by abby on January 7, 2013 | Comment
“Font Finds” is back! (I know its been awhile, but better now than never!)
Have you noticed over the last couple of years the number of handwritten scripts and printed letter typefaces being used has exploded? It seems the more high tech we are becoming the more we want our world to look low tech.
This trend doesn’t bother me one bit. I LOVE the handwritten letter! I’m even experimenting with creating script writing with my gouache paints, but more on this later. The handwritten font is now trendy in corporate America. Hallmark’s new “Life is a Special Occasion” logo is a great example of this trend. Even their website has been reworked to compliment the handwritten look and feel of this new marketing campaign.
Sadly, Hallmark doesn’t allow this specific handwritten font to be released to the public. But not to worry! I’ve found a few other fabulous handwriting fonts that I’ve been using in my own design projects.
Mr Moustache
It’s so spunky and cute! I love all the touches of curls. These letterforms just makes you smile.
Bombshell Pro
Va-va-voom! C’est tres sexy, non? This calligraphic font is so luxurious.
Skinny Latte
Skinny Latte is youthful and silly. I get a “tween feeling” from it. It’s quirky as if its still growing into its own shoes. Think about mixing and matching the tall lowercase letters with the uppercase ones for some real design fun.
Have you seen a great example of a handwritten font?
by abby on August 31, 2012 | Comment
With the passing of Labor Day weekend,New York students and teachers had back to school next week. There may be some grumbles, but the start of school and Fall offers a unique opportunity—the chance for a new beginning!
For me I’m pushing myself to be brave and start projects that have been on my to do list for waaaaaay too long. I’ve been scared to fail at them. But fear should not decide my future. It’s time to push fear aside and take hold of my goals. I might stumble and fall, but I will be moving forward and learning from each step! I rather try than do nothing. I’m using the fresh start of the school season to jump on these projects. Once a little progress has been made I’ll share what I’ve been working on.
Happy Back to School!
by abby on April 9, 2012 | Comment
In light that this week is Passover, I would like to share with you images from The New American Haggadah published by Little Brown and Company. It’s a gorgeous book with fabulous type as art!
It’s designed by the Isrealis graphic and type designer, Oded Ezer. He went beyond just typesetting the manuscript. Instead, he took sections of the hebrew text and created works of art to illuminate the pages. He wanted the haggadah to only be typographic, but through his use of a variety of mediums including: wax from Chanukah candles, ink, cut paper, and even a kitchen torch, he created compelling works of art.
I truly love the feel of the traditional mediums to manipulate the hebrew letters. There’s an immediate human connection with the words when they are drawn by hand. Even Ezber said in an interview with Imprint-The Online Community for Graphic Designers, “If I touch the letters, I think and I hope that people will be touched by them.” It’s so true. Well done.
by abby on April 3, 2012 | Comment
It’s been quite awhile since I posted a Font Find, so I thought I’d share with you a couple of fonts with playful gylphs that can make your designs even more fun.
The first is: Birthday Doodles by Outside the Line.
This font features all sorts of cute drawings of all things party related: cakes, cupcakes, streamers,and confetti. I love energy shown in the line work. The cakes on pedestals are my favorites!
The other font find is: Monstro by Ricardo Marcin & Erica Jung.
Who doesn’t like a cute monster? This collection of monster pictographs is fantastic! Each monster has such personality. The gritty texture of the letterforms, which are paired with these glyphs, adds to the mischievous tone of monsters themselves. It would be a blast to design with this group of characters!
by abby on November 1, 2011 | Comment
November first marks the start of the holiday season in my mind. It’s the time to decorate your home for the holidays, but more importantly its time to get those ovens warming and your baking tins ready! It’s the season for homemade baked goodies! I know that Thanksgiving isn’t really Thanksgiving without my mom’s Pumpkins cookies and her Pumpkin Pie. I can already see the filled cookie jar waiting for me….
To celebrate the baking season, I’ve collected three fonts that remind me of that same handmade love. These fonts would also work wonderfully as the typefaces for your labels or notes that get attached to the holiday goody bags.
MISHKA
Mishka is our first homemade goody font find. It’s a lovely retro-esque scriptface. I adore the elegant loops and swashes, but it’s not over done and the letterforms are still very legible. There just something very friendly and approachable about this typeface.
RHYTHM ONE
Rhythm One is our second treat for the day. It’s another script but this one is slightly more formal, even a touch metropolitan. I think it the geometric letterforms and the pointed serifs that give it this formality. Do you have a fancy dessert to gift? A note or label in this font would add the right amount of elegance.
