Everyone has someone they admire and get influenced by, that when we see their work we say “wow”, I guess that’s just a human being thing. So let’s talk about five inspirations, more specifically graphic designers and lettering artists I look up to.
Stefan Kunz
A letterer, designer, and illustrator, that combines type and photography in an amazing impressive way. Currently, he owns two published books, “The Art of Lettering” and “You Are God’s Masterpiece” and also has an interesting podcast, “The Striving Artist”, with Lauren Hom in which they talk about creativity, ideas and other artist related stuff.
Personally, I love that the compositions he creates manage to be balanced and engaging in different forms with his own intricate letters, both in his chalk lettering walls, which are my favourites from his work, since I’m more of a fan of analogue lettering and I really like the contrasting black and white colour palette and in his digital type that is mixed with image.
It’s also interesting that he works with different materials, that goes from the more crazy “canvas” like toilets, cars, guitars, to more normal ways of lettering like digitally, on paper, chalkboards and windows, but also on his hands, kids drawing boards, food or snow. As he says, “don’t let a lack of the right tools be an excuse for not creating today”.
Here are some examples of his work:
Nevesman
João Neves is a Portuguese freelance graphic designer, illustrator and hand lettering artist. He has a really cool and inspiring vintage graphic design and typography, that I look up too.
So since I am obsessed with letters and an extremely big fan of vintage design, it’s only natural that I’m a fan of his work. But what draws me most to his work, other than that, is the way he captures the mood of the era with an expressive type and the way he manages to use a wide colour palette filled with quite uncommon colours and yet still makes it interesting and soft.
From his work, my two favourite projects are “Remédio Santo”, in which he uses classic Portuguese expressions on some vintage pharmaceutical packaging, it’s really creative and even funny, the other project is the “Matchbox project” in which he creates vintage designs for matchboxes, I personally love the intricate yet balanced compositions and the well thought typography.
Jessica Hische
Jessica Hische, with over ten years of experience as a graphic designer, letterer and illustrator is an inspiring and openminded over-sