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Design

‘The Joy of Type Design’: These Massive Alphabetic Prints Were Created Using Just Four Shapes

Using the Brico System for letterpress printing requires thinking of every possible combination from A to Z. The simple method involves just four shapes to create typographic forms and geometric renderings, and it founded a recent collaboration between artist and printmaker Anthony Burrill, designer and printer Thomas Mayo, and Oli Bently, who helms the Leeds-based studio Split and the People Powered Press, a non-profit printer that’s the largest letterpress operation of its kind in the world.

Together, the trio created one monochromatic print of every letter, which span 1.5 meters. “With near endless possibilities of letter forms, weights, sizes, and styles, it was created so that anyone can share in the joy of type design,” they say.

The group is selling the monochromatic pieces to fund the work of People Powered Press—email Split to see which are still in stock and make a purchase—and pick up the book documenting the entire process from the studio’s shop. You also can try your hand at the Brico System with this simulator.

 

Design Illustration

Mischievous Monsters Smirk and Grin in Fuzzy Alphabet Collection by Jose Arias

Lima-based graphic designer and illustrator Jose Arias has created a wacky cast of typographic monsters ready to cuddle you in their serifs and ascenders—Monsters Inc. meets the alphabet. Often smirking or baring a couple of teeth, Arias’s letter-based characters sometimes come adorned with coiffed hair, a gold crown, and a pair of headphones. Each has an alphabetic shape that’s formed naturally by their bodies or when they jump into the air, open their mouths, or stick out their legs.

The illustrator created the project that’s “full of hair and cuteness of characters” as part of the 36 Days of Type challenge, which asks creatives to share their conceptions of letters and numbers. Head to Instagram or Behance to check out the rest of Arias’s mischievous collection.

Animation Design Illustration

Letters and Numbers by 36 Illustrators Come to Life in Alphabetical Animations by Albert Oriol

The popular 36 Days of Type challenge (previously) is an annual open call for designers, illustrators, and artists to bring the alphabet and numbers one through nine to life. For its sixth year, Barcelona-based motion designer Albert Oriol collaborated with 36 fellow creatives to animate individual letters and numbers. By tapping a wide variety of illustrators with unique styles, Oriol’s end result is a highlight reel of diversity in design. From a Bauhaus-ish B to a graffiti-inspired Y, the animated letters and numbers expand, bounce, pixelate, and evaporate. Watch the full sequence below and see more from Oriol on Behance and Instagram.

Animation Design

Mesmerizing Alphabetical Animations by Mr. Kaplin

Last year for the month of March, motion design studio Mr. Kaplin (previously) released a series of alphabet animations loosely inspired by an object or concept beginning with the featured letter. Reflective “R’s” and planetary “P’s” lie at the center of the graphic short films that imagine the letters as part of continuously looping installations or machines. The project, A Month of Type, was published to the studio’s Instagram, and was also compiled into an alphabetical list of the animations with a soundtrack by BXFTYS. If you like these inventive type interpretations check out 36 Days of Type, a project that asks designers from across the globe to animate their own letters and numbers throughout April and May. You can find more information about the creative typographic marathon, and submit your own on Instagram. (via Kottke)

Design History

Evolution of the Alphabet: Nearly 3,800 Years of Letters Explored Through a Color-Coded Flowchart

Matt Baker of Useful Charts creates helpful visual guides that condense hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years of history into streamlined flowcharts. His poster Evolution of the Alphabet looks at nearly 3,800 years of the alphabet’s evolution, tracing it from Egyptian hieroglyphs (c. 1750 BCE) through Phoenician, early Greek and Latin, and finally to the present forms we use today. The limited edition print shows that some letters have appeared relatively the same for millennia, while others, like U, V, and W, developed much closer to our own time period from a single character.

The design was created in association with his Writing Systems of the World chart which takes a look at 51 different writing systems from around the world. Baker has each of these prints for sale on his website and Etsy. You can listen to his explain these systems, and their evolution in greater detail in his video “History of the Alphabet” below and view more timelines of historical developments on his website, Youtube, and Instagram. (via Kottke)

Design

26 Paper Engineers From Around the World Turned the Alphabet Into a Limited Edition Book

The Movable Books Society, a non-profit organization of pop-up book professionals and enthusiasts, recently released a collection of pop-up cards dedicated to the alphabet. The letter-filled tome, titled A to Z: Marvels in Paper Engineering, features designs from 26 paper engineers and celebrates the Society’s 25-year history. Each card is consistent in size, measuring six by eight inches, but features strikingly different designs from a wide array of paper-focused designers.

Included are the strong graphic sensibility of Kelli Anderson (previously), Hiromi Takeda’s delicate ode to flowers, and a supernova “S” by Isabel Uria, an Ecuadorian artist who also designed the clamshell box. In addition to each letter folio that includes a description of its artist’s inspiration, the compendium comes with a history of The Movable Book Society by Ann Montanaro Staples and an introductory essay by Larry Seidman. A to Z is limited to 2,000 copies and is available for pre-order on the Society’s website.

Update: Filmmaker Christopher Helkey recently released a mini-documentary of all 26 designers opening and explaining their letters, which is now embedded below.