POPULAIRE
Populaire is our icing on the cake. We are back to another friendly font, but this one is a sans serif typeface. Often sans serif fonts are cold and without much personality. However, Populaire is filled with character! The letterforms have little nuances that create a hand drawn look and feel. The condense letterforms offer you more bang for your buck when using this typeface on smaller baked good labels as well.
Well, we tasted three delicious typefaces today. I hope this gets your appetite ready for the next couple of months of delicious holiday type and treats.
by abby on September 27, 2011 | Comment
Those of you who have seen me know that I am fond of curls. I proudly rock a head of thick, curly, brown hair. It look several years to figure out how to tame my curls and fight the fizz and excess. I feel that decorative curls in display type have also refined over the years. We have come a long way since the overly bubbly, high school cheer leader-like, Curlz typeface of the 90′s.
I’ve collected three of my favorite recent finds of type that add a touch of flare with curls. In all three examples, you’ll notice that these modern display typefaces add accents of curls to certain letters. Absence makes the heart grow fonder! The letter forms that do show the “swooshes” capture our attention and create the extra drama needed for display type.
I love the capital G in our first font find. Everyone, say hello to LiebeDoni. I found this font through My Fonts. Apparently, this guy is all the talk of the town and it was posted on My Fonts Hot New Fonts. Who can argue with all the surge of enthusiasm for this typeface! LiebeDoni’s ligatures are delightful. The informal line quality itself gives this font a playful hand drawn quality, but not so much that it looses its sophistication. Can’t wait to try this font in an assignment!
Pluto is another My Fonts typeface that gives its sans serif self a touch of light-heartedness. It’s almost like it’s a bit of an awkward adolescent. The top curve of the capital C feels as if it comes down too close to the other end, making it feel slightly awkward. But somehow this makes it endearing to me. I also love the movement created by the curved feet on the lower case type.
With 2 My Fonts typefaces already a hit with me, why mess with success?
My third font find is called Solomon and it has wonderful dramatic swirls in the capital S and lowercase b. Is it me or does this sans serif font feel a little sexy? Must be all those slinking curls that your eye rolls over. Once again the curls add warmth to the sans serif type. It’s all the little details that make this font friendly and flirty. For instance, did you notice the slight back bend of the ascender in the lower case k? How about the just shy curve of the lower case e on its base? These are wonderful quirky details that give this typeface life!
Did I inspire you? Do you adore curls now? Are you mysteriously craving sticking buns?
by abby on August 18, 2011 | Comment
I’ll admit it. I’m a type junkie. Who liked the movie Helvetica? Me. Who finds metal type cases incredibly exciting. Me. Who gives directions by supplying commentary on the lack of kerning on store fronts? Me. But you could say that in my line of work being so exhilarated and discerning about letter forms is useful! I’m going to start a series of posts about my find finds. It’s like a treasure hunt—expect that you get to skip the crocodiles and the endless hours of bad type. I’ll do the heavy lifter for this assignment.
Today I would like to share with you a couple of my script finds. Plainly said: To find a beautiful script font is difficult. Yes, I know there are soooooo many available, but I meant to clarify by saying the script needs to be beautiful and legible. Just yesterday, I came across 2 very different scripts, but I’d say they are beautiful in their own right.
The first was gifted to me by Fonthaus. It’s the new Laura Worthington font: Samantha. It’s just delicious! Look at all those elegant swashes. It’s got the script “bang” effect for the large decorative capital letters, but it’s also very simple and straightforward for the lowercase letters.
Want some more incentive to get this font? Well, it comes with catch words and buckets of extra swashes and, AND, numbers in standard and old style form. Gasp! So much for your money.
But if your budget only reads FREE for fonts I can still offer you an option. Myfonts offers a great script called Magesta.
Call it grunge with some elegance, perhaps? I love the simple rhythm created in the gentle swashes and the lean of the type that delights the eye. Bring the old world into the modern one as this is also a webfont. Start designing that letterpress inspired wedding website you’ve been wanting!
More font finds are on there way. And as you know I’m always interested in any suggestions or tips as to where to find great type.
by abby on August 12, 2011 | Comment
As I promised, the items you saw in my Park Ave Fest booth are being uploaded to my Etsy shop. This week, I’ve added several of the mixed card sets and prints of my children’s illustrations. Looking for something a little different from the same old cards you find in Target or Hallmark? Stop by my shop for a variety of card sets and individual cards for every occasion. All of my cards and prints are handmade and packaged in my studio in Rochester, NY.
