Posts Tagged ‘typography’

Design inspiration: Thai-pography

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Our latest design inspiration comes from Elaine Chernov. Elaine has a BFA in Visual Communication from Long Beach State and is currently working as an Art Director at a small ad agency in Chicago, as well as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer.

Born in the Soviet Union, raised in Los Angeles, and currently loving Chicago, Elaine also has a passion for travel. Her most recent trip was to Thailand, where she found inspiration in the written language.

When you look at the characters of a completely foreign language, especially one as ornate as Thai, all you notice is form, line weight, and relationships. It’s the kind of total blindness that made me just stare at all the signs, applying the same type-sensitive eye I would to a romance alphabet but without any bias towards connotation. It’s an exercise in pure typography.

Elaine shares her favorites below, but definitely check out the full set on Flickr for more Thai-pography goodness.

This Way
This Way

Temple Whiteboard
Temple Whiteboard

Beware Sippery Surface
Beware Sippery Surface

Note
Note.

Temple Signs
Temple Signs

Red Sign
Red Sign

Shack
Shack

Design inspiration: typography in Japan

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

I had the opportunity to travel more around Japan during the summer holiday and found a lot of inspiration. First up: typography. From hand drawn to bold art to fancy, these types caught my eye.

Japan Type Inspiration

(left to right, top to bottom) 1. Hand drawn type and chairs – Shibuya, 2. Swirls + granite – Odaiba, 3. Ornate sepia – Aizu Wakamatsu, 4. LOVE – Shinjuku, 5. Gothic & Lolita – Harajuku, 6. Studded I’s Bicycle – Kyoto.

Stay tuned for more Japan inspiration: structural elements.

Design Inspiration: Toronto

Monday, April 6th, 2009

I was in Toronto, Canada last week for a social marketing conference at the University of Toronto. We had lovely weather and I enjoyed snapping photos of fun signage and cityscapes. Here are a few of my favorites:

canadagallery

1). I love the big red typography for the Art Gallery of Ontario; 2). In-store display at Eaton Center featuring the names of notable Canadians; 3). The Yonge Shopping District near Eaton Center; 4). A cool name and typography for a steak restaurant; 5). Oddly enough (or maybe not), a fair number of pubs featured forest animals on their signs. All followed by “Firkin.” This was my favorite; 6). A street sign in Chinatown near the University.

Design inspiration: Seattle

Friday, May 16th, 2008

I’m always on the lookout for typography, and my recent trip to Seattle was no exception. Below are some that caught my eye and provided a bit of design inspiration. I would love to be able to use the elements from #2 in a design, where bright red, sharp angles contrast with curvy white arches, or #7, where swirls complement the free formation of the letters.

Seattle fonts

(left to right, top to bottom) 1. Space Needle @ Seattle Center, 2. Space Center Arena, 3. Parking on the waterfront, 4. Belltown, 5. Space Needle observation deck, 6. Photosynthesis step of a community garden, 7. Wall decoration in Pensione Nichols, 8. Mosaic of a poem by Chief Seattle, 9. Ampersand at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Another recent source of inspiration has been the making of Charmingwall, a process that illustrator Julia Rothman of the design company Also shares, from brainstorming to animating drawings to the final product. The detail in their work is simply amazing. Feel free to share what’s been inspiring you lately in the comments.