I finished up these Faces of Type cards just in time to take them to Indiana over Thanksgiving and have my über-talented sister-in-law photograph them.
One of my favorites in the set is "R" which was convenient since my 3 year-old nephew — whose name starts with "R" — took an interest in them. It made me incredibly giddy to watch him rearrange, play, and ask me to help him spell words with the cards.
Perhaps my true calling is creating flash cards with faces and tape...
Over the next month or two, I've decided to take on a new and very exciting project. Most of you might know that my true passion is typography (any kind - I'm not picky) and so I've decided to embark on a project to help the world see type like I do. Here's the idea: When we're little, one of the first things we learn is the alphabet. Letters and words are the main focus of our first years in school, and throughout the rest of our lives, they are behind nearly everything we do. At some point, we become less interested and enthralled with those same letterforms. Is it possible to reinvigorate that interest? Or, could it be that letters and words have become so familiar that we no longer see the beauty.
Here's what I need you to do: Check out the pictures below, write down (in your own handwriting - or something else if you're feeling creative) one word that you feel describes each image.
Then scan it, and send it to brookefrancesi at gmail dot com. If you prefer snail mail, just shoot me an email and I'll send you my mailing address.
Who is eligible? Anyone and everyone! I want anyone who is 1 - 100 (and up) to participate. I'll be compiling all of your responses into a book and will be printing copies for everyone to enjoy. My goal is to re-invigorate appreciation for any and all types of letterforms.
The images:
Just a few days late, here's the February Roundup. It's been very exciting to look back and see the progression of this alphabet. It's exciting to have it completed, and it's exciting to announce the March challenge. Sketches!
I've never seen SpongeBob SquarePants, I don't know if The Cheat from Homestar Runner has a brother. Either way, I think I've created a new character for the show. Welcome Z!
Most of my letters start with some idea of the direction I plan to go, and it usually ends up somewhere along the lines of my original idea. Today was an exception. Last night I knew exactly what I wanted Y to look like. Really curvy and beautiful. I even sketched it out which I tend not to do with my design a day letters because my goal is to spend no more than an hour on any design a day project. When I started converting the beautiful hand drawn curves into bezier deliciousness, I just couldn't make myself finish. It seemed too cliche.
What you see below is an experiment. Beautiful or not, experimentation is productive, and in this case, is the result of throwing a bunch of shapes into one space and forcing myself to organize them in a way that works.
X stands for xylophone and Xerox and other funny, complicated words. That's why it needs to be flexible.
This weekend I realized my goal of finishing the entire alphabet by the end of February was a little precipitous. Between Friday evening and Sunday I would have needed to design 4 letters and while that certainly would have been possible, I don't want to start focusing on quantity over quality. W was inspired by a gorgeous Blackletter font found on the I Love Typography blog this weekend. Absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. The digital version is available for purchase on MyFonts.com as Fette-Fraktur and will probably be my next font purchase.
