"Scripts" & Hand Rendered Type

Last week I got a copy of "Scripts" by Stephen Heller and Louise Fili, it was a book I had wanted for a while and eventually decided to buy from Amazon as it was pay day. The book is a fantastic example of vintage typefaces and elegant lettering from what the book describes as "design's golden era". The book itself is a whole selection of ads, notes, book covers and hand writing complied with useful notes and information to put the designs in context.

Another reason I decided to get a copy of "Scripts" was for my own personal project of developing my hand rendered type skills. I will be the first to admit that I am not naturally talented at drawing typefaces, but after looking at little more into the work of Jessica Hische I was convinced it was something I wanted to be good at.

A few months ago I created a campaign about lemons to send to design companies I really liked and admired. Although I received some positive responses I still don't have a job within the design industry, however, I have been playing around with ideas for a new self promotional campaign and I am hoping hand rendered type will give the project enough of a "wow factor" to land me that perfect job.

These are some photos of "Scripts" by Steven Heller and Louise Fili, a much recommended book. You can get a copy here.

Fashion Brief

I have been having a bit of a blog break recently as applying for jobs doesn't make for very interesting reading and I'm starting to bore myself talking and obsessing over applications, emails and CVs. Although I haven't been actively seeking employment for a really long time (about two months) it certainly can be demoralising when people don't call back and you need to come up with renewed enthusiasm.

With this in mind I was very pleasantly surprised to find an email in my inbox last week asking me to participate in a brief as part of the interview process for a well known clothing company that were known for their boots (which I now want a pair of) and their links to New England. The brief was to creative five t-shirt designs, two heritage themed and two illustrative "earth keeper" designs that related to the importance of the environment.

The brief sounded perfect as the heritage part of the brief was typography based and influenced by vintage signage, two things I really like and use in my own work. So I set to work researching, sketching and coming up with some designs that would reflect the nature of the company; something I could visualise on their t-shirts.

With this brief I tried to give the "client" what they wanted and reflected their company and then some designs that were a little more outside their comfort zone in the "earth keeper" illustrations as I was encouraged to be a bit more inventive. The deadline was this morning so I sent a PDF of the designs and explanations to the company last night, I think the designs I created were suitable and creative but wether I'll be invited to go further in the interview process? I'm not sure.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the designs and works in progress.