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Typography is one of the main focus of this travel mug design, so I shall first do some research on inspirational typographers and perhaps hand-lettering artists. I shall possibly include an overlap of typography and illustration in this post to make things easier, but I might do a separate post on illustration on its own.
I had built up on this post throughout my project, so these inspirational typographers were ones that I found over the duration of the whole research and experimentation process. I might create a new post later on if I find anyone near to the end of the project.
Moodboard
Typography is one of the main focus of this travel mug design, so I shall first do some research on inspirational typographers and perhaps hand-lettering artists. I shall possibly include an overlap of typography and illustration in this post to make things easier, but I might do a separate post on illustration on its own.
I had built up on this post throughout my project, so these inspirational typographers were ones that I found over the duration of the whole research and experimentation process. I might create a new post later on if I find anyone near to the end of the project.
Moodboard
Now that I know the brief of one of my APP, I’m going to continue to look for inspiration on hand lettering as I still don’t really know much about it. Here is my first mood board from the “possible ideas” post:
I want to look mainly at typography and their form, but I’ll also include those with illustration in it (or I’ll never find it again!) Now that I have Pinterest I find it easier to gather inspiration because I wouldn’t have to create a mood board in Photoshop and link everything, as Pinterest links the images back to their original sources.
Image sources: Matt Hunsberger http://www.saysomethingposters.com/2011/12/21/it-doesnt-matter-how-slow-you-go-as-long-as-you-dont-stop/; Oh So Beautiful Paper http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2013/09/calligraphy-inspiration-hardink-calligraphy/; Oh So Beautiful Paper http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2013/09/well-said-type-31/; Fabian De Lange http://www.behance.net/gallery/London-Show-us-your-type/9552693; Printerette Press http://www.printerettepress.com/; Madison Park Group http://madisonparkgroup.com/ (Photo credits from Oh So Beautiful Paper); Kate Forrester (2) http://www.kateforrester.co.uk/; Joan Quiros http://www.behance.net/JoanQuiros; Steph Baxter http://www.behance.net/stephsayshello; Shauna Lynn http://www.shaunaparmesan.com/; Svetlana Lomakina http://www.behance.net/lomakina; Jill De Haan http://www.behance.net/jilldehaanart; Mary Kate McDevitt http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MaryKateMcDevitt; Jessica Hische http://jessicahische.is/awesome; Aoirostudio http://creattica.com/typography/the-grid-inspired-by-tron-legacy/49235; Christopher Fowler http://christopherfowler.deviantart.com/; Jamie Smith http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiesmithdesign/; Craig Ward http://www.behance.net/wordsarepictures; Adolfo Correa http://www.behance.net/kultsi; Sam Bevington http://thebevlak.com/
To view more of my inspirations you can look at my ‘Typography’ collection here. I have collected as many inspirational pieces I can so not all of them would relate to this project.
Inspirational Typographers
Inspirational Typographers
Sean McCabe
After looking at all of these I’ve noticed that I tend to be more interested in calligraphy, and this could prove to be a problem for me as I’m aiming to do a unisex design. So I went to have a look further into typography and I came across Sean Wes’ (or Sean McCabe) website: http://seanwes.com/
After looking at all of these I’ve noticed that I tend to be more interested in calligraphy, and this could prove to be a problem for me as I’m aiming to do a unisex design. So I went to have a look further into typography and I came across Sean Wes’ (or Sean McCabe) website: http://seanwes.com/
I really admire his work because he has managed to integrate different typestyles in his pieces and yet makes them look as if they belong together. He doesn’t just use script, but sans serif and serif fonts as well.
I like how in the photos he posts he also shows what kind of materials he uses, so that I would know which pens are good for hand lettering.
Looking further into his website I noticed that he has a tab “learn”, and taking a look at it he has explained how to get into hand-lettering and, surprisingly, it isn’t by looking at books but by constant practice. It’s important to know your typeface characteristics as well (so maybe that would cover reading books) but apart from that, the best way to do it is to practice so that I could understand layout and form better. He also has an Instagram where he posts videos to show the process of his hand lettering pieces.
His spacing of type is so accurate that it looks almost digitalised, but at the same time there is that 'organic' texture to it because of the way he has drawn his letters at different sizes.
