Before the advent of the computer, artists and artisans alike utilized a complex tool in making their letter forms; the hand. At ten digits, five for each hand, the hand was efficiently the first digital lettering tool, utilized in engravings, carving and in the production of the various letter forms. The hand, while allowing for a few technological flaws and eccentricities, still facilitated the creation of some of the most beautiful lettering forms ever made. The advantages of the hand as a lettering tool underscore the paradox that, with technological advancement, both a loss and profit were incurred. The computer, on the one hand, has made the arduous task of hand lettering circumvent-able, while improving on precision. On the other hand, the computer has led to the stifling of the instincts associated with the creation of the bawdy and beautiful hand lettering. While the creation of images on the screen is by no means less difficult, it skirts the individual artist’s edge attainable by hand lettering. The motto of Handwritten is “the hand is mightier than the pixel.” While the motto may sound out of place in an era engulfed by technology, it is also a righteous assertion to the fixation on, and of the digital revolution.
In a look at the history of hand lettering, twentieth century typographers and type designers produced precise hand lettered forms, since their situation, that is technology and the economy, demanded it. The technology available such as Photostats was too expensive, thus rendering handmade letter forms the most affordable way to create custom-made headlines for a book, jacket and point of sale displays, for instance. Creation of good hand forms required ingenuity and a mastery lettering techniques. An expert at hand lettering would be an expert in QuarkXPress, Illustrator or Photoshop today. A maestro of hand lettering, William Addison Dwiggins (1880-1956), for instance created flawless specimens in his book spines and title pages.
Contemporary lettering artists
Dwiggins work was intended to stand the test of time, thus was more formal than the other designers, who engaged in the ad-hoc writing as a respite from the rigor of traditional typography. For instance, Paul Rand (1914-96), a pioneer in the modernist mass marketing used a light line, and hand-drawn scripts to give some of his advertisements needed to connect with the audience. His was a response to the hard-sell gothic type conventions prevalent in the mass media, and found favor with corporations such as IBM who put it on their product packages. Other artists involved in this movement include Alex Steinweiss, Alvin Lustig (1915- 55). Steinweiss was the first graphic designer to create original work for 78rpm record covers and who later helped invent 33 'I. LP album packaging. He designed the Steinweiss scrawl lettering that injected eccentric traits to his designs. Similarly, Alvin Lustig, utilized handwriting on book jackets to complement the expressionistic collage and montage. His was an attempt at improving the plasticity of such modern painters as Pau l Klee (1879- 1940) and Mark Rothko (l903-70) in commercial art, by adding fluidity to it.
As a radical lettering style, psychedelic art did not last long, although hand lettering continued to be popular throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s. With the introduction, in the 1980s, of the Apple Macintosh as graphic design's primary design and typography tool, hand lettering's role in the design world diminished. Veteran designers had to adjust to this new dynamic, and neophytes took over the definition of computer effects. Further, it was possible for the conduct of brazen typographic experiments that challenged legibility and readability (Eskilson, pg 201). However, this paper focuses on the lettering produced in the late 1990s and 2000s.
Nina Gregier, a hand lettering designer, explains, "You can give letters any shape, but you have to remember about the features of letters, about readability and the principles of building the shape of letters. No matter how funny or strange a letter would have been, you always have to follow these rules” (Gregory, pg 143). In shaping figures, expression is an important aspect, in adding meaning, rather than for aesthetic value only, and as Dan Cassaro notes, ‘Letters sit squarely between information and meaning so what we choose to do with them is very important and exciting’ (Gregory, pg 143).
Lettering gives artists the freedom to supersede the conventions of font using, maintaining originality, while creating exciting works at the same time. However, some artists and designers practicing with digital methods approach their work in a variety of ways. But usually they begin with sketches in the planning stages-either loose or almost completely resolved- and then scan them. Retracing these sketches in Adobe Illustrator, they create vector curves that can be easily resized or work over them in Adobe Photoshop to add color or texture or to composite various elements together.
