Toluu : i love typography

i love typography

one big bullet point

Mathieu and Breton’s article on their experience of KABK’s Type and Media masters course has proven insanely popular. The students at Reading are nearing the end of their masters in Type Design, so hopefully we’ll be hearing from them too.

I’ve spoken here before about the importance of white space, not simply as an element of typography, but as the active ‘void’ that defines it. Just as shadow gives form to objects, so white space, carefully conceived, brings to the page structure, form and order. So, I had to smile when I saw this comic strip:

For the ampersand addicted, here’s another ampersand t-shirt from turnnocturnal. This one is the italic ampersand from Garamond:

Type and Media MastersAugust 22

by Mathieu Christe & Berton Hasebe

A year ago, after the ten of us settled in The Hague, we started the Type and Media masters course—excited to begin our education in type design. Expecting to immediately start drawing letters, we were surprised to find that our first course was in Python programming. Though unexpected, it was an appropriate way to begin the semester, as we quickly learned that in type design you need to understand a wide range of different tools, adapting to and preferably making them your own. Understanding as many tools as possible gives one that added flexibility.

Over the course of the first semester each week was filled with a variety of physical and mental exercises, using tools which spanned the analog and digital realm: from the swing of a hammer to the click of a mouse.

The week began on Monday with Just van Rossum, who taught us Python through an educational program he developed called

Sunday Type: ornament typeAugust 18

From Another Planet

I first came across this poster by Paul Grabowski for the Type Directors 54th TDC Show over at Armin Vit’s Under Consideration. It’s absolutely stunning. Viewed from afar, it looks as though it’s comprised of myriad typographic ornaments.

Closer inspection reveals that those ornaments are in fact letters. I cannot begin to imagine how long this piece took to design and assemble.

I’ve recently taken more of an interest in typographic ornaments, and even started designing some of my own. A good book to get you started is 2600 Typographic Ornaments and Designs (all royalty free designs). Stefan Hattenbach’s Anziano also comes with some beautifully drawn ornaments. Also try FontShop and MyFonts. P22 has a good set of ornaments inspired by

An Interview with Nikola DjurekAugust 14

Grandmother Amalia

Born in Zabok, northwest Croatia, his passion led him to Italy and then on to the Netherlands where he studied type design. Nikola now teaches at the University of Zagreb and the Academy of Art in Split. Among his types are Tempera, Tempera Biblio, Greta Display and Greta Grande (with Peter Bil’ak), and Amalia. He also designed DTL Porta for use in the newspapers of Dutch publisher Wegener. Nikola very kindly took time out of his busy schedule to answer some of my questions.

Which letter do you design first?

I don’t really have a letter that I design first. I first think about construction (translation, expansion), proportion, contrast, and then I begin to make sketches in the way that I prefer; it can be a different letter each time, but it’s usually a lowercase letter, and then maybe two caps just to gauge the proportions.

Sunday Type: favourite typeAugust 11

A Year in the Life of…

Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes. iLT is now one year old. During year two I plan to go up a gear, with more contributed pieces, more type history, more great typefaces and inspirational lettering, interviews, more type history, more type tips, book reviews, types in use, and a readers’ questions section. If you have suggestions for content, then let me know.

I mentioned Marian Bantjes’ work for Creative Review last week. Here she is again, with a stunning laser-cut poster:

To see more images, and to discover why it was cut from the front rather than the reveres side, visit Marian’s site.

A very simple and effective type treatment from VW, highlighting the smooth transition of its new electronic gearbox:

We’ve had type-themed scarves, t-shirts, scrabb