Here Comes the Sun

06.04.16 — Madrid

With the recent change of office at Erretres and the chaos that Semana Santa brought to the city, it’s been nice to kick back again once more (in a new flat, no less) and enjoy the mellow atmosphere of Madrid. I moved to my new flat about a week and a half ago, and I’m now living in a quaint little district called Quintana with my lovely new hosts, Pilar and Veronica.

A new flat means a new route to work, and so now I alight the Metro at the almost annoyingly gorgeous area known as Ópera and Royal Madrid, and I have the laborious (ha!) task of wandering through the Oriental Gardens and past the Royal Palace en route to the studio.

It also dawned upon me that my time in the city is sadly finite, and so I should probably relax a little and begin to enjoy the sights and things to do that it offers, instead of spending all my time washing and cleaning and doing menial cooking of my own (let’s be honest) mediocre food. To this end I have been taking the opportunity to pay a daily visit to the Temple of Debod, which is situated right next to the studio, and which offers tonnes of grassy space, a fountain, stunning views over the west of the city and the huge public park “Casa de Campo”, and most importantly: lots of dogs.

Whilst there I have been proofreading an essay for Danni, writing my previous blog post about Easter in Madrid, and generally doing other bits of design work, such as a PDF guide for my parents to use on their phone when they visit – I will post a feature on that at some point once it’s done – I spent ages designing a matrix of 20 windows for the front cover!

Anyway, back to the streets of Madrid. After work this past week or so I have also been taking the opportunity to go on a mini culinary tour of the city, which was kind of forced onto me as one night I realised I was an hour from home and it was 10pm and I hadn’t eaten a thing since lunch – so I headed straight for Sol in the centre of the city and to Bacoa, the burger joint I tried when I first got here. It was as delicious as I remembered, even if I had to sit there for a while to digest…

Another evening I asked for recommendations from the team in the studio, and I was pointed towards Plaza Mayor, which I was a little dubious of as it is one of the main tourist traps, encircled by bars charging 6€ for a small beer. I headed through the square and onto a street behind it, and found the place I’d been recommended, La Toná, where everything was surprisingly cheap and delicious! I treated myself to a squid montadito, or small sandwich, and a plate of patatas bravas, potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce.

Life doesn’t get much better than tapas on a terrace with a lovely view.

Pretty soon it was the weekend, and time to find something to do. Having been ill on-and-off for a while, I decided to take it easy and head to the city’s favourite chill out spot, Parque del Retiro. There, I found a beautiful spot to seat myself overlooking the boating lake and shaded by some trees, and proceeded to do pretty much nothing but sunbathe for a few hours.

After a snoozy spell in the park, I decided to head back through the city on foot to take in some more of the Saturday afternoon ambience in the centre. Camera in tow, I visited one of what I think is the most interesting and beautiful spots in the city, a little plaza bordered by a smattering wildly differently styled buildings from Spain’s various eras of history. Here’s a (pretty bad) photo…

Hot weather calls for guilty pleasures.

On Saturday night I met up with my ex-flatmates Vero and Levin, plus some of their friends, and we headed out for an evening of tacos and karaoke! We started at one of my favourite spots, Taquería Mi Ciudad, where many tacos and margaritas were consumed, and then we headed off to the Barrio de las Letras where we sang Robin Williams very loudly and ate a tonne of pizza. It was ace!

It’s back to work for now though, where I’m working on some really cool but still very confidential new projects. I thought I’d also take the opportunity to congratulate the team on their work on Natsuki, which just received a glowing review on one of my favourite design blogs, Brand New, which you can read here. I take no credit for this piece – it was all pretty much wrapped up before I showed up back in February!

You can keep up with what we’re up to in the studio on our Instagram and Facebook – I’ll even be posting the odd thing! Until then though it’s time to grab an early night and sleep off the tonne of fresh bread I just ate. I never learn.

Typesetting in Spanish

03.04.16 — Madrid

This is a very strange blog post I guess in some respects, mainly because most of the time I don’t post specialised pieces on design thinking, but also because even within the design community itself, typography in one specific language is a very niche subject to talk about.