Jessica Hische started in 2006 after graduating from Tylorschool of art in Philadelphia. However, Hische discovered herself while she was in college and realized that her hand-drawn type was more effective than any typeface she could find. She now creates custom lettering for almost every project she works on. Hische's initial pencil sketches are completed primarily for the client and, upon digitizing them, she will draw again completely fresh. In her approach, she notes, the translation from the rough sketch to finished art helps in noting, and subsequent elimination of mistakes previously overlooked. For instance, in creation of letter forms, she would normally draw the skeletons before adorning them (Gregory, pg 203). An illustration of her amazing work is a series of classic book covers. They were made of leather, and the print was to be embedded on the jacket and spine. In another project, Hirsche developed the MV monogram for Mahonia vineyard bottles in 2011, lettered the clonal variety, adding custom swashes and adjusting the design. It was then printed in a two-color letterpress, and is a breathtaking piece of art. Other varieties of her work in lettering, dating up to 2009, can be found in her, blog Daily Drop Cap, (Jessica Hische, n. pag)
Dana Tanamachi, is a Texas bred, and Brooklyn based contemporary Graphic designer and letterer. She opened her own graphic design and lettering boutique, Tanamashi studio in 2010, after working for SpotCo under the leadership of Louise Fili. Among her clients include blue-chips such as, Google, Yahoo! Rugby Ralph Lauren, The Ace Hotel, Tommy Hilfiger, West Elm, and Bloomingdale’s. She has been honored by accolades such as Young Gun (YG9), awarded by the Art Directors Club, as well as mentioned by HOW magazine as a young creative to watch. Additionally, she has created custom art for O, HOW and Time magazines, on top of being commissioned by Target for a custom product line. (Dana Tanamachi, n. pag). She uses a unique style, of 'chalk on a surface', which began after her experimenting drawing letters using chalk on walls in 2009. The style has the advantage of, she can easily start over if something goes amiss. On this point she says, "I am constantly erasing, redrawing, and erasing some more until I get it exactly the way I want it". Her designs begin with an extensive research on visual archives, followed by sketches, finally, drawing the finished piece on walls. For lasting installations, she uses a permanent chalk marker pen for the finishes (Gregory, pg 143).
Teagan White, another contemporary designer, differs from her peers in that she does not engage in lettering for the furtherance of meaning of the letter forms, rather, for their beauty in combinations. Her work involves combinations and distortions involving imagery, creating works of illustration, as well as letterforms. She finds legibility as constraint that provides her strict framework within which to conduct her experiments. Her work grows from a loose sketch with details adorned gradually, until the work is complete. She utilizes an array of materials ranging from ink to charcoal. Her work, ‘Braided’ is done using paint and brush, while the stray hairs are drawn using a pen (Gregory, pg 103).
Kate Forrester, a University of Brighton Graduate, is a contemporary designer specializing in hand drawn typography for book jackets and various other commercial applications. She has worked for various clients the world over, all the while advancing her unique lettering style. She redraws her letters many times, first on hand, and subsequently on the computer. She alternates between the methods until her letters assume the qualities she desires. She gets a kick particularly, in granting her letters emotional significance. She goes on to explain, "I enjoy making words appear’ decadent' or baroque' or 'joyful' or 'creepy:" in the Moonstruck chocolate project for instance, the lettering was intended to make the chocolate look organic and delicious. (Kate Forrester, n. pag).
Where most lettering artists battle constantly with issues of legibility, Matt Lyon relishes the opportunity to make people think. He admits, “At times I push things a Little too far, but this is when I find design at its most exciting - when words and letters serve a wider function than just their legibility.” Lyon's freehand drawings sketched with fountain pens or brushes, are scanned and completely retracted Illustrator to create vector outlines. The vivid colors and pattern -like textures, so characteristic of Lyon's work are added in Photoshop. All of the works shown here and on the next spread are self-initiated, some from his Daily Drawing project, others typographic experiments. The influence of folk-art patterning, decorative lettering, and psychedelic lettering of the 1960s is obvious (Gregory, pg 143). (Matt Lyon, n. pag)
Three dimensional lettering artists
Some artists and designers create meticulous pieces of work using unexpected materials to create something unique and extraordinary. The unifying factor in much three-dimensional work is an extensive manual labor and time it can take to complete each piece. In 3d lettering, photography is often the only means of documenting the final results due to their impermanence. So, Three-dimensional lettering can take many forms and use any combination of materials; the scope for experimentation far exceeds that of a paper or wall surface, but this freedom comes with its own set of challenges.