Steve Simpson - http://www.behance.net/stevesimpson
It was Steve Simpson who actually inspired me to do this project - as I initially had been cautious about doing it as I've never done hand lettering before - because his designs were very 'fun' and interesting to look at! There's always something to look at, and it's clear that there's some underlying aspect of Mexican influence in his work and after having a look at his gallery I can see that he's done several pieces on the Day of the Dead.
This is one of his many illustrations where he has included hand lettering in it. He used only three colours for this piece – orange, blue/green and cream – and although this may have limited his design it doesn’t overwhelm it because it’s already incredibly detailed. He has highlighted some of the parts of this illustration by using patterns or even the lack of patterns (e.g. the part in Sheldon’s head has a plain background with bold colours for the typography, which looks ‘plain’ compared to the patterns around ‘DR.’)This colour combination, as mentioned before, is very bold and quirky which could reflect Sheldon's character as (from what I could tell from one or two episodes of The Big Bang Theory) he's quite quirky and is an absolute genius, and doesn't really hide this from others. He isn't afraid to admit things that people would've otherwise been embarrassed about like the fact that his mother had him tested for being crazy.
This amount of detail is what really caught my eye in the first place. It’s busy without being too busy, and there’s always something I’ve missed every time I look at it again. Even though it has been digitised this illustration still has that authentic appearance as the type doesn’t really have a strict appearance, as everything isn’t at the same size with the same x-height. The type style is generally sans serif although the word ‘Big’ is in serif. This might be because sans serifs are a lot easier to draw up on the computer and has more of a casual and friendly appearance. In this illustration the sans serif makes it look a bit quirky because even though it appears that he’s using just one ‘typeface’, the variation in letter sizes makes everything look slightly different in a very subtle way.
He has even included a quick video on how he took this design onto Photoshop! I was a bit surprised that it was done in Photoshop as I thought it was vectorised in Illustrator. Whenever I have worked in Illustrator I find myself trying to perfect all of the shapes so that they were accurate but Simpson hasn’t really done this; another thing that emphasizes this illustration being hand drawn.
Conclusion:
This illustration has a very fun and busy appearance full of vibrant colours, and the fact that he hasn’t done everything perfectly – such as the type – emphasizes the fact that it was originally hand drawn.
His other pieces:
Overall Conclusion:
His pieces have an overall ‘fun’ and cartoonish appearance, which just proves that you don’t have to be completely accurate when it comes to drawing forms because mistakes just emphasizes that it’s hand done instead of just being generated on the computer. This produces a more organic appearance, and I would like to include this within my piece as I’m not too keen on working directly onto the computer.
Steph Baxter’s work is quite similar to Steve Simpson’s, which shows a trend in typography and illustration being mixed today in a very cartoon-inspired manner. Linzie Hunter is another perfect example of this as well as several other typographers as shown in my Typography board on Pinterest. Instead of analyzing Baxter and Hunter’s work in incredible detail I shall just underline the main aspects that really caught my eye and that I find most useful for this project.
This illustration contrasts strongly Steve Simpson’s work because there aren’t many decorative features, although it does have that cartoon appearance. She has also used some patterns to make the illustration more interesting (such as the owl’s wings and eyes) yet her type is leaning on the more cursive style. Even her sans serifs have some sort of decoration like in the ascenders and the ‘s’. There is a variation of sizes in the letterforms as well, much like Simpson’s letters. Is this a possible trend?
I’m not too sure what software Baxter uses in her designs but for some reason I wouldn’t think that it was entirely vectorised because the edges of some of the illustration is quite shaky, something that might be produced if she had painted it in Photoshop. However I could be wrong because she doesn’t exactly say how she works digitally.
Conclusion:
This piece strengthens the idea that the variation in letter sizes could be a possible hand-lettering trend, as both Steve Simpson and Linzie Hunter have used this style in their work.
Other pieces:
Overall Conclusion:
I’ve also noticed another reoccurring trend within her pieces: the limited colour palette. This together with type variation and cartoon aspects perhaps form what’s popular with typography right now.
