A Delicious
Daily Dose of Design
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I've come to anticipate The Daily Heller in my e-mail every morning. Steven Heller has got to be one of the most prolific writers around. How he manages to come up with these tantalizing design treasures every day (weekday that is) is a testament to the range of his knowledge and interests. Whether it's the very first political ads on TV or a brief paean to a brilliant designer like Paul Rand, there's always a diverse and entertaining take with great graphics. This daily link to the design community is like a big, robust cup of coffee: a satisfying, quick way to jump start the day.
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Mastering Type
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The best in typography tips comes in The Type Studio's e-newsletter All Things Typographic. Type guru Ilene Strizver solves all sorts of type and related problems AND answers your questions. The Type Studio also teaches Gourmet Typography extensively. It's a good way to keep up (or catch up) on your type chops. |
Modern Mark Making
makes its mark
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This colorful, new calligraphy book from Lisa Englebrecht unstuffs stuffy calligraphy and gives it a lively, contemporary context. Lisa's own teaching experience and lovely letters enhance this book that addresses beginners, scrapbooking, graffiti and contemporary lettering and usages. There are even a few pieces of my work in it.
See more or buy it here:
Modern Mark Making
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| See more of my lettering work
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Click through to see more original lettering, logotypes, fonts and more.
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With a great logotype, professionals like designer Stephen Swoap can do a premium job of branding their small businesses in a big way.Lettering by Jill Bell
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| Type
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 Tattoo typography
Tattoos are everywhere, and their quality has definitely gone way up with better inks, equipment and more talented artists working in the media. But too frequently the lettering is awful: uninspired and horribly executed. The VERITAS CURATUS pictured here, has refreshing, quirky capitals: not the usual Old English appropriated by gangbangers (although most people probably wouldn't be able to discern the difference). These decorative Versals were well used to convey his message--that he is part of a spiritual 'gang'. More tattoo artists (and their clients) are using a greater variety of fonts and even taking up their own special niche in the art creating original letter forms.
This is also a good example of one of the few times when it's okay to break the "don't stack the type" rule: when legibility is not crucial, decoration paramount and you want it to fit neatly down a vertical space (upper arm in this case).
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Lettering Resources
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 Rongo Rongo
Until I recently found this script featured on Wikipedia's home page, I'd never heard of rongorongo (and I've heard of a lot of scripts). Rongorongo is a system of glyphs discovered on Easter Island in the 19th century that appears to be writing or proto-writing. It hasn't been deciphered, although some calendar and genealogical information has been identified. If rongorongo does prove to be writing, it could be one of only three or four known independent inventions of writing in human history.
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These layouts rock!
Morley Music Manual
There
are so many books and manuscripts hidden away in libraries that I'll never know
about, let alone get to see, but thanks to the internet and digital
age, many of them are now accessible online.
The
table book (left top) was made to be read in four directions by five singers gathered around
the table. The musical canon in the cross is a round to be sang by four
singers on four sides and reads correctly from either side. Amazing! Reminds me of the work of amigo John Langdon.
The University of Reading also has an incredible typography program offering advanced degrees in all aspects of typography.
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With this second newsletter I've also started an archive. There's not much there yet, but all the better to catch up now with my first issue.
Thanks for reading & looking!
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Jill
| Jill Bell Brandlettering provides distinctive,
one-of-a-kind lettering solutions
tailored to your individual needs.
www.jillbell.com
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