As a young, horny man living in his mother’s house in Milan, Italy, Matteo Bologna taught himself how to design type while on the phone with an annoying girlfriend. While she talked and complained and cried for hours on end, he toyed with the seductive curves and shapes of letterforms on his computer, and eventually […]
Category Archives: typography
Roxy Prima On Going Out On Her Own
Roxy Prima will be one of three instructors teaching “The Business of HandLettering,” for Modern Thrive next month. Here she tells us how she got started as a one-woman design/lettering/illustration shop, and how she keeps busy and promotes her work. I started my business after a long time of being unsatisfied working full-time as a […]
When Past Meets Present the Future is Brighter
Dream the Impossible Dream: Craig Welsh Restores a Masterpiece A Nearly Forgotten Font, Euclid, Is Resurrected Through a Nearly Lost Art Form: Wood Type. Though Alvin Lustig left this earth more than 60 years ago, his modern design influence has left an indelible mark in design history. It’s hard to believe that he died so young, at age 40—when […]
Wink & Wonder: Hand-Lettering Goodness
An art director by day, and crafting letters by night, Joanna Munoz is burning the candle at both ends, and loving it. “Wink & Wonder was originally created just for fun, as a way to get back into my love of illustration by making cute greeting cards. I got engaged not long after starting out […]
Design Links: Three Hand-Lettering Artists
Editor’s Note: This is part 19 in Emily Potts’ inspirational series, Design Links. Every other week she features three artists whose work offers fresh, fun, and stimulating creative inspiration. Each artist picks the next link—someone who personally inspires him/her. Check out the last part in the series, featuring Raw Color, The Bouroullecs, and Sabine Marcelis. […]
Lettering for Beginners: A Guide to Getting Started
Lettering for Beginners: 5 Tips to Get You Going From street signs to chalkboard menus to national ad campaigns, hand lettering is everywhere. But it’s also intimidating for those of us who are just getting started. It takes practice, so luckily we have two lettering experts, Annica Lydenberg and Roxy Prima, to give us some […]
Lettering and Calligraphy: How to tell the difference
In recent years, lettering and calligraphy have experienced a resurgence in popularity. These two art forms have a strong kinship and are well worth exploring. You’d be well advised to understand their differences before listing them in your portfolio, though. Martina Flor and Giuseppe Salerno challenged each other a couple of years ago to a competition of […]
Visual Note-Taking: An Exercise in Fluidity & Beauty
Artists and designers are typically great visual notetakers. Some jot images, while others capture important talking points. Carolyn Sewell is one of those people who has elevated her visual notes into a form of art. Her quick-thinking, mark-making skills are not for the faint of heart—it takes skill and focus. Here, she talks about her […]
The Fundamentals of Graphic Design
Timothy Samara is a New York-based graphic designer and educator. He has taught design at the college level for nearly 15 years. As the author of eight graphic design books for Rockport Publishers, his academic reach spans the globe. All of his books have a common thread—they address the fundamentals of graphic design. “The fundamentals […]
The Rise of @Goodtype
Designer Brooke Bucherie, from Austin, Texas, was obsessed with type and hand lettering, so she collected it … sort of. She randomly gathered screen shots of type she loved online, and when her iPhone ran out of space, she started an Instagram feed called @Goodtype in 2013, to store her collection, crediting the artists who […]