My sudden feeling of need to explore the use the written in the Spanish language (I will be referring to Castilian Spanish throughout) without actually delving into the language itself (bear with me if you’re new to typography, you’ll get the hang of it soon) was spurred on by a sight I see every day on my way to and from working at Erretres, which is based near a beautiful plaza called Ópera in the centre of Madrid. At the entrance to the metro station for Ópera there sit two signs, a suspended one and one on the wall. Both are set in the standard Madrid Metro typeface, Helvetica, however one carries the accent as it should, Ópera, and the other has dropped the accent seemingly without a second thought, so the word has become Opera. As trivial as it may seem, it really got me thinking, so let’s explore…

The Spanish language makes use of the Latin alphabet, so there’s no surprising shapes or forms to throw us off too much as English speakers, except the extra letter which is included in the official Spanish alphabet:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N Ñ O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The Ñ, written eñe and pronounced “en-yay”, is not considered an N with an accent, but rather a letter in its own right, and hence it occupies a place in the official alphabet. The letter comes from a double N, and came about when people began to place a tilde over the N as shorthand to indicate doubling, a practice which was formally introduced in the 1700s. The introduction of a new letter and accompanying sound based on the doubling of an existing letter may same strange, but remember that the English W came about as a doubling up of the letter V!

An interesting tidbit to note on the subject of the Spanish alphabet is that up until quite recently in 2010 the combinations CH and LL were actually considered letters in their own right also. This is due to the fact that Spanish has a near-perfect phonemic orthography, which is a fancy way of saying that each letter roughly corresponds to its own distinct sound when spoken. As CH and LL combine to form a different pair of sounds than their two letters would individually, it was seemingly felt they should be treated as separate, in order to maintain the phonemic orthography which the Spanish enjoy – they rarely have to spell words out for each other!

The other feature that Spanish possesses which English does not is the frequent and methodological use of accents. The acute accent (´) can be present on any vowel, and an umlaut (¨) is sometimes seen on the letter U, and so the complete set of accented letters is as follows:

Á É Í Ó Ú Ü

The most interesting problem brought on by these accents and extra letter is the issue of text colour. The colour of type does not describe the actual colour of the text itself, but the overall darkness of the text when it has been composed on a page or screen. This is primarily affected by the weight (boldness) of the font used, as can be seen in the example below.

As you probably agree, the central column is easiest to read as the contrast between the letters and the blank page is best balanced. The colour of text can also be affected by the space between the lines, or leading, as can be seen in the example below.

Little leading, regular leading, lots of leading

Here you probably agree again that the central piece of text is the most legible, as the lines flow together and your eye is able to quickly jump from the end of one line to the next. Too much leading and you will easily lose the line you were on, and too little and the lines and letters begin to mix into each other.

So how do the accents and Spanish Ñ affect the colour of the text? Well, as they consist of extra forms sat above the usually short lowercase letters, their presence makes the text ever so slightly darker in colour, as you can see in the example below.

Text left in English and accent use dramatised to demonstrate

It soon becomes obvious that with all this extra visual information making the text appear darker, it is necessary to compensate by adding extra leading. This also prevents the obvious issue of letterforms (the shapes of the letters) overlapping and running into each other, which is move likely with an accented language such as Spanish as you can see in the example below.

Another consideration with Spanish is the length of a piece of text itself. Something which maybe 10 characters in length in English may be 14 characters long in Spanish, as Spanish is on average around 140% as long as English text containing the same information. Although this may not affect how we actually typeset and handle text in Spanish, it is an important consideration when designing layouts which may be ultimately released in both Spanish and English, and something I had to consider for example when designing my portfolio (which is available in both languages).

The final peculiarities that arise when handling Spanish text arise with it’s punctuation. The Spanish language famously includes inverted exclamation and question marks (¡ and ¿) at the beginning of exclamatory or interrogatory clauses as well as the regular marks at the end. This is born of the fact that the Spanish sentence structure does not change to accommodate questions, and so “do you want?” and “you want” are written exactly the same. English uses the auxiliary word “do” to denote the start of a question, a feature Spanish lacks, and so the ¿ at the start of a question alerts a reader that it is a question rather than a simple statement, a signal which in spoken Spanish takes the form of a change in the voice’s pitch. The exclamation mark simply follows suit.

