17 January 2015

\\ INSPIRATION SERIES - TYPE \\

When I started Actually, I Do I wanted to come up with a mantra that explained my inspirations behind it... my obsession with typography, geometric shapes, design details and things handmade, which I hope you'll see in the pieces I'll be sharing here in the future.

\\ Spreading the word of typography through handmade crafts \\

The little phrase I came up with focuses mainly on the typography part, the starting point for my idea of creating fun, decorative wall art based on lettering, monograms and symbols.What do you think? It's still a work in progress, and as a great believer of progress I'm open to the idea of this mantra changing and developing as my project does. With a huge and borderline obsessive love of typography fuelling my creative process, I wanted to share a few thoughts about why I love type and lettering so much.

Letters and words are important, they make up our language, give us a voice and a means to express ourselves. Written down, type and lettering also means those who can't communicate through speaking also have a voice. When you combine these letters and words with the concept of design something magical happens...

\\ Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language readable and beautiful. \\

A quick Pinterest search for "quotes" or "words" brings up about 5000000 hours worth of typographic art and inspiration, so it's easy to see that this form of expression is becoming more and more popular and meaningful in our culture. For me personally, I love the details of type and lettering, how there are so many different versions, shapes, interpretations. I love how a simple letter from our alphabet can speak volumes or represent something dear to us... a name, someone close to us, a memory. From a design perspective there are just so many possibilities with what type can create or how it can exist, and that's exciting right???

Hopefully you can see why I love using type as the core inspiration in my makes. I'll be popping back regularly to share these with you, but for now I'll leave you with a few snaps of typography inspiration from around my home...

Would love to hear what you think!















Images: 1 - type inspiration abounds on the noticeboards above my desk, 2 - this little fella making friends with my favourite letter of the alphabet, 3 - my K Is For... screenprinted cushion from a workshop with the lovely Super+Super, 4 - fun things in the kitchen, 5 - that wonderfuk 'k' again on my fireplace, 6 - aren't ampersands just BEAUTIFUL?!, 7 - my first ever attempt at a type hoop which sowed the seeds for Actually, I Do, 8 - my most recent type-inspired purchases... 'Wander For A Bit' print by LolaHoadDesign and 'hello' lasercut necklace by Rockcakes,

x

10 comments:

  1. Loved this post cos I got to look at all your K's! Also have you read "Just My Type" by Simon Garfield? You probably have but if not you definitely should! I think it's even got a whole chapter on ampersands :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank youuu for continuing to read Karli, everyone's comment just keep spurring me on to write more and that's ace! Do you know I haven't (quadruple sad face and I'm also hiding in shame!), but it HAS been on my Amazon wishlist forever. I've got that lovely Typography Sketchbooks though and my mum bought me an old catalogue of type book for Christmas too!

      Delete
  2. I'm oh so partial to typography myself! Really like your mantra too.

    Did you read the current issue of Uppercase magazine on type? It's reignited my love of calligraphy, I can't get enough of the swirly letterforms.

    This is a lovely inspirational post, thank you
    Georgie x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah thanks Georgie! I haven't read that issue no but I shall be! Ohhh I've been wanting to do a calligraphy course for a while now too. Another thing for my ever expanding 2015 to-do list! Do you know any good ones?

      Kate x

      Delete
  3. I'm a big fan of fonts and typography as well, although my way of playing with them is mostly as fonts on the computer, on images and the likes. I love the various letters and things you have around the house. Beautiful. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Victoria! It's fun to play around with fonts, I love canva.com for that and get tons of inspiration from Pinterest :)

      Delete
  4. Great post, I'm a big fan of typography too. Your cushions and fireplace are beautiful too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful, I love typography, even wanted to find a study including typography course but never managed to do it. Love all the little "type" details in your house :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Margot! I'm looking for a typography course too this year, I'd really love to learn hand-letting and type. :)

      Delete