Illustrated Letters by Jared Andrew Schorr

May 23, 2011 // kristen // 2 replies

I’m such a big fan of Jared Andrew Schorr’s papercut work, and these space-themed, illustrated letters that he created for the Illustrated Type show at Gallery Nucleus have absolutely made my day. Not only are they incredible pieces, but they bring together two of my favorite things: paper cutting and typography. Oh, how I love that adorable astronaut … and the pink, teal, navy, and yellow color palette, too!

Q is for Quiet, R is for Rocket, S is for Space Race, and T is for Taken

Be sure to check out more of Jared’s fantastic papercut pieces over on his blog.

images from Jared Andrew Schorr

Bookeyed Jack + Bookeyed Suzanne by Crystal Kluge

April 21, 2011 // kristen // 2 replies

Oh, do I ever look forward to a new font by Crystal Kluge, and this time she’s released two at once! I’m already imagining Bookeyed Jack and Bookeyed Suzanne in action, bringing life to wedding invitations, stationery, and graphic design projects that call for a hand-lettered touch.

Bookeyed Jack might give me the side-eye if I called him “lovely”, so instead I’ll say that he’s handsome and strong, with a bit of mischief on the side.

Now Bookeyed Suzanne, she’s a real looker. She’s a “modern girl with vintage charm”, and her lovely serifs and swashes fill me with delight.

images from Crystal Kluge

1938 Crane Paper Ad

March 31, 2011 // kristen // 1 replies

I recently picked up some goodies at a local antiques show, including a 1938 issue of House Beautiful magazine that instantly caught my eye. I was so excited to get it home and page through it, and what did I see almost as soon as I opened the magazine? It was an ad for Crane Paper, quite a serendipitous find for a paper lover!

It’s amazing how much has changed in the 70+ years since this issue was first published, including magazine size – this issue was a whopping 9 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ – love! And the typography found throughout the magazine was so, so fantastic. Just check out the “Crane’s” in the ad – swoon!

Needless to say, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more old magazines during future antiquing adventures.

photos by me (from House Beautiful, October 1938)

Paper & Love Typeface

March 16, 2011 // kristen // 1 replies

A typeface inspired by origami? Love it! Designer Chris Berthe created Paper & Love with a flat typeface in mind, and the letterforms are based on an octagonal grid and origami folds. The digital version, which you can check out over on Behance, represents this origami concept by emphasizing transparency and focusing on the letter shapes, and the majority of the 2D letterforms can be created by simply folding thin strips of paper and following the octagonal grid. I love that Chris took his concept a step further and actually rendered the typeface in 3D using paper, an X-acto knife, and lots of love, of course.

images from Behance / Chris Berthe

Dear Santa, My Font Wishlist is Long-ish…

December 20, 2010 // kristen // 3 replies

Yes, Santa, I know that my font wishlist is always insanely long, especially now that I’m keeping better track via the Fontly Five. But I’ve really, really tried to be a good girl this year, so maybe you might even consider tucking Cyclone or Brownstone into my stocking? I know, I know, that’s a lot to ask, but several of the fonts on my wishlist this year are on sale, and a few are even free, like Easy Slant (above) by Cameron Blazer of Cottage Industrialist (by the way, congrats on your releasing your first font, Cameron!), so all you’ll have to do is put them onto a flash drive for me, easy peasy.

And, if you really don’t want to lug around all of those fonts, Santa, then a gift certificate from MyFonts would be very welcome, too. Oh, and you might want to exclude, uh, Liebe Erika, Verna, Ht Libreria, HT Pasticceria, and Changing, even though they’re on my list, because, um, I may or may not have kinda sorta bought them already because I wasn’t able to resist when I was putting together my letter to you. Thanks, Santa! I’ll be leaving you at least a dozen cookies and a big, cold glass of full fat milk this year as my way of saying that I think you’re the best!

Shown above: Monroe by Daniel Hernandez / Sudtipos; Liebe Erika by Ulrike Wilhelm / Liebe Fonts; Dynatomic by Ricardo Marcin & Erica Jung / PintassilgoPrints; Manicotti by David Jonathan Ross; HT Pasticceria by Ryoichi Tsunekawa / Flat-It; Raleway by Matt McInerney (free download); Somewhat by Ricardo Marcin & Erica Jung / PintassilgoPrints; Museo Slab by Jos Buivenga / exljbris; HT Libreria by Ryoichi Tsunekawa / Flat-It; Karnak Pro Complete by Steve Jackaman & Ashley Muir / Red Rooster; Mountains of Christmas by Crystal Kluge / Tart Workshop (free download); Verna by Emil Karl Bertell / Fenotype; Coquette by Mark Simonson; Piel Script by Ale Paul / Sudtipos; Dearest John by Outside the Line; Changing by Ricardo Marcin & Erica Jung / PintassilgoPrints; Josefin Slab by Santiago Orozco (free download); Steinweiss Script by Michael Doret / Alphabet Soup