Linzie Hunter - http://www.linziehunter.co.uk/
I've already mentioned Linzie Hunter in the previous analyse and even though I won't be going into much detail I still wanted to make a little section for her as she was one of the first typographers I had a look at (I actually found her work before I clapped eyes onto Steph Baxter).
Hunter's work is very similar to Steve Simpson's in the sense that she seems to prefer sans serifs, as shown in the hand-lettering illustration above. Composition is key here because despite there being a lot of information to take in, they are all placed in the right places and not too close to one another. This composition reminds me of a jigsaw puzzle, and I could just imagine her sketching each little part out before putting them all together carefully.
The 'speech bubbles' that she has placed all of the information on vary in design which makes it even more interesting to look at. There's no focus on any piece in particular because everything has been done differently. I would love to do my quote in speech bubbles!
She has been very playful when it comes to type because she has jumbled up quite a few styles together, and even included a variation in some of the words (e.g. "high contrast", "safe" and "sharks"). This makes it look a lot more fun even though it's about dangers of sharks, and makes this piece more memorable because it's so exciting to look at. This aspect is what sets Hunter apart from both Simpson and Baxter, and I would love to try this out in my design.
The colour palette seems to consist of around three or four colours but no more than that. This highlights another possible trend in hand-lettering illustrations, as both Simpson and Baxter have done this in their work. These colours seem to be set at different opacities so maybe there are only three colours but at different opacities to make it appear like there's more.
These colours relate to the infographic in the sense that they mainly consist of blues and greens - colours of the sea - and the orange is extremely bold and stands out from the others. Orange is a much softer colour to red and could also be highlighting the dangers of the seas, especially where sharks tend to dwell. The blue and greens calm the orange down: the calm before the storm, perhaps?
Conclusion:
I really like the fact that Hunter has kept to no more than three colours because otherwise it would overwhelm the piece. I also like the little "speech bubbles" because they have been drawn in unusual shapes, and the fact that she has included two sharks in there without going into incredible detail so that there's more of a focus on the information. The exciting appearance makes this information a lot more memorable and a really good way to set out an infographic.
Her other pieces:
Overall conclusion:
I really like her choice of colours and she seems to choose maybe two harmonious colours like blue, but then one really bold colour, like red (as seen in the example above). Even though this is an unusual combination it makes it more interesting because she's thinking outside-the-box. This might be good for me to try out in my design to make it more fun!
Matthew Tapia - http://www.matthewtapia.tumblr.com/
Matthew Tapia's work is very different to the ones I have previously analysed as he is more of a letterer rather than an illustrator, so his focus is solely on the letterforms. His work is quite similar to Sean McCabe's (aka Sean Wes) in this sense however he tends to stick to just one type style in most of his work.
Most of his work posted on his tumblr are unfinished sketches, and I found this quite inspirational because he shows all of the guides he uses as well as areas he had scribbled over. It provides an insight on how he has considered where to put all of the letters and how tall the cap-height is, although there's no sign of the x-height so maybe he already has a rough idea and is used to not drawing it anymore. He has also included arrows where he wants to shift particular letters so maybe he would redo this type digitally?
The image above is an example of one of these sketches, and there is a hint of illustration being mixed in it because of the way he has laid out the type and had the banner wrap around the letter 'B'. I really like how the crossbar of the H connects with A as it makes it more ornate as if the type is in fact an illustration rather than just letters. This reminds me of Art Nouveau as it's very curvy although it's not overly decorative. This goes the same for some of the other letters like 'S', 'B', 'H' and 'A'.
He has experimented with layout so that even though most sides are aligned it isn't in a very strict structure thanks to the varying sizes of the letters and the combination of the banner and question mark. The borders at the bottom - one of which is unfinished - breaks the mold slightly as well.
The differences in letter sizes aren't done so that some letters overwhelm others, but it highlights those which would be capital letters (even all of them are drawn in uppercase). The kerning also differs from each word as it's very close together for "Best" as the characters are so close that they join together, and this highlights the word's importance because normally people would say, "what's the worst that could happen?" instead of "best". This throws a positive light on the quote overall.
Conclusion:
I really like the varying sizes and general layout of this piece, especially because I hope to make my quote ornate without being too elaborate. However I might stick to sans serif because it has an overall 'friendlier' appearance.