Another standout piece of punctuation is the Spanish treatment of quoted text and dialogue. Quote marks are sometimes used exactly as in English, for example “Hello”, however sometimes a pair of symbols akin to double chevrons are employed, for example «Hello». The third and perhaps most baffling method of denoting quoted text or a change in speaker is the use of a long dash, or em-dash to be precise. It can be used with line breaks (a new line for each speaker) or without line breaks, as you can see below.

—Voy a ver una película— él dijo, pero ella le dijo —No puedes ir—

—Voy a ver una película
—No puedes ir
—¿Por qué no?
—Tienes que lavar los platos

Although the Spanish use of punctuation may not have any real consequences for a typographer or anybody handling the text, it is important to understand the grammatical quirks of the language in order to avoid errors when trying to work with text not set in your native language.

And so concludes my quick overview of typographic considerations when using Castilian Spanish. Although not intended to be a fully researched and thorough exploration of the subject, hopefully it has been of some interest to anyone inquisitive about the world of typography, graphic design and the Spanish language!

Semana Santa

29.03.16 — Madrid

I write to you today from the relaxing shade of a palm tree, next to an ancient African temple (which was moved to Madrid brick by brick), overlooking the vast expanse of the Casa de Campo park, and with lots of happy dogs running around me – just another day in Spain!

With the last update focused mainly on work, I thought I’d divulge a little bit of Spanish culture and what I’ve been up to when not working really hard (questionable) in the office. As many of you may have celebrated Easter recently, you’ll be aware that that all those festivities have been ongoing, however I can assure you that Easter in Spain (or Semana Santa, hence the title) is celebrated in a completely different way…

First up, and for me rather disappointingly, there’s no chocolate. I have only seen chocolate eggs for sale twice in the past few weeks: both times in the English food section of El Corte Inglés, and both times with exponentially high price tags. Secondly, there’s the parades.

A parade moves past the centre of Madrid

The parades, or procesiones, are really not to be missed, and so I dragged my (rather ill at the time) body to the city centre and grabbed a coffee and waited for the drums to begin. As the drumming drew louder, people began to move into formation, lining the edges of the streets. Sooner or later the drummers arrived, faces completely veiled, followed by a small brass band.

The music is very loud but also touchingly solemn, as here Easter is treated more as a time of mourning and self-sacrifice, hence the veils and robes with the famous pointed hoods. After the music comes the rhythmic procession of the imagenes, which are beautifully intricate depictions of various biblical scenes, held up by a group of people with strong arms and plenty of stamina…

Mourners and banners accompany the images

The movement of the parade is accompanied by the rhythmic beating of a drum, the periodic ringing of a bell to coordinate those carrying the images, and the respectful silence of the throngs of people watching the spectacle. The pungent smell of frankincense fills the air too, as the hooded figures slowly make their way past, swinging lanterns of the burning resin in their wake. The atomshere created by all this was particularly amplified by the darkness of night, which I experienced as I made sure to catch one just outside Plaza Mayor.

As the procession drew to a close, people were invited onto the street to follow it further along its trajectory. I took the chance to join them as they sauntered through the Plaza del Sol, right in the centre of Madrid, and I’m very glad I did as it was a surreal and moving experience – I have never seen so many people in the square!

One last thing of note before I turn in for the night, and something without which one of my blog posts would not be complete, is for me to talk about food. During Semana Santa here in Madrid it is customary to eat a sweet treat known as torrija, which is stale bread soaked in cinnamon and sugar infused milk, which is then fried generously in olive oil and coated in yet more sugar and cinnamon.

Having already tried torrijas out a few times at work, I knew that they were delicious, and so I thought what better way to celebrate Easter Spanish-style than to try my hand at whipping a few up myself? Having let my bread go stale overnight, I dropped the cinnamon sticks into the milk, and an hour later I was packing the torrijas into a box to take into work the following day.

