Lettering & Type: Creating Letters and Designing Typefaces


Book Description

A guide to type design and lettering that includes relevant theory, history, explanatory diagrams, exercises, photographs, and illustrations, and features interviews with various designers, artists, and illustrators.




Junk Type


Book Description

A graphic compendium of vintage American design and typography. Junk Type is a project driven by the passion of one man to document a disappearing aspect of American culture. Bill Rose—aka Recapturist—is a photographer and designer who has spent the last decade traveling across America looking for junkyards, yard sales, antique stores, and other unlikely sources of inspiration to capture examples of postwar American typography and design before they’re lost forever. Bringing together more than 400 images, this invaluable book is a visual history of postwar America, told through the distinct typography, icons, badges, and branding of the country’s industrial heritage. From Art Deco–inspired fonts and unique handmade cursive lettering to illustrated insignia and clean graphic logos bearing the influence of European design of the 1960s, these pictures together represent an encyclopedic reference of creative typefaces and graphics. With each photograph representing just a detail—an embossed logo, a specially created icon, or an advertising slogan—this book captures the optimism and pragmatism of a golden age of American industrial creativity and distills it into a charming resource for anyone with an eye (or nostalgia) for vintage design.




Learn Calligraphy


Book Description

In an age of myriad computer fonts and instant communication, your handwriting style is increasingly a very personal creation. In this book, Margaret Shepherd, America's premier calligrapher, shows you that calligraphy is not simply a craft you can learn, but an elegant art form that you can make your own. Calligraphy remains perennially popular, often adorning wedding invitations, diplomas, and commercial signs. Whether it is Roman, Gothic, Celtic, Bookhand, or Italic style, calligraphy conveys class and elegance. Margaret Shepherd makes this ancient art form accessible in a completely hand-lettered technical guide that will: * Provide context for calligraphy as an art, exploring the rich tradition of hand-lettering and mapping the evolution of the most popular styles. * Give detailed technical advice on choosing pens, paper, and inks, setting up your workspace, mastering various pen angles, along with step-by-step illustrations to guide you as you practice. * Explain which alphabets are appropriate for different forms of writing. For example, the Roman alphabet works well for short, unpunctuated passages, while the Italic alphabet is more suited to informal everyday communication. * Encourage you to personalize your lettering by using variant strokes and interpreting how you would like the words to look on the page. * Inspire you with carefully chosen illustrations and examples, which bring letters to life. In Margaret Shepherd's own words, "Calligraphy trains not only your eye and hand, but your mind as well." Learn Calligraphy is the authoritative primer for this age-old craft, and will help develop a new appreciation for lettering as you discover your creative personality.




Lettering Design


Book Description




Lettering Large


Book Description

Typography has jumped off the printed page to stand on its own as branding, sculpture, and even architecture. Lettering Large examines this phenomenon through a diverse collection of images collected from a vast range of sources around the world. As technology has made construction and production of monumental letters possible, the demand for their design has grown exponentially. This book is the first to chronicle letters as presences in the urban landscape. Preeminent graphic design and typographic commentator and historian Steve Heller teams with Mirko Ilić, a noted graphic designer, to select the most dramatic and telling examples culled from sites across the United States and throughout Europe and Asia.




The Little Book of Lettering & Word Design


Book Description

In this new series from Walter Foster Publishing, artists and art hobbyists alike will delight in learning a variety of fun and interesting art topics in a portable format boasting a fresh, contemporary design. Filled with open practice pages, creative exercises, and art prompts, The Little Book of Lettering & Word Design encourages interactivity for immediate results, while also teaching beginners the fundamentals of the featured medium in an engaging and fun way. In The Little Book of Lettering & Word Design, aspiring artists will discover how to create a range of classic and contemporary calligraphy and hand-lettered fonts. Internationally acclaimed calligrapher John Stevens and other renowned hand-lettering artists lead the way with tips and techniques. Following an introduction to inks, nibs, pens, and papers, as well as an overview of basic techniques, readers will learn dozens of original alphabets and lettering designs ranging from funky and fun, to elegant and embellished. Tips for adding personal touches to letters and designing personalized alphabets are also included! With an alphabet and lettering design for every occasion and easy-to-follow instructions, this book is perfect for everyone who wants to create stunning handwriting and calligraphy.




Brand by Hand


Book Description

The legendary graphic designer shares a retrospective of his most influential and unforgettable work in this career-spanning memoir. Brand by Hand documents the work, career, and artistic inspiration of graphic designer extraordinaire Jon Contino. A born-and-bred New Yorker, Jon’s upbringing comes through in the way he talks—and, most importantly, in the way he designs. He is the founder and creative director of Jon Contino Studio, and for more than two decades, he has built a massive collection of award-winning graphic-design work for high-profile clients such as Nike, 20th Century Fox, and Sports Illustrated. Over the course of his career, Jon has gone to design hell and back, facing obstacles like fear, self-doubt, and bad luck. Brand by Hand documents the evolution of his work, exploring his lifelong devotion to the guts and grime of New York and cementing his biggest artistic inspirations, from hardcore music to America’s favorite pastime. Brand by Hand showcases Jon’s minimalist illustrations and unmistakable hand-lettering. It also shares how he took a passion for pen and ink and turned it into an expanding empire of clients, merchandise, and artwork.




Guide to Mindful Lettering


Book Description




The Art of Lettering


Book Description

From whimsical to elegant, and old-school influences to new school—Goodtype’s The Art of Lettering showcases dynamic hand lettering from today’s young and sought-after typographers and calligraphers, stoking creative inspiration for graphic designers, artists, and type enthusiasts alike. Hand lettering is making a comeback, bursting out of its graphic-design bubble and finding a mainstream via collecting social media sites like Instagram and Pinterest. The avid interest in hand lettering seemingly goes hand in hand with the weariness audiences feel with constant slick digital presentation of the information they consume. The Art of Lettering collects myriad new and established graphic designers for whom hand lettering is a time-honored art that has modern applications. Showcasing more than 100 artists from all over the world, the book displays their typographic takes and illustrates their perfectly imperfect handcrafted art, from beautiful photographs of concept sketches to the end result. Straying away from traditional pen calligraphy, artists today employ new and creative approaches, including building type with coffee grounds, watercolors, and combinations of different hand tools, resulting in a dynamically fresh approach to creating type.




Great Type & Lettering Designs


Book Description

A lively showcase of innovative, beautiful and practical typographic designs, from top designers such as Tim Girvin, Gerard Huerta, and Jennifer Morla; as well as international publications including LA Style magazine, New York magazine and Rolling Stone Magazine.