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Showing category "Inspiration" (Show all posts)

Typefaces of the Homeless

Posted by Erich Shelton on Sunday, June 4, 2017, In : Inspiration 
Typefaces based on the handwriting of homeless people in Barcelona are up for sale at homelessfonts.org. All proceeds go to the Arrels Foundation, an organization for the benefit of Barcelona's homeless. 


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Brazilian Suburb Gets Perspective

Posted by Erich Shelton on Wednesday, March 28, 2012, In : Inspiration 


Madrid Spain based artist collective Boa Mistura recently gave a small corner of Brazil one very colorful and meaningful typographic makeover. Working with the inhabitants, including the children of Brasilândia Vila, a poor suburb on the outskirts of São Paulo, the team took the narrow streets and covered them with vibrant, colorful paint, leaving only the beautiful words beleza, amor, doçura, firmeza and orgulho (beauty, love, sweetness, firmness and pride) painted on the walls. The ...
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Just My Type—Book Review

Posted by Erich Shelton on Thursday, January 12, 2012, In : Inspiration 


I accidentally ran across this book when I was supposed to be doing Christmas shopping and fell in love with it. I wanted to share it with you all, as it is not only entertaining but educational as well. The author mixes a lot of good ol' British humour with interesting stories and tidbits of gossip relating to type and provides an engaging voice on a topic (of course) close to my heart.

So…what does your favorite font say about you? Fonts surround us every day, on street signs and buildi...
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Chalk One Up for Hand-Lettering

Posted by Erich Shelton on Friday, August 12, 2011, In : Inspiration 
With an ever increasing dependence upon the digital media, the art form of hand-lettered type is a dying skill. I came across the work of Dana Tanamachi recently and was impressed by her hand rendered signage in chalk (another dying art form). While we still see evidence of chalk art on metropolitan streets, its temporary nature makes it a media that many can't be bothered to perfect. The temporal nature of this media, combined with the fact that it takes hours to perfect a good hand for lett...
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Body Text - A New Definition

Posted by Erich Shelton on Wednesday, May 11, 2011, In : Inspiration 
There are countless numbers of precedents within art and typography of using human bodies to express typographic forms. Some were published and many were censored from the public's eye. One of the earliest examples we have is Peter Flötner's Anthropomorphic Alphabet (below), which was created around 1540.



Since that first appearance there have been countless number of people who claim their inspiration came from Flötner and the principle of human letter forms has been recreated in most of th...
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The Crystal Goblet

Posted by Erich Shelton on Sunday, May 8, 2011, In : Inspiration 
Below is an excerpt from Beatrice Warde's famous essay on typography. It is considered a classic and has been used as a source of inspiration since its original appearance in 1955. Some may automatically consider anything written this long ago not to be valid in today's fast-paced digital world. However, there is everything to learn and some principles never change no matter what age we live in.  Enjoy.

Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You may choose your own favourite vinta...

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Typography Timeline

Posted by Erich Shelton on Friday, April 29, 2011, In : Inspiration 
An excellent former student and now friend, Melissa Sybert, sent me this link which I thought was definitely worth sharing to any other typophiles or history buffs. It is produced by Counterspace and gives a nice overview of the history of type from pre-historic man to current-day. It is a nice little interactive website and I think many of you will enjoy it.

Typography Timeline

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Online Auction

Posted by Erich Shelton on Sunday, April 24, 2011, In : Inspiration 


The Type Directors Club in conjunction with Cardon Copy presents POSTERS OF FORTUNE: 20 Fortune cookies, with 20 distinct fortunes, have been sent to 20 internationally renowned designers. The designers have in turn transmuted these personal divinations into richly imagined typographical posters. See them, bid on them, come hear the designers discuss them.

POSTERS OF FORTUNE is on display at the TDC from April 5th – May 12, 2011. The end event and final bids will take place on May 12t...


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The Royal Wedding

Posted by Erich Shelton on Thursday, April 21, 2011, In : Inspiration 
Okay…so you've been invited to the wedding but the invitation got lost in the post. What do you do? Well, you contact Katherine Baxter. Surely she will help you out. Even though this has absolutely nothing to do with typography (directly) it does have to do with design and more particularly designing maps. Katherine Baxter has been commission to create several maps for the big day on the 29th. This means that even though the postal system is sometimes incompetent, you don't have to totally ...
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The Science of Type

Posted by Erich Shelton on Wednesday, April 20, 2011, In : Inspiration 
I have said for some time that good typography is a science and as such must be studied. Now there is proof to back it up (click on image for a larger view).



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Me, Who Else?


Erich Shelton I am a retired adjunct professor from the University of Southern Indiana, located in Evansville. My favourite subjects to teach are obviously ‘Typography’ as well as ‘Graphic Design History’, 'Senior Seminar' and ‘Computer Illustration.’

1803 N. Roosevelt Drive, Evansville, IN 47711-4435, US | 812 480 3080