Stelae for 7/7. The London 7/7 Memorial consists of “52 pillars (or ‘stelae’), cast in rough textured stainless steel, each representing one of the victims” of the 2005 terrorist bombing attack. Typographer Phil Baines (profile) explains the development of the rough-hewn yet “British” typeface, based on “the 19th-century, untutored signmakers’ sansserif you see on buildings around the city,” that is moulded into the living steel.
posted by joeclark on Jul 8, 2009 - 13 comments

The alphabet in satellite imagery of Slavonia. [via]
posted by parudox on Jun 29, 2009 - 7 comments

Tart cards [NSFW] are the means by which many London prostitutes advertise their services. Step into almost any central London phone box and you can contemplate up to 80 cards inviting you to be tied, teased, spanked or massaged.... [Wallpaper Magazine] asked designers – from students to superstars – to find the tart hiding in every typeface and create their own graphic numbers.... all 450 cards can be viewed here. [NSFW] [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Jun 26, 2009 - 39 comments

The Served is a family of sites that brings you a steady supply of top quality creative work in specific categories: Fashion, Industrial Design, Photography [some nsfw], Typography, and Motion Graphics. All projects are streamed directly from the owner's portfolios in the Behance Network, along with proper attribution and a direct link to contact information.
posted by netbros on Jun 8, 2009 - 5 comments

@Issue: is the online blog of The Journal of Business and Design. Topics of recent interest include Drawords, an ongoing caption this drawing project, and Typography in China, an explanation of the availability of Chinese typefaces. Also, @Issue interviews an iconic group that includes captains of industry and design.
posted by netbros on Jun 2, 2009 - 5 comments

"I want our type to jump, scream, whisper and dance..." Ebon Heath and His Visual Poetry. "When I close my eyes I can see the words of great poets like Rakem or Tupac flying thru the air and dancing with the same physicality my body instinctually feels. My mobiles attempt to create a visual sense of rhythm and flow that is alive, not contained." This interview with Heath breaks down his Stereo.type and Purge projects. [more inside]
posted by netbros on May 30, 2009 - 8 comments

From 1895 to 1982 the Penrose Annual showcased typography and graphic design.
posted by the cuban on May 14, 2009 - 5 comments

Graphic Design Is: 50 Designs About Graphic Design
posted by The Whelk on May 9, 2009 - 26 comments

Joe Palca, a science correspondent for NPR's Morning Edition, was meditating on the best way to convey the magnitude of the world's largest known prime number, 2^43112609-1. He contacted H&FJ at Typography.com to discuss the implications of typesetting a number with more than twelve million digits. Crunching of numbers and fonts ensued.
posted by netbros on Apr 22, 2009 - 21 comments

The Ministry of Type is a weblog about type, typography, lettering, calligraphy and other related things. The FontFeed, from the folks at FontShop, is a daily dispatch of recommended fonts, typography techniques, and inspirational examples of digital type at work in the real world. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Mar 31, 2009 - 12 comments

Can't talk, too busy looking at Andy Smith's art and typography
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Feb 18, 2009 - 7 comments

Make your handwriting into a font with Yourfonts. Download the PDF, draw your alphabet, scan and upload, then download the finished result. Examples. Via Drawn!
posted by Rinku on Feb 2, 2009 - 31 comments

"The Journal of Urban Typography is dedicated to the documentation and study of signs, word fragments, and typography created with utilitarian intent in urban environments." [more inside]
posted by camcgee on Feb 1, 2009 - 16 comments

Despite some rather interesting biographical information, Iridius’s interest in typographical symbols is noteworthy, especially the section on alchemical ones.
posted by cthuljew on Jan 20, 2009 - 6 comments

Cartype has a huge repository of vehicle logos and other related typography. [more inside]
posted by 1f2frfbf on Dec 15, 2008 - 5 comments

Easier sIFR implementation with jQuery Plug-in. Web developers or typography aficionados may remember when sIFR was first mentioned and discussed (160 comments) on MeFi: Dec. 29th, 2004. Since then, when it has been mentioned on the Blue, it has mostly been by people who dislike it (or anything remotely related to Flash). Or, as expressed this comment by TKChrist, they have found it overly-complicated to implement. For those of you interested in giving it another look: the jQuery sIFR plug-in. If you do nothing else, check out the three examples using this approach. [more inside]
posted by spock on Dec 4, 2008 - 93 comments

Artist Julián Dorado puts together typographical creatures. The alphabet can be a little scary.... Typefaces. (via) [more inside]
posted by Kronos_to_Earth on Dec 1, 2008 - 6 comments

The (Mostly) True Story of Helvetica and the New York City Subway. Why is Helvetica used now, and when did the changeover occur? To answer those questions this essay explores several important histories: of the New York City subway system, transportation signage in the 1960s, Unimark International and, of course, Helvetica.
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse on Nov 19, 2008 - 16 comments

This f*cking election. A babble tower.
posted by digaman on Nov 2, 2008 - 100 comments

We've seen it done before with Ms. Dewey (previously), but all the same, meet Max Kerning. He's also on Facebook and Twitter. He's a total shill (Sutcase Fusion 2) but still worth checking out. [more inside]
posted by cjorgensen on Oct 30, 2008 - 13 comments

Long-time CBS in-house designer Lou Dorfsman passed away this week. He did a lot of great work, but let's just focus on one part: His cafeteria wall at CBS, dubbed Gastrotypographicalassemblage. More about the wall. And an interview with Mr. Dorfsman about the wall.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner on Oct 26, 2008 - 14 comments

Vote for Hope [more inside]
posted by clearly on Oct 20, 2008 - 43 comments

Definitive guide to fonts on Mad Men. Mostly the fonts that didn’t exist during the time of the show. Not every single thing is “historically accurate,” apparently. [more inside]
posted by joeclark on Oct 7, 2008 - 23 comments

Typography for Laywers. A basic introduction to typography in a clean, well-organized (and still growing) site. [more inside]
posted by camcgee on Sep 26, 2008 - 96 comments

Typographunnies
posted by chrismear on Sep 18, 2008 - 56 comments

Ever since Napoleon Dynamite became a surprise hit in the summer of 2003, and the subsequent rise of Judd Apatow a trend in sentimental but cynical film comedy was born. But this post isn't about the comedy.. [more inside]
posted by mediocre on Sep 5, 2008 - 61 comments

Can you guess these movies from just one letter of the poster? Empire has put together a little quiz to test your movie font knowledge. Guess the movies from just one letter in the film's poster title. Via Neatorama
posted by daHIFI on Aug 11, 2008 - 40 comments

Type is art. Take little pieces of letterforms and make something new.
posted by signal on Jul 18, 2008 - 10 comments

The handwriting of typographers.
posted by oneirodynia on Jul 10, 2008 - 21 comments

"Type designers know well that context, culture, and history shape the connotations of letterforms. . . . In fact, type plays a starring role in the making of nations." A short but interesting look at typography and political identity from Print magazine.
posted by camcgee on Jul 8, 2008 - 9 comments

The Employable Web Designer ― Andy Rutledge at Design View constructs a list of suggestions to help aspiring designers better craft their own preparedness and, if necessary, adjust their degree plans toward a more effective and responsive result in the web design field. (previously) [more inside]
posted by netbros on Jun 28, 2008 - 39 comments

Marian Bantjes, typographer, designer, and Layer Tennis competitor, received a 419 spam email and turned it into this print. [more inside]
posted by heeeraldo on Jun 27, 2008 - 8 comments

The Girl Effect.
posted by sveskemus on Jun 17, 2008 - 61 comments

The 2007 Feltron Annual Report . via
posted by signal on Jun 8, 2008 - 13 comments

The ampersand has been the subject of typographic embroidery, has famously been used as a tattoo, displayed on plates, and has even been deep fried. There are dancing ones, printed ones, but unfortunately no Russian ones. How do you like your ampersand?
posted by msaleem on May 21, 2008 - 23 comments

An analog textual clock - An analog textual clock
posted by cillit bang on May 16, 2008 - 24 comments

15 Great Examples of Web Typography. Because 95% of web design is about typography in the first place.
posted by signal on May 8, 2008 - 48 comments

Keyboard calligraphy "To produce such a typeface, Müteferrika knew he had to analyze Arabic script. Calligraphers might learn to make the correctly shaped letter combinations by practice, without conscious application of tens of thousands of rules, but for machine reproduction of the script, deciphering those rules was exactly what was essential."
posted by dhruva on May 1, 2008 - 28 comments

Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 NYC subway map is back Yours for the low, low price of 299 bucks for one copy of the limited edition of 500. (Previous MeFi comments on the famed design, which the New York MTA eventually shitcanned. [Via.])
posted by joeclark on Apr 24, 2008 - 30 comments

Two blogposts from Smashing Magazine: Breathtaking Typographic Posters and Typography in Motion. Some notables: Retro Artist Feature, Linocut Print of London, It's the Outsideness Flavour of It, Zeitgeist, Hier Vorne, 80 of 500 Handdrawn Posters and music video for Ya no sé qué hacer conmigo by Uruguayan band Cuarteto de Nos.
posted by Kattullus on Apr 22, 2008 - 7 comments

The BBC's Stephen Fry follows the trail of Johannes Gutenberg to France and Germany, and attempts to reconstruct a working replica of Gutenburg’s first press. (YouTube version)
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Apr 21, 2008 - 27 comments

The Mountain Goats' newest video is a dizzying, typographical romp. (SLYT)
posted by auralcoral on Apr 16, 2008 - 34 comments

"Commonwealth of Diverse Cultures: Poland's Heritage is an international educational exhibition which presents the history of tolerance and cohabitation of various ethnic groups in the territory of Polish-Lithuanian Commowealth and is addressed primarily to foreigners all around the world". This is achieved via a very beautiful flash site.
posted by peacay on Mar 25, 2008 - 11 comments

Great Scenes from TV and Film, Told Using Only Typography (and Sound)
posted by spec80 on Mar 20, 2008 - 20 comments

Michael Bierut Talks Typography with ‘The Atlantic’ "In a video interview with The Atlantic, Michael Beirut talks about typography, including Stanley Kubrick’s favorite font, the cover design of The Catcher in the Rye, and the link between phototypesetting and Free Love." (8 min) via
posted by vronsky on Mar 17, 2008 - 12 comments

Apostrophe Atrophy highlights dumb quotes appearing in print, an unforgivable graphic design gaffe.
Just toggle the checkbox in InDesign/Quark already!
posted by porn in the woods on Mar 2, 2008 - 111 comments

The MeeK FM Typographic Synthesizer(tube.)
posted by geos on Feb 29, 2008 - 17 comments

The story behind Woody Allen's signature typeface (with screengrabs from each film). Via. [more inside]
posted by growabrain on Jan 30, 2008 - 42 comments

Israeli designer Oded Ezer produces stunning works of experimental typography. He has been lauded for creating [PDF link]"...Hebrew characters that melt," but it is his more unconventional work that is truly breathtaking - made up of letters with vivacity and personality. He calls his gorgeously abstracted work "typo art," existing wholly neither in the space of art or typography, with hope that it might transcend language altogether. See his flickr stream for more sketches, works, and arresting typescapes.
posted by youarenothere on Jan 9, 2008 - 21 comments

Fonts at the movies. [more inside]
posted by Terminal Verbosity on Dec 14, 2007 - 21 comments