Here are some of his other pieces:
Overall conclusion:
Matthew Tapia seems to focus more on serif typestyles which is quite different to the previous people I have analysed. It's quite nice to see it being used decoratively and I'm a bit more persuaded to try it out!
Bryan Patrick Todd - http://bryanpatricktodd.com/
Here there is a mixture of different typefaces, both sans serif and serif fonts. At first I thought that this was all digitised and already-made fonts if it wasn't for the fact that some of the letters have decorative features (e.g. the 'n' and 't' of "winter"). There aren't any 'mistakes' of hints that show that this has been sketched out and hand-lettered, unlike in Steve Simpson's work where he had used various heights and widths to emphasise the fact that it was first done by hand.
This piece is more illustrative than Tapia's work because of the composition of the words and the swirls and borders. I particularly like the swash - if we could call it that - on the 's' of "spring" and how it bends beneath "the", and this goes the same for 'L' of "love" because the word beneath fits around the tail.
What is quite unusual is the mixture of uppercase and lower case letters, because some words are all drawn in uppercase but others have a mixture. This could create quite a confusing combination because it's hard to tell if it is one sentence or more. Whenever I see a word in uppercase I think that the person is shouting and this could be reflected in the way that these "shouty" words contrast with the ones that are lowercase as they would be spoken softly. These "soft" words are mostly in a cursive style which supports my theory.
Conclusion:
It's strange that there is a mixture of uppercase and lowercase forms but I quite like how each word fits around the one it's next to, like "love" and "winter".
Other pieces:
Overall conclusion:
Todd draws really decorative typefaces, especially on the tails of most words that are at the edges of the composition, and by doing this he makes the letterforms a work of art. No illustration is necessary to back the piece up or make it seem less 'plain', although if I did something like this it might be hard for me to fit in some illustration as it might overwhelm the overall design.
Overall Conclusion of Research:
With all of these inspirational illustrators/letterers I can easily flick back to this page to have a quick skim through whenever I'm running out of inspiration. I'll also keep on adding to my Typography Pinterest board as well.
I think that by analysing some existing designs/illustrations has really helped me understand why they did things a certain way, and I should be able to carry some of this knowledge onto my designs.
[n] Learning Outcome
Bryan Patrick Todd - http://bryanpatricktodd.com/
Here there is a mixture of different typefaces, both sans serif and serif fonts. At first I thought that this was all digitised and already-made fonts if it wasn't for the fact that some of the letters have decorative features (e.g. the 'n' and 't' of "winter"). There aren't any 'mistakes' of hints that show that this has been sketched out and hand-lettered, unlike in Steve Simpson's work where he had used various heights and widths to emphasise the fact that it was first done by hand.
This piece is more illustrative than Tapia's work because of the composition of the words and the swirls and borders. I particularly like the swash - if we could call it that - on the 's' of "spring" and how it bends beneath "the", and this goes the same for 'L' of "love" because the word beneath fits around the tail.
What is quite unusual is the mixture of uppercase and lower case letters, because some words are all drawn in uppercase but others have a mixture. This could create quite a confusing combination because it's hard to tell if it is one sentence or more. Whenever I see a word in uppercase I think that the person is shouting and this could be reflected in the way that these "shouty" words contrast with the ones that are lowercase as they would be spoken softly. These "soft" words are mostly in a cursive style which supports my theory.
Conclusion:
It's strange that there is a mixture of uppercase and lowercase forms but I quite like how each word fits around the one it's next to, like "love" and "winter".
Other pieces:
Overall conclusion:
Todd draws really decorative typefaces, especially on the tails of most words that are at the edges of the composition, and by doing this he makes the letterforms a work of art. No illustration is necessary to back the piece up or make it seem less 'plain', although if I did something like this it might be hard for me to fit in some illustration as it might overwhelm the overall design.
Overall Conclusion of Research:
With all of these inspirational illustrators/letterers I can easily flick back to this page to have a quick skim through whenever I'm running out of inspiration. I'll also keep on adding to my Typography Pinterest board as well.
I think that by analysing some existing designs/illustrations has really helped me understand why they did things a certain way, and I should be able to carry some of this knowledge onto my designs.
[n] Learning Outcome
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