lettering by Lauren Kaiser

lettering by Lauren Kaiser

Designer Lauren Kaiser has taken a fresh approach on the story of Little Red Riding Hood by rendering the narrative entirely with carefully crafted hand lettering. With strong typographic characteristics, Lauren’s letters jumble across the page in an intricate formal balancing act. Didone hairlines bounce across uneven baselines while maintaining a consistent sense of rhythm. The danger of Red’s tale is emphasized by abruptly alternating the color of the text creating an effective use of color symbolism. Crowded leading suggests the claustrophobic isolation of being alone in the woods.

Originally from Colby, Kansas, Lauren is interning for LogoLounge where she is responsible for compiling material for the LogoLounge books. Lauren will graduate with a BFA in Graphic Design from Wichita State University in May of 2010.

lettering by Lauren Kaiser

lettering by Lauren Kaiser

Final logotype

Previous to the current masthead I was using a really bad logotype that I made in college from parts of an unfinished font. It was fat, clumsy, and just not very sophisticated. At the time I was working on a clean and simple redesign for the Okay Type website and marketing materials. I decided to contrast the minimalism with a fancy new script logo.

The process was pretty straight forward. I began with loosely drawn pencil sketches on vellum, focusing primarily on structure – exploring basic shapes, how things connect and flourishes. (Sketches A-C)

Sketch A

Sketch B

Sketch C

Eventually I has happy enough with the design to scan it. I started vectorizing it by making a skeleton path in Illustrator ( Sketches D-F ), just following the structure of the strokes.

Sketch D

Sketch E

Sketch F

During a couple of quick rounds of second guessing and editing the vectors, I jotted down some notes. (Sketch G)

Sketch G

Then I copied the skeleton paths to Fontlab to draw the actual letters. Sketch H is a very early Fontlab drawing. You can see how I’m starting to build out the strokes.

Sketch H

After a dozen rounds of drawing, editing and testing everything is looking good enough to me to stop working on it. (Sketch I)

Sketch I

Note from the editor: Year one for Okay Type has been incredible. The first Okay Type release, Alright Sans, has been met with tremendous enthusiasm. MyFonts named Alrights Sans “the most successful workhorse sans-serif of 2009″ and included it among the MyFonts Top 10 Fonts of 2009. Additionally I Love Typography listed Alright Sans among the ILT favorites of 2009. Okay Type has rapidly become known for san-serif innovation. Always ambitious, Okay Type founder and type designer Jackson Cavanaugh created a beautiful script masthead in the tradition of Doyald Young. Thanks Jackson for providing us with a behind the scenes look at your process. To see the new masthead in context and buy some great fonts be sure to visit okaytype.com – Ty

Antiques magazine cover

The masthead for Antiques Magazine resembles roman inscriptional fonts such as Trajan, yet the proportions of the A, E and S are wider producing a more even color. Surprisingly the traditional typography compliments the modern illustration of the Magi very well. Merry Christmas!

daughter and typewriter

father and typewriter

mother and typewriter

Smith-Corona ad

You can’t go wrong with a typewriter font, and in this case nothing could be more appropriate. The industriousness of a typewriter font is mirrored by a series of charming modern illustrations of a family hard at work.

Christmas

Art Deco magazine cover

The headline for this Art Deco publication is geometric yet elegant. A perfect circle underlies the geometry of the “C” and the complexity of the “R” is streamlined. The crossbar of the “A” is high and if the “R” had a crossbar it would be low, two key characteristics of Art Deco lettering. Despite baby Jesus having blonde hair, the use of color is very effective. Being more familiar with Renaissance paintings of Madonna and the Christ child, it is refreshing to see a more stylized Art Deco interpretation.

Merry Christmas

The Country Gentleman cover

For the Ninth Day of Christmas Type I bring you a December 1932 cover for The Country Gentlemen. Issues only cost 5 cents at the time. The “stenciled” hand lettering resembles the font Geometric Stencil, yet the “M” is a departure from most stencil fonts.

easy mind

Mutual of Omaha ad

With hairline thins and Didot-like terminals, this casual lettering utilizes a tall x-height to strike a friendly tone. The irregular baseline feels balanced in the word “easy”, however the baseline serifs in “mind” are too noticeably misaligned.

There's this about Coke...

Coca-Cola ad

An intriguing urban legend claims that Santa Claus wears red and white because the Coca-Cola Company depicted him in their brand colors. Illustrator Haddon Sundblom did help popularize the use of red in his classic illustrations of Santa for Coca-Cola, however White Rock Beverages utilized a similar Santa in red in their ads prior to Coke. Political cartoonist Thomas Nast is credited with first dressing Santa in red and white. Nonetheless it is difficult to think of a more classic depiction of Santa Claus or the Coca-Cola bottle for that matter. This ad, created in 1954, captures many of the qualities that made the Golden Age of Advertising so great. The headline has the unique personality and variation that began to disappear with the advent of photo-lettering. And though I love type, and photo-lettering for that matter, the charm of hand lettering is irresistible.

Pepsi-Cola

Pepsi-Cola ad

The casual hand lettered headline for this Pepsi ad outshines the logotype. The letter s is roman despite the other characters, such as the a, being italic. The lightness of Pepsi is conveyed by the weight of the lettering.

Hooray!

Seven-Up

Seven-Up ad

Despite the typographic appearance, the headline is hand lettered. The lettering strikes a good balance between playfulness and structure. The letters rest on an irregular baseline that manages to remain balanced. Notice how the tails on each e in “Seven-Up!” vary in length making the kerning more even. There are more Christmas ads from beverage companies to come in our countdown.

Fortune

Fortune ad

The highlight of this Christmas 1950 ad is the Fortune logotype with it’s stylish and distinctive letter F. Logotypes from this time period were often recreated by hand for each ad providing a spontaneous quality.

Gleem

Gleem ad

The star of this ad is the product packaging. I appreciate how the designer gives depth to flat color by overprinting the light blue and red to create a dark blue parallelogram. The encapsulated type looks brighter in contrast to the dark blue, subtly suggesting that GLEEM will make your teeth whiter. The red cleverly wraps around the edge of the box continuing the design onto the adjacent panel.

give color

General Telephone System ad

In this 1957 ad for General Telephone System, custom spiked serif lettering takes center stage. The use of color and mosaic-like faceting aids in emphasizing the headline. Latino Samba by House Industries is a contemporary cousin.

Christmas Joy for Girls and Boys

the joyful toy of 1001 faces!

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head ad

Over the next 12 days I will be counting down to Christmas by featuring type from vintage Christmas ads and magazine covers. The original Mr. Potato Head required that you supply your own potato, which was considered an irresponsible waste of food when he was introduced in 1952.

Teo Menna is a Brazilian graphic designer who is crazy about typography. Teo developed this lettering as part of Sarah Hyndman’s class in Experimental Typography at London College of Communication. The brief was to create lettering from a given object – in this case, a paper clip. Only a scalpel, photocopying machine and a black pen were used. More of Teo’s work can be found at teomenna.com.br.

Objectify

Objectify Alphabet

As a part of his ongoing Love&Hate series, New York based freelance illustrator, designer and artist Thomas Fuchs has created a heart alphabet. Find numerous clever heart illustrations at his “A Heart A Day” blog.

"Love" font by Thomas Fuchs