Smashing Magazine likes to, on occasion gather together a massive archive of inspiration and spew it out into one ginormous blog post. They recently clustered together some of their favorite recent examples of bold and experimental typography. You will notice if you frequent Changethethought often, that I have covered several of the designers that are mentioned. It’s a great source though to have them all in one huge post and you can find some really spectacular work in there.
Andreas Pihlström has a new type foundry entitled, Subtype. There are only a few typefaces available so far with more in the works I am sure, but what is there is very well done. There are also a couple freebies that are worth the download.
I am sure if you trawl the internet as much as I do you have stumbled across Jonathon Yule’s (AKA INVDR) fontbots. They are robot-like characters comprised of Yule’s favorite fonts. The bots are made of Akzidenz Grotesk, Helvetica and Futura which I would dare say are probably the favorite fonts of many a designer. They happen to be my favorite fonts as well, along with Lubalin Graph and Avant Garde.
Jonathon Yule is currently a resident of Ontario, Canada and seeking commission for freelance work.
Alphafont 1.0 was a type project I did back in 2006. I created a library of hand drawn, funky type that I later used in various projects. My original ambitious plan was to link with a code-guru and actually dial in Alphafont 1.0, so each time you hit a letter you would get a different version of it. This way, a full typed page would have very minimal letterform repetition. Well… I slept on that one and never followed through with it. But I have been grinding away on this “Alphafont 2.0” since February. Definitely psyched about how it turned out. Has a bit of the vibe from MWM Xacto and MWM Crenshaw.
Fellow typography nerds… Feel free to download the MWM Alphafont 2.0 Desktop Wallpaper. (*Absolutely NOT for commercial use, altering, sampling…). Enjoy! Click-Zoom.
It’s obvious by their website that Amsterdam-based graphic designers Richard Niessen & Esther de Vries don’t really design websites. What they do is create really great print work with an especially notable amount of attention given to typography and color. Their site is tough to look at and a little daunting at first to try to figure out where to click but once you start, you will be rewarded by some really stunning layouts.
Elsa Chaves is a freelance graphic designer working out of Brooklyn, NY. Her recent
design and layout of the Type Director’s ClubAnnual 28 is very beautiful and available
at bookstores now. She is available for both freelance and full time work. Check out her work here.
How do you choose typography when asked to solve a design problem? It’s a tough question that plagues a lot of young designers and usually takes some time and experience to begin developing a sense of what is appropriate and what isn’t. Personally, I either custom create or modify a lot of the typography that I use. I do have my stock of favorites though that changes based on time and trends but there are a few permanent residents including the obvious like Futura, Helvetica and Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk.
I Love Typography ran an interesting article titled, ‘On Choosing Type’ on the subject here. I found some of it very useful and think it is an article that offers up some great pointers for aspiring designers on a difficult-to-master topic.
Fonstruct is apparently still in beta mode but it is an exiting new idea that I am sure will quickly gain popularity amongst the design and typography crowd. The site offers an online application that allows users to construct their own font. After building your font you can then save and download it in a zip file. The application allows you to preview and tweak the kerning of the letters as well. It looks like it could be really cool. I have wanted to work with a font application for some time now and have never gotten around to purchasing one so I may give this a try. It’s a great resource for any designer and probably a good study in typography in terms of the experience. You can also view and download the creations of other users.
As I said, it appears to still be in beta mode but if you consider yourself an early adopter, you can go to Fontsruct now and try it out.
Superexpresso is the work of Michele Angelo. Michele was born Italy. He studied painting originally which eventually gave way to visual and industrial design. Years later he moved to and still resides in the amazing city of Barcelona. He currently works as a freelance designer. He believes in a hand-crafted approach to design and loves the contrast between modern technology and more cut and paste hand-style techniques. He has worked for numerous clients and has also collaborated with another exceptional typographer, Alex Trochut.
Need some inspiration for today? How about 80 pieces of inspiration? 80 from a collection of 500 that is. This short video shows hand-drawn typographic posters by Job Wouters promoting the students final works at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam.
There’s not much more to say about these…I could talk about all 80 posters but we’d be here for a while…
If you are like me and constantly on the lookout for effective typefaces, I came across a very enlightening post on Smash Magazine today featuring 60 brilliant typefaces for corporate design. It is an exceptional collection that I myself found very useful and will definitely be collecting in a library for future use in my daily work as an Art Director. It’s always nice to be able to group typefaces in clusters to help you get started on a project that might be in a particular vein. Corporate projects can be particularly difficult because the type needs to not only communicate literally but also exude personality that helps deliver the message in a one-two punch, especially when you are talking about advertising headlines. So, thank you Smash Magazine for making my job just a little easier. I’ll say a little prayer for you.
According to Vandling’s website:
I’m a London based Swedish graphic designer/illustrator who recently finished my MA in Communication Art & Design at the Royal College of Art. I’m currently available for freelance commissions and/or full-time employment.
His typography work is really fantastic, particularly his Unfinished Body alphabet. The poster created for the font is something that I would love to have hanging on my wall. To see what all the hub-bub is about take a spin around his portfolio.
Seth A. Ferris is a self-ascribed Type Nerd. He is a designer-for-hire living in L.A. His work is subtle and exceptional. I absolutely love that he actually owns the URL ‘typenerd.com‘. How could any good designer ever forget that web address?
Fiodor Sumkin has updated his website with a grip of newness. The standout, in my opinion would have to be his typography section. It is wall to wall filled with some great examples of analog typography. I only wish he had them available for purchase.
Job Wouters, AKA Letman describes himself as cuckoo about letters and it shows in his poster work. They are filled with experimental forms and come in a wide array of colors showing varied influences, but they are almost all good in their entirety.
If you are in the market for some free experimental fonts, you can download a nice little pack here, based on Helvetica but made with the tasty goodness of ketchup and toothpaste. Download some free deliciousness now.
Oliver Munday has done some striking type arrangements and created some great illustrations for the New York Times. He hails from Baltimore, Maryland and you can check out his tasty print goodness right here.
05/14 EDWARDS BACKS OBAMA A pleasant surprise for the Obama campaign today came in the shape of an endorsement from John Edwards. Do I smell a new VP on the Obama ticket?
05/12 EARTHQUAKE KILLS 9000 A terrible earthquake measuring 7.9 on the richter scale rocked Chengdu, China yesterday. Authorities are claiming it is the worst in decades and the death toll may now be close to 9000.
05/10 100,000 DEAD I am sure by now you have heard all about this but the scale of human tragedy is just shattering. As many as 100,000 may now be dead in the wake of the Myanmar cyclone. Please Myanmar, let foreign aid workers help you.
05/06 SDSU DRUG BUST Nearly 100 people, most of them students at San Diego State University have been arrested as part of a drug investigation. I am sure there will be plenty of room for them in the California Penal System. I think they are running short on inmates the last time I checked.
05/02 HEPARIN TAMPERING This case of what is now being called ‘deliberate’ tampering with the drug Heparin in order to substitute a cheap alternative and save money is deplorable. We have to hold the FDA to higher standards.
