kaalam
Photography : G.J. Plisson

“Kata” – Atelier de Brusk Lyon – 2008
Calligraphy : Julien Breton – Kaalam
Photography : G.J. Plisson

“Songe” – Palais idéal du facteur Cheval – 2008
Calligraphy : Julien Breton – Kaalam
Photography : G.J. Plisson

“Le savoir” Saint-Méen Les folies Siffay – 2007
Calligraphy : Julien Breton – Kaalam
Photo : G.J. Plisson

P.S. My mouth is still open :O