New this season are the mixed cards sets.These sets give you several card design options with one purchase! Here are a sampling of a few of the collections.
The Summer Bug Collection
This mixed card set features 2 cards of the Ladybugs, Bumble Bees, and Dragonfiles. The interior is blank and they are paired with wonderful earthy Kraft brown envelopes with European pointed flaps.
The Red Birds Collection
Get a jump on your holiday shopping with this collection! (I used them for my own holiday cards last year with great success). The Red Bird card set features 2 designs of the Red Birds in Blue Hats, the single Red Bird in a green hat, and the large group of Red Birds. The cards are blank on the inside to let you personalize your own greeting and they are paired with a delicious red envelopes with European pointed flaps.
Doodles Thank You Note Collection
Say it with style! Whether you want to say it in English or French these thank you notes cards will surely send a smile as well as send gratitude. The Doodles collection features 3 cards of the English Thank You and the Merci Beaucoup. With a blank interior you can create your own message of thanks and they are paired with Kraft brown envelopes.
After popular request I’ve also created two birthday card collections—one for smaller A2 cards (4.25″ x 5.5″) and one for bigger A6 cards (4.4″ x 6.25″).
Happy Birthday Collection One (smaller)
This birthday group features 2 designs of The Cake Slice, The Doodles Happy Birthday, and the Hip Hip Hooray Birds. These cards are A2 in size and they each are paired with a different colored envelope with European pointed flaps. Only the Hip Hip Hooray Bird card has “happy birthday” printed on the interior.
Happy Birthday Collection Two (bigger)
Once again with this mix of cards you received 2 designs of: The Cake Baker, The Mountain Climber, and the Party Hats card. These cards are A6 in size and they are paired with their own colored envelope. The Cake Baker card has “Happy Birthday” printed in pink script on the inside. The other two cards are blank.
Every Occasion Collection
And for those who can’t make a decision for what set to buy? I have an Every Occasion Collection of 6 cards with envelopes. Included is: Anniversary Hearts, Party Hats B-day, Ladybug Just Because Card, Hi Birds, Doodles Thank You, and 2 Birds Happy Graduation.
If you have a set in mind that you didn’t see here, please send me an email and I’ll create one for you. I’m always open to hear new ideas. Next week you’ll see a sampling of my children’s illustration digital prints for sale!
by abby on July 21, 2011 | Comment
What a week it has been! From the look of my studio you can tell I’m a busy gal. Scraps of tissue paper show sketch ideas for a happy frog illustration, unfinished test prints on new FABULOUS watercolor paper are strewn about, and I have a zillion rejected book layouts in a pile next to my desk that just didn’t make the cut to first pass. You’ll find no arguments from me. I’m one happy creative girl, when I’m a busy creative girl.
Among all the artistic chaos, one project actually wrapped up this week. Over the last several months I’ve been fortunate to work with former colleague of mine from the children’s publishing industry. She’s starting up her own editorial service company specializing in children’s literature (go Alisha!) and wanted a visual identity to solidify the dream. Youth + design = I’m one happy camper.
As always it was a collaborative process with a lot of ideas bouncing around and being molded together. When the final logo looks so simple you know you’ve come to the end. Ta-da!
The logo blends the three goals together: touch of humor, literary finesse, and youthfulness. I hope this is the start to a great business adventure for Alisha!
by abby on July 19, 2011 | Comment
I was on the road again this time heading south to Maryland. As always I’m on the look out for interesting typography and design. Once your eye is trained to look for these examples it is hard not to find objects along your way worthy of a photo.
While having a day in Annapolis to shop at the FABULOUS paper store, Paper Source, the winding streets led me to this painted advertisement on the side of a brick building. I do love to find decaying or weathered type. The layered of pealing paint give this sign even more visual impact.
As I passed the marina, I came upon a coffee house called City Dock Coffee. I found their logo to be quite clever.
Did you catch the sun rising on the horizon as it becomes the coffee mug? Nice touch!
Finally, the weekend ended with watching an Orioles baseball game at Camden Yards. Even here at a baseball stadium there is great design. This is the clock that sits on top of the big screen in the stadium. I love the vintage feel of the type of “Orioles” and the beautiful twisting ironwork surrounding the clock face.
You just never know where you will find an eye catching example of great typography or design!