Stefan Sagmeister, born in 1966, grew up in Austria and immigrated to New York City in 1980s where he attended the Pratt Institute. In 1996, he pioneered a unique stylistic device, a tattooed look for a poster publicizing a new Lou Reed album. He took this technique to a new extreme in 1999, in his production of a publicity poster for a lecture sponsored by Cranbrook academy and Detroit AIGA. In the place of digital addition of the letters to the posters, he had an assistant mark the letters out, on his own body, with a knife. Some of his creative projects include the installation of 250,000 Euro cents on Waagdragerhof Square in Amsterdam, and the wall of 10,000 bananas. In the first project, he, with the aid of volunteers, sorted the coins into different shades, spreading them out over an area of 300 sq M, following a master plan. In the second project, a thousand green and yellow bananas were hung on a wall, spelling out the sentiment, ‘Self-confidence produces fine results’. The dramatic effect occurred with the disappearance and the reappearance of the sentiment with the banana change in color, from green to yellow and finally to brown. In 2013, he and a young partner, Jessica Walsh made a wonderful project for Adobe, dedicating 24 hours straight to playing with pencils to create the MAX typography. In late 2013, the again worked with Aizone campaign, a luxury brand based in Lebanon. They took the vibrant nature of the brand and presented it in campaigns that are printed in newspapers, magazines, and billboards throughout Lebanon (Heller, et al, pg 21). All the campaign shoots have created by utilizing 3D objects to create letterings using very basic tools such as painting directly on the body or face to unlimited ideas such using hair and neon light. (Stefan Sagmeister, n. pag)
YuliaBrodskaya is well known for her signature style of intricate and colorful three -dimensional lettering. She explains her love of the “endless field tor creativity that comes from illustrating letters rather than using a typeface.” She feels that, with the addition of pictorial elements and the use of different materials. Lettering becomes more than just a word. The technique Brodskaya uses quilling; that involves rolling strips of colored paper and gluing them onto a paper or card background. Shown here is a range of projects, commissioned by various international Diems, that Brodskaya created using this technique, while all her projects begin with very precise planning sketches. There is often room for some experimentation when the actual paperwork begins so new ideas can come to life (Gregory, pg 143).
Brodskaya was born in 1983 and is respected highly as a paper artist and illustrator. She utilizes paper and glue as her main materials, with the technique of placing paper strips into surfaces, subsequently making lush 3D artworks. She abandoned computer generated art, in her former occupation as a graphic illustrator, in favor of paper artworks. "Paper always held a special fascination for me. I've tried many different methods and techniques of working with it, until I found the way that has turned out to be 'the one' for me: now I draw with paper instead of on it". Her innovative style is not without recognition, and in 2009, she was named the ‘break through star’ by the creative Review magazine. She has an impressive list of clients, despite her short duration in the craft, ranging from Hermés to Starbucks to Godiva, Target, Sephora, to The New York Times Magazine, clocking more than 100 projects in five years. She has also participated in talks such as, ‘Friends of St Bride Library Conference’, and Guardian's ‘The art of Illustration master class’. (Yulia Brodskaya, n. pag)
Another designer who is experimenting hand lettering with paper yet differently from Brodskaya is Julene Harrison. Although Harrison bases her paper cut lettering on previously existing fonts, she manipulates and cuts into the letters to give them character and to intertwine them into her decorative illustrations. First developing her compositions in Photoshop, she next prints out the design in reverse onto an oversized sheet of paper she painstakingly cuts out each detail and ensures that every part is attached to another, resulting in one complete, in but very delicate piece of work. (Julene Harrison, n. pag)
With a background in contemporary textiles, Debbie Smyth, which started in 2009, works only with dressmaking pins, a hammer, and a multitude of colored threads to make ornate and textured lettering works. From a distance, they may sometimes look like a mass of knots, but, on closer inspection, the sharp edges of the letter forms are revealed. She plans each composition on the paper, and then transfers it to a wall or board before pinning, then wrapping the thread around the pins. Smyth explains, "The drawing often changes quite a lot at this point as it is more material-led”. Fly Away Home, commissioned for a textile festival was installed on-site. Smyth used the large wan space of the museum to construct a fluid piece, choosing flowing script and calligraphic fonts. She included hand -cut lettering to add contrast to the textile elements (Gregory, pg 143).The alphabet series are shown here weaves imagery together to make up the body of the letters while not allowing the swirls and illustrations to distract from the letterforms. They were created as pieces for sale in her online shop. (Debbie Smyth, n. pag).
Ultimately, Danielle Evans “Marmalade Bleue” is an urban Columbus, Ohio native. Evans’ heartstrings are plucked by lettering and typography, which she exhibits through food. She uses her hands almost exclusively; with no tool kits or measuring devices. In addition, Evans does not utilize a sketch; she places the material, i.e., the food, and gets to working it into the finished piece of art. (Danielle Evans, n. pag)
Conclusion:
It is clear that a world-wide renaissance of lettering is in full swing artists and designers, each with their own unique vision and techniques, are working with intent to bring a character and new depth to typography. In many examples of the contemporary designers mentioned before, the letters do not act merely as captions or supporting visuals, but as independent images, with the aim of impact and communication enhancement. The lettering gives the words a stronger voice and an enhanced visual presence. In some cases, this renewed style with letters represents a shift from the computer to a more physical and personal aesthetic; from the flawless and replicable typefaces, to the consistent imperfection of the human hand in crafting individual letters. By hand lettering, whether digitally, by hand, or three-dimensionally, a new value is added, and the personal feel of the artist is present in the work. Many of the practitioners with lettering allows them to push the boundaries of form maintaining legibility, whilst simultaneously creating new and exciting artworks, is seen both as a challenge and a constraint. While the challenge remains in maintaining legibility, while pushing beyond creative limits, hand lettering is still the force to reckon with, in maintaining and reviving creativity in the art of design. So, for a graphic designer it is worth to get away from the computer and work by hand!!
Works Cited
Dana Tanamachi. "Dana Tanamachi gallery." TANAMACHI STUDIO. N.p., 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://tanamachistudio.com/ .
Danielle Evans. "Danielle Evans Galery." marmalade bleue. N.p., 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://marmaladebleue.com/ .
Debbie Smyth. "Debby Smyth Galery." Debbie Smyth. N.p., 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://debbie-smyth.com/
Eskilson, Stephen. Graphic Design: A New History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. Print.
Gregory, Emily. Little Book of Lettering. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2012. Print.
Heller, Steven, and Mirko Ilic. Écrit À La Main: La Lettre Manuscrite À L'ère Du Numérique. Paris: Thames & Hudson, 2005. Print.
Jessica Hische. "Jessica Hische Art." Jessica Hische - Home. N.p., 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://jessicahische.is/ .
Julene Harrison. "Made by Julene." Made by Julene. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://madebyjulene.com/ .
Kate Forrester. "Kate Forrester Gallery." Kate Forrester | Freelance illustrator. N.p., 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://www.kateforrester.co.uk/ .
Matt Lyon. "Matt Lyon Galery." Matt Lyon. N.p., 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://www.c8six.com/ .
Stefan Sagmeister. "Stefan Sagmeister & Walsh." Sagmeister & Walsh. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/ .
Teagan White. "{ teaganwhite } design & illustration." { teaganwhite } design & illustration. N.p., 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://www.teaganwhite.com/illustration.html
Yulia Brodskaya. "Yulia Brodskaya Art." Yulia Brodskaya : Yulia Brodskaya. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://www.artyulia.com/ .
