Hand lettering is huge these days, and is inspiring many designers to add hand-lettering to their skill sets. With the explosion of the sharing economy, designers are learning from each other.

Hand-letterers craft letters using mark-making tools for a specific application or use. What’s the best way to get started or level up in lettering? These six up and coming hand-lettering artists use their skill to create artwork that evokes meaning and expression. Get their best advice on how to improve your own skills.

The Details Matter

Joseph Alessio is a typographic illustrator based in San Francisco who blends type, letters and animates a host of mixed media in typographic compositions. Joseph’s approach with spatial relationships in type and motion is unique. He loves that part of the process in the middle, when you feel like you can experiment and play and discover – “that’s to me the most exciting and fulfilling part.”

Joseph recommends any of Doyald Young’s books as resources for new letterers. “He has an impeccable sense of composition and spatial relationships, how to handle flourishes, etc, and you can learn so much by studying his sketches.” He also recommends for understanding the nuance of letterforms is Designing Type by Karen Cheng. “It’s ironically not about actually designing type, but rather examines in great detail the minutiae of stroke weights, optical adjustments and balancing, character dimensions etc., and was really eye-opening for me as to how quality letterforms, especially within the context of working with other letterforms, are crafted.”

Find Joseph on Instagram, Twitter or his website.

The Fundamentals

Colin Tierney runs Tierney Studio, a Baltimore-based design studio that specializes in hand lettering, calligraphy and branding. To Colin, details that no one might ever notice are integral to the final design. His favorite part of the process is the initial pen to paper phase when he’s hashing out all of his ideas—the good and the bad.

Colin loves throwing on some headphones and listening to music. Music is a passion of his that isn’t directly related to design, so it’s easy to get away from the work and find another source of inspiration through a different kind of love. He recommends to aspiring calligraphers and hand lettering artists his Crayligraphy series. “I go deep into teaching the fundamentals of calligraphy with a Crayola marker. These lessons are perfect for beginners because Crayolas are cheap, accessible and easier to write with.”

Find Colin on Instagram, Twitter and Dribble.

Push Your Craft

Erick Ortega is a freelance illustrator and lettering artist from Cali, Colombia. The tactile quality of his handmade artwork is one of his trade marks and he enjoys most inking the artwork and finalizing the piece as a digital file. He’s inspired by books, movies, pop culture, but by far, music is his biggest inspiration in many ways. “Being an independent artist is about doing it all yourself and making things happen. Making yourself from scratch and keep pushing your craft to where you want to be next.”

Erick recommends picking up a copy of In Progress by Jessica Hische for both rookies and seasoned designers for information on lettering as a craft, and as a business.

Check out Erick on Behance, Instagram and Twitter.

Get the Lettering Bible

Jason Carne, a freelance graphic designer who letters and designs type in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, specializes in decorative, ornamental lettering. He is heavily inspired by the past, and constantly looking at old packaging, decades-old photos of signage from decades or centuries ago, and vintage record covers. He admits, “I feel like there was a stronger connection to ones craft in 1916 than there is in 2016, there was a desire to make sure something stood the test of time.”

Jason recommends a couple of books for lettering students, the first being Leslie Cabarga’s Logo, Font and Lettering Bible. “Beyond the gorgeous specimens included within its pages, it has tons of insight and secrets from some of the best lettering artists of the past few generations. A close second I’d recommend would be any Speedball book you can find, the most easily attainable being the recently published 100th anniversary edition including original works from Ross F. George (the artists behind the original Speedball books) as well as many modern masters.”

See more of Jason’s work on Dribble, Behance and Instagram.

Let the World Inspire You

Danielle Evans is an object lettering artist, art director, and animator from Columbus, Ohio. She uses objects and food to create her lettering, and rather than chose mediums for color or trendiness, she crafts the materials and forms around a concept. She loves finding the correct energy in her strokes or stumbling across a new technique as well as the styling process. To get inspired, Danielle’s recommendation would be to go outside.

She also attests to one of the most useful books she’s read, which isn’t about lettering at all. “The $100 Startup by Chris Gillebeau was a fantastic reminder that gorgeous letterforms don’t spring from the best reference books, supplies, a fancy studio space, or the most renown peer group,” Danielle remarks. “The book profiles several creatives struggling to actualize their dreams who modestly and resourcefully generate profitable businesses out of small investments. After finishing, I remember realizing my lettering deserved proper investment of my skills, time, and financial backing if it was to flourish.”

Follow Danielle on Twitter, Instagram and her website.

Start on a Letraset Quest

Alex Savakis, a designer and illustrator from Concord, California, deconstructs letters to create new expressions of their forms. He finds the work of fellow lettering artists and calligraphers inspirational, including the American Greetings lettering team with whom he trained with. He says, “Their enthusiasm, spirit and grit inspire me to make something everyday.”

For those learning to letter, Alex recommends finding a Letraset catalog from the 80s. “The catalog was a couple of inches thick, spiral-bound and loaded with typefaces. If a copy is available at a used bookstore, grab it! Also, look online at the lettering work that excites you, deconstruct it to see how it was created, then recreate it in your hand or style. Developing your style will take time, more than you might expect. Keep at it.”

