Designing Typefaces

The question has often come up this quarter about how to design your own typefaces. My first thought is to ask, how experimental is this? Are you talking 26 letters, or 700 glyphs? A good place to begin would be to read this reference book, Designing Type by David Earls. Then sit down and begin drawing. Oh, and notice how the book title so nicely mimics the font in the title above it!

Marian Bantjes Business Card

She just continues to amaze!

Paper Letters of the Other Kind

London design consultancy, Johnson Banks, created a series of nice posters in the mid-nineties based entirely on letterforms made from folded or 'found' paper-related objects. Very inspired!

CD Album Cover Artwork Assignment

1. Go here and choose the third photo, no matter what it is, as your album cover.

2. Go here and select the last four words of the very last quote as the title of your album.

3. Go here and select the first article title on the page as the name of your band.

4. On a separate layer, produce all the text as either handmade letterforms or altered digital fonts. Merge layers together to complete your album artwork.

5. Send me a jpeg.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Maira Kalman is back on the nytimes.com blog with her charming handlettered paintings portraying her recent experiences at the inauguration in DC.