Some of the most iconic design movements and their impact on typography. Since over a century there have been some landmark design movements which have shaped our sensibilities and visual aesthetic. These events shaped popular culture and still have a huge impact on letterforms. Chandan Mahimkar shares intimate details about their popularity and how they… Continue reading Breaking StereoType with Chandan Mahimkar
Buddhism, as one of the major religions in China, has had a profound influence on various fields, including calligraphy arts. Even before the invention of printing technology, monks and believers started to copy Buddhist scriptures while reading them, both to show proof of faith and to spread Buddhism. Some of the scriptures were written on… Continue reading Type Design in Chinese Buddhism: Digital Revivals of Chinese Buddhist Manuscripts and Wood-plate Printings
In 2017, Zenab Bastawala visited the British, Dutch and Armenian cemeteries known as Alampanah and Gulam Falia. The colonials impress the natives by constructing enormous ornamental mausoleums—around 300 to 400—at the respective cemeteries. The earliest grave is dated circa 1649. Each grave allows a discussion of the origins of the cemetery, the chronology of the… Continue reading Rubbing Colonialism at Surat Cemeteries
The simple process and techniques of adding timeless styles to your hand lettering compositions. Adding styles to your lettering compositions is the best part of lettering. Chandan Mahimkar shares how to use timeless lettering styles in your hand lettering, thereby making your lettering visually appealing. He uses the same process as a professional lettering artist,… Continue reading Styling your Lettering with Chandan Mahimkar
From Sharjah to Beirut, design curricula is a challenge in the age of digital revolution within the context of Globalization. It’s vital to analyze this practice and device means to integrate Arabic concepts, content, and compositions through design projects. Design students obtain the basics to become typography designers through practice. The Kufic Script is recognized… Continue reading Kufic Script: from Calligraphy to Typography
‘When Better Letters Met…’ is a series of short films celebrating the lives and work of retired sign painters and lettering artists. In this, the fourth in the series, we profile Australian showcard and ticket writer Barbara Enright. The film will be followed by a live Q+A with Barbara.Session delivered in partnership with Better Letters.
Laura Serra’s imaginative work — made with pencil, ink, paint, pixels, or coffee — is derived from a wide array of influences: personal history, historical styles, and the natural world. Her talk will tell stories of how these diverse points of inspiration lifted her drawing hand in one way or another. She hopes to share… Continue reading Roots
While neon signs traditionally use custom lettering, not fonts, tube-bent letters have inspired new typeface designs for over fifty years. And, vice versa, as desktop publishing began to replace lettering skills in the 1980s, typefaces became a common ingredient in sign-making of all kinds, including neon. This talk will present a brief survey of this… Continue reading Neon/Font: A Torrid Typographic Affair
Referencing archival hand-lettering from the collection at the Wagner Institute of Science, Dermot Mac Cormack designed a digital font, Willison. This font is based on the labels by Charles Willison Johnson, one of the museum’s founding curators. While remaining true to the original, unique hand-lettering in the collection, the Willison font exists as its own… Continue reading Type Specimens
The most evident, residual, and evoking parts of our memories are visual. Visual culture sets the tone for our familiarities and habits. When you grow up in a country like India and walk along streets painted, glued, and fixed with whimsical Bollywood posters, the disproportionate, hand written signs become second nature to your visual memory.… Continue reading A Type of Cure for Homesickness