typography

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with typography

Design

Color-Changing Dyes Illuminate Iconic Internet Acronyms and Popular Phrases

Traditional calligraphy styles get an update with Seb Lester‘s series of contemporary words and phrases pulled from popular memes and classic web acronyms. Words like “chill” are slowly hand drawn in colorful inks which slowly change their hue and increase in sparkle as they dry on the page. Lester studied graphic design at Central Saint Martins in London and now works in East Sussex as an artist and graphic designer. The calligrapher has amassed a large online following for his daily twists on the ancient form, which you can follow on Facebook and Instagram. Make sure to watch with the sound on, as the scratching of the pen nib on paper is just as engaging as his shimmering strokes. (via Colossal Submissions)

Design

Empowering Messages and Site-Specific City Names Grown from Salt Crystals and Succulents by Danielle Evans

Columbus, Ohio-based typographer Danielle Evans uses her studio as a garden and lab. Previously she has planted hundreds of shrubs and succulents to spell messages of kindness, and grown text-shaped crystals as an ode to poet Nayyirah Waheed’s book of poems titled Salt. Recently while in Reykjavik, the designer arranged ice lettering around the city and the southern Golden Circle as a way to experiment with typography and the variables in Iceland’s topography. You can see more of Evans’s experiments with paper, lemons, dirt, jello, and more on her website, Instagram, and Behance.

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.

Illustration by Juliana Arboleda

Illustration by Eric Cyz

Illustration by Jason Naylor

Illustration by Kristiina Almy

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)

Art

Sunlight Casts Shadows of Phrases Exploring Theories of Time in a Street Art Installation by DAKU

Pseudonymous Indian street artist DAKU recently installed an immersive text-based work in Panjim, Goa. Placed along 31st January Road, a fishnet structure suspends letters above pedestrians. The region’s abundant sunlight pours through to cast shadows on the street, spelling out tropes about the passage of time. Some of the phrases include, “Time works wonders. Time moves. Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind. Time fades. Time is an illusion.” The temporary installation, titled Theory of Time, was supported by the public art nonprofit St+art India, as part of the Start Goa festival.  DAKU often integrates language into his urban interventions. You can see more from the artist on Instagram.

 

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A post shared by Colossal (@colossal) on Jan 19, 2019 at 6:34am PST

Art

Expressive Text Loops, Folds, and Ties Itself in Knots in New Murals by Pref

British graffiti artist Pref (previously) transforms words and sayings into visual interpretations of their meanings or messages—forming the word “undo” into a knot, or layering the phrase “all over the place” on top of itself to take up as much surface area as possible. With added shading and perspective the words appear as if they are 3D, like his piece “It Is,” which forms a a narrow grey cube when the letters are stacked. Some of his monochromatic works on paper (which you can see below) will be included in the upcoming group exhibition Control and Disorder with Gary Stranger, Elliott Routledge (Funskull), Georgia Hill, and William LaChance at Galerie 42b in Paris. The exhibition opens this Friday, December 14, and runs through January 19, 2019. You can see more of Pref’s recent work on his Instagram, and buy prints through his Big Cartel.

Craft Design

Floral Wreaths Blossom Into Bold Type

In designer Olga Prinku’s floral wreaths, hundreds of dried plants and flowers are sewn into the shape of large capital letters. Flower heads spring out of the tulle as if magically sprouting from planted seeds Prinku had scattered weeks before. Although a graphic designer by trade, her project has sparked a love affair with weaving and craft, and encouraged her to experiment with several different mediums. 

“This particular technique of weaving flowers on tulle actually came to me in a dream,” Prinku tells Colossal. At first she began placing dried flowers on a sieve, which resembled the net structure of tulle. Once she began using the new medium, she looked to her garden for fresh flowers. She initially used fresh flowers for her works, but the natural objects began to shrink as they dried, which left gaps in her designs. 

“Now I use dry flowers,” she explains. “Some I buy readily dried, and some I pick from fresh and dry myself using silica gel. I also collect seed pods at the end of the season, which I use as they are.”  Prinku alters what flowers and plants she uses depending on the season. “I’m still learning a lot through experimenting about what flowers are the best – I’m basically looking for ones that are good at holding their color when dry and that have thin stems that I can use on the tulle.”

Prinku’s artistic process has fostered her appreciation of beauty and intricate details that exist in nature. “I’ve become much more observant about the plants that are growing all around where I live, and that fuels my creativity too,” she says. To learn more about Prinku’s work visit her website and her Instagram.