Surprisingly the torrijas were a hit in the studio, and amongst my flatmates, and I must say that I did enjoy eating a couple myself! But as I ride the crash that has come after the sugar-high of the Easter weekend, I must unfortunately bid you adios until my next update, where I’ll be moving flats once more… Until then!

Erretres on the Move

19.03.16 — Madrid

As mentioned in my post from a couple of weeks back (apologies for the extended delays), here at Erretres we have just finished off a week of packing, shifting, and unpacking; all as we make our way to our brand new home! As documented on the Tumblr we made to give a peek into la mudanza (the move), we’re sadly leaving behind our gorgeous view of the Plaza de España, but we’ve upsized rather exponentially to a cool and modern new space.

The one thing I never really got to try out in our old studio was the huge outdoor terrace, which was kind of useless in the bitter cold of the Madrilenian winter, but looked like a lovely to relax space in the heat of summer. Braving the cold, however, me and Thuy decided to say our farewell by hosting a water-gun superhero-inspired photo shoot — obviously.

However there wasn’t really all that much time to sit around getting nostalgic about the Plaza de España studio, for we were soon setting into our new space situated on the street just behind the old studio!

With all this shifting and moving around, during the weekend I decided to take it relatively easy – so I really did not expect the Sunday market here in the city to be so lively! Time to backtrack a tad and explain…

Much unlike England, everything here really does shut shop on a Sunday, and with the exception of the El Rastro market in the south of the city, there isn’t that much to be done. Intrigued, I hopped on the metro and sauntered on down to the market at La Latina, where I was greeted by the colourful curved roofs of the indoor market and the throngs of people wandering in and out of the main market street.

From the Metro station I followed the crowds down a little side street brimming with stalls and on to the main street and Madrid’s most popular flea market, where I ended up flowing with the crowds up and down the lively streets. There was live music, stalls selling every little thing imaginable, street food, and much more! The atmosphere was great, so I stayed a while to enjoy a live Latin band, an African acoustic group and a chocolate pancake – needless to say I didn’t really spend much time taking any decent photos, but here’s one which hopefully captures some of the buzz…

Apart from venturing out to experience the city and working hard on the studio move, I’ve also been occupied by day-to-day domestic jobs such as washing, shopping and generally kicking back in my flat. Just a few nights ago we all sat down in the living room to watch El Laberinto Del Fauno – Pan’s Labyrinth – and enjoy a multi-cultural feast of Mexican-style popcorn and crisps, German chocolate, and my best attempt at a selection of Spanish canapés. Here’s me and Levin, very excited for a little bit of Pan’s…

And so with another fortnight full of locura y caos (craziness and chaos), it’s no wonder I have decided to spend this weekend finishing off some chores and tidying my room – I am on the move once again this coming Saturday to a new flat! It’s no surprise then that Thuy managed to capture me kicking back in the new studio!

I should hopefully have another post up in the next few days as the Semana Santa (Easter) celebrations begin to kick off here in Madrid – but until then I am going to gorge on some chorizo and remain horizontal as much as possible…

Three Weeks in España

05.03.16 — Madrid

Today I realised that remarkably, in the blink of an eye, three weeks of my Spanish adventure have already come and gone! It’s been a fortnight now since my first update here on the continent, and so I thought I should probably nip back again for an update on all the fun and hard work that I have been getting up to…

I write this particular post slouched in my armchair, bowl of half eaten cocido madrileño by my side, in my lovely new flat in one of the city’s residential districts, Salamanca. Having crammed all six months of my worldly possessions into my suitcase once again, I found myself once more deep under the streets of the city, lugging my baggage on and off the Metro. Having met my landlord for the next month, I grabbed my keys and bolted into bed to get some much needed rest – but not before snapping a photo of the beautiful sunset from my balcony.

I have finally moved out of the hostel which, as lovely as it was, had started to become a little lonely, with every evening being spent on my own with no capacity to cook, or even store a nice cold can of cola. My new home is a shared flat of four of us; and with flatmates from Mexico, Hungary, and Germany, it’s a great lively atmosphere!

We have already managed to get out together a few times for some drinks, tapas, and just to explore the city in general, and I am really happy to have wound up with a lovely group of people, and to have the ability to actually throw some meals together!

Speaking of food, it was soon time to head back to work at Erretres, where I was introduced to cocido madrileño, a delicious chickpea-based stew of chorizo, vegetables, and other meats. It doesn’t look very appetising or varied but my god it is damn good…

Studio life at Erretres continues to be productive and lots of fun, and I’m relishing the opportunity to get involved in design work for the amazing projects on which the team work on a day-to-day basis. Naturally I can’t really reveal much more than that, but the one thing I would love to (re)share is the amazing view which I enjoy every day. I don’t honestly think I could ever have a bad day with such a bella vista there to greet me every time I glance to the right…

Just yesterday, though, it was Luis’ birthday, and so we all abandoned our desks at 2:30pm and headed to the kitchen where he’d put out an marvellous spread of typical Spanish finger-food, including jamón (cured ham), lomo (cured pork), bread, olives, manchego (goat’s cheese) and a healthy round of red wine. We all grabbed a plate, everyone made a beeline for the delicious jamón, and we all stood and had a natter and a good old laugh for an hour or so.

I am sure you can imagine that as the days go by I am becoming more and more reluctant to ever leave this city…

Then during one of the other nights this week, I got so wrapped up in preparing a Tumblr blog for Erretres that I completely lost track of time and ended up staying in the studio until gone 7:30pm – but it was worth it, as when I left I was greeted by one of the most beautiful skies I have seen this year…

I mentioned just then a Tumblr blog, which has now launched as a photographic record of Erretres’ big move into our huge new studio space! Please do check it out here! We are scheduled to move (at the time of writing) in less than five days, and the removal men have already begun to strip the bookshelves of the studio bare, making us all pretty excited to move into our massive new studio, which occupies the entirety of a building and includes three floors with two terraces. Onwards and upwards!

With my weekdays being filled mostly with work until half six and then having some tea and heading out to the city to take in the atmosphere and have a drink and a chat, it’s the weekends when I actually have the chance to do some proper exploring, and so today I grabbed my camera, hopped on the tube, and headed south to the Puente de Toledo, an old bridge over the city’s river.

Whilst meandering around and taking some photos, I wandered by an old man feeding the pigeons, and headed down to the waterside to get a better view through the arches of the structure. Suddenly, however, the old guy had joined me, and greeted me with an enthusiastic «¡Bienvenidos a Madrid!», “Welcome to Madrid!”, and then asked where I was from. I told him I was from England and we got chatting for a while in Spanish, and he said he was happy to meet a British person who could speak his language. After probing to see which football team I supported, I told him that futbol wasn’t really my thing, but he insisted that I take a look at some photos of him in the Madrid Atletico stadium which was just behind us.

After further discussion about what I was doing here in Spain, he said he needed to get going, and so we parted ways – but I then saw him wandering off from a vantage point I’d found for a photo, and he gestured to the stadium and then raised his hands in rejoice. Needless to say this quick 10 minute chat really made my day – the people here are some of the nicest I have ever met.

Anyway, heartwarming stories about the locals over, here’s a few photos taken during my hour of wandering around the riverside…

I soon ended up wandering further down the rivers edge, but then as the sky began to threaten to rain, so I half-ran along the river towards a more modern crossing. The cool swirling metal bridge was empty when I got there, as the cold and the grey had scared all the Spanish away, but the lack of people made for an awesome photo opportunity – here’s my favourite.

But with that I am afraid I must leave you, as I have eaten way too much fresh bread from El Corte Inglés and am now ready to clamber into bed and enjoy what promises to be a very exaggerated lie-in tomorrow morning.

Remember you can always contact me via email with feedback by clicking here or on the envelope at the top right of my site – I won’t be creeped out! Just be aware that I won’t be reading any of it until at least tomorrow afternoon… ¡Buenas noches!