Follow Alex on Instagram, his blog and his website.

Want to find out more about inspiring artists and designer who are leading the way in type and typography? Follow us on Crowdcast. If you’d like to learn more about what we do, visit us at type-ed.com.

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Rachel Elnar is a co-founder and producer at TypeEd, where she helps designers implement better typography, efficiently.

No matter if you’re designing a book, a brochure, a web page or even your resume, line lengths can make or break the readability of your page.

It’s really all about the harmonious relationship, or proportion from one element to another that makes design beautiful. And the proportion between page, measure and type size is super important in creating perfect line lengths that create comfortable reading copy.

Proportion is a central principle to architectural theory and the connection between mathematics and art. Well-designed buildings have space, symmetry and proportion that you can experience and feel as you walk through the space. This physicality of proportion ignites the senses while walking through the space.

With hierarchy and proportion in graphic design, readers take cues from the designer on what to read when, in what order, with what speed, in what tone and so on. Think of the designer as the tour guide through ‘spaces’ of content.

Now you might not like numbers or math, but this is not mind-bending rocket science. It’s just a few steps to begin with to help make your page look better. Think about it like this: A triple play in baseball is a rare act, but can be done if the mindset of all the players involved are in sync. Let’s take it play-by-play.

First Play: From the Format to the Grid

Creating proportion in design starts with the format or page size, which determines the grid. For a large format, like a newspaper, you can have 5 or 6 columns and accommodate a lot of content. On a small format, like a medical pamphlet, you might be dealing with a single column.

The page size is like the outer walls of a house which determines the structure of the rooms on the inside. The page size will narrow down your grid choices, as will the type of content.

Second Play: From the Grid to the Measure

The Measure is the name given to the width of a body of type, or column. Let’s use the example of an 8″ x 10″ book. It’s small, needs to be easily read, and set for flowing body copy, so I’ll assume it needs a double-column grid. Let’s test that.

The page size is 8″ x 10″, with 8 inches being the horizontal size. Subtracting a margin of 1/2 inch on both sides, and we end up with a body copy area of only 7 inches wide. Seven inches converts to 42 picas (6 picas per inch) across. You know this because you have that Conversion Chart in your hand.

Third Play: From the Measure to Type Size

If we lay in 9 points body copy, we end up at 138 characters per line. Too long. So, to calculate the type size based on the size of the 42 pica measure, we’ll split that value in half to start. The measure, on average is 1.5 to 2 times the type size. That means if we stay with our single column, our type size is going to be between 21 to 28 points. Whoa, that’s too big for body copy.

If we divide the measure into two columns, each column will only be 21 picas, or less with alleys, let’s say 19 picas. If so, we can set our type size between at 9.5 and 12.5, depending on the typeface. Use your info palette in InDesign to check the character count, and aim between 50 and 70 characters. A trained eye will make the final call on the correct size and weight for the page.

If you prefer to see it in action, you can view some of basics of line length calculation process in this video.

This formula saves a lot of time in guesswork, right? It has saved me tons of time. Just knowing the size of the book, report or page has allowed me to be able to estimate print prices on the spot for clients. Based on the format size, I know how many words will copyfit onto the page, and how many pages are needed and figure out a rough production budget for printing.

The format helps us decide on the grid and dictates the measure size. The measure size helps determine the body copy size. They all work together to score a home run for your design career.

We didn’t even address leading, margins, hierarchy, etc. But it’s okay, because now calculating line lengths and creating proportion on the page is now in your strike zone.

Did you try this formula out? Let me know on Twitter at @TypeEd. If you’d like to learn more, visit our blog at type-ed.com.

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Michael Stinson is a co-founder and instructor at TypeEd, where he helps designers implement better typography, efficiently. Get more typography in your inbox when you sign up for more updates about TypeEd.

If you’re on the quest for a free font, this bit of advice is not for you. A true beauty is worth every penny. You get what you pay for when it comes to purchasing typefaces.

When you are seeking a mate, you need to know who you are and what you want to find a good match. It’s the same with typefaces; you need to know more about the project, and and who it’s for in order to find the ideal partner font. Because once you choose, you’ll be committed to her for the life of the project.

Good designers do more than just “pick a font.” There are other variables in play, such as how to pair well with other typefaces, where to place them in hierarchy for full effectiveness, and how well they work with the visuals on the page. I call the process “typecasting,” similar to casting an actor in a movie. Designers will want to ask themselves these questions about the nature of the project to create seamless storytelling.

1. Who’s the client and who are their clients?

Are they a big beverage brand speaking to consumers, or a small boutique hotel looking for travelers? Is there a large standards guide to follow, or is it a fresh, new campaign? Always begin by gaining an understanding of the nature of your client or campaign, you can begin to narrow down to type classification.

2. What is the project? And what are all the mediums and languages involved?

Will you need screen fonts or desktop fonts? Is the project large enough that you’ll need licensing for multiple mediums? If so, no matter which font family you use, you’ll want to plan to source web font versions for your desktop fonts or vice versa. This may limit the foundries from where you source your typefaces from. Or is it a an international ad campaign where you’ll need some translation? If that’s the case, look at Pro versions or typefaces with additional language support.

3. What’s the concept?

Once you have an idea of classification, begin by writing down all the words you can think of that describe the main idea. Reference imagery to help your brainstorming session. Open it up to related themes if you need more words or you’re designing a few directions. Then sift through and choose the top six that best describes the direction.

For example, if the project is a tabletop bar menu promoting baseball season, I will begin by start looking at type baseball field images. I’ll look at photos of Fenway Park, scoreboards, signage, uniforms. Since we’re talking about America’s game, I’ll Google images of vintage baseball and see if that conjures up nostalgic words for possibly another design direction.

Image of Fenway Park, courtesy of Wikipedia

4. What is the voice & tone of content?

When you read the raw content, you can assess what sort of voice is being spoken. The tone of the writing will give you more clues to the personality of typeface to choose.

I used to give a project in school where my students had to pick a poem and lay it out with type only, across a spread. Typeface choice was critical, because one wouldn’t choose a fancy script for say, a quote by Teddy Roosevelt or Winston Churchill. You’re going to pick something heavy, perhaps set in all caps, to reflect the voice of the speaker.

5. How much content? How will it be read?

How many pages are you going to be typesetting? How much content is involved, and in what form? If the format will be a 6″ x 9″ tabletop menu and the client has over 20 different drinks, you already know that the typeface will be pretty small. And if there’s a lot of reading copy, consider a typeface that has letterform legibility at small sizes.

If you’re working on screen, how will the typeface affect the reading experience on a low-resolution device or moving fast in a movie title treatment? Will the user be reading all the content or just merely scanning?

6. How many levels of content?

Hierarchy works as navigation to lead the reader across the page and to separate the content and indicate context. Assess how much content you have to deal with in the space, and then determine how many levels you’ll need to help you determine the font family needed.

On our baseball drink menu menu, we will only need two levels of hierarchy to separate the name of the drink from the description, and there are many typefaces with only 2 or 3 weights. However, if you are redesigning a magazine, you may need up to 15 or 20 weights and styles, so seek for large families or super families, which narrows your quest considerably.

In order to choose and find the font that works best for your graphic design project, all aspects of the final outcome have to be considered. You need to know what you want in order to be happiest. Just do your due diligence, and you’ll find happiness in a font that fits the project. Don’t worry, letter love is waiting for you.

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Michael Stinson is a co-founder and instructor at TypeEd, where he helps designers implement better typography, efficiently. Get more typography in your inbox when you sign up for more updates about TypeEd.

Did you know that there are two ways to set numerals? You know uppercase and lowercase letters exist, but did you know there are also ‘uppercase’ and ‘lowercase’ figures? In addition to lining and old-style, there’s also two different spacing formats, proportional and tabular.

So much to know about figures, so here’s how it breaks down.

Differences in Height

Old Style numerals (otherwise known as text or lowercase figures) have varied heights in a fashion that resembles a typical line of running text. They follow the ascenders and descenders of lowercase letters. If you set body copy, use old style figures for dates, phone numbers and other uses. Whenever sentence case is used, set your figures in old style. It might look weird because you’re not used to it, but it follows the way people read.

Using lining numerals (otherwise known as titling or uppercase figures) in body copy disrupts the flow of reading, in the same way that ALL CAPS SHOUT to your reader. Lining numerals work best next to all-cap height letters, or more commonly, in financials for accounting applications. Having all the figures line up at the cap-height makes them easy to read in a line.

Differences in Width

Proportional figures have variable spacing, which results in even color on the page created by horizontal rhythm and reading. The spacing around each figure allow for the width of each figure. Not only do I recommend old style numerals for body copy, I will also recommend them to be proportional. In order to implement, look for “proportional old style” numerals.

By contrast, tabular figures have uniform spacing and have the same width. These numerals act more like monospaced glyphs, so where no matter what the actual width of the character is, the space in the glyph will be the same. Tabular figures are perfect for financials, price lists and setting math, because they will be aligned vertically when set into columns. For accounting applications, be sure to choose “tabular lining” numerals.

Why it Matters

When choosing a typeface, not only are glyphs important to the usage, but so are the numbers. Figure height and width spacing matters. If you’re setting long-form reading content, choose a typeface that has proportional old style figures. If setting financial-heavy documents, choose a typeface that has tabular lining figures. Choosing the right typeface for your project will help you design a great reading experience.

I explain more about numerals, letters and glyphs and all you need to know about choosing the perfect typeface in our online typography basics class, Type 1. Does your favorite typeface have old-style or lining numerals as a default? Let me know by tweeting us at @TypeEd. I’d love to see what type of numerals you’re using.

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Michael Stinson is a co-founder and instructor at TypeEd, where he helps designers implement better typography, efficiently. Get more typography in your inbox when you sign up for more updates about TypeEd.