#88: Shark Week for Type Geeks

#88, Rome

I'll admit it. I'm a little jealous of the Discovery Channel. Television isn't really my thing, but I have to stand back in awe of such thematic masterpieces as Shark Week. Non-stop blood-curdling shark action, seemingly endless footage of fearsome sea creatures thrashing about in the deep, and the ever-present promise of a sudden and unapologetic gore fest -- all this for seven days in a row. And what, on the other hand, do you get on a site that geeks out on typography and design? Why, you get Frame Week, of course.

Here's the deal. I don't know about you, but there are days when living in the city feels like Shark Week -- all that's missing is the ominous grinding two-note cello music of the Jaws theme song -- so I get sort of excited when I can take all of the mayhem and find some quiet, calm order to it all. If the sight of an 88 inside an octagon brings even the smallest smile to your face, then here's your moment of zen.

Those even slightly familiar with my obsessive tendencies will know it's making me all flinchy to follow up a #1 with a #88. But once these frames start lining up, it'll all make sense. It feels anarchic after a year of slavish devotion to sequential order to deviate from the number line. But here's the new challenge: to look for new visual patterns in the cluttered urban environment. New order. Joy Division. Bad music puns. (Some are easier to spot than others.) So here's this week's assignment: to focus not on the numbers themselves but on the frames that surround them. Rectangles? Meh. Right angles? Occasionally. This week, I'm after the stunning and unusual.

Maybe you'll start to notice them in your environment, too -- an oddly-shaped sign or an unusual frame around an ordinary bit of text. There are rare charmers out there, and if you look hard enough, you might see something you would have ordinarily missed.

In the meantime, batten down the hatches and get ready to sink your teeth into some mean material. Frame Week's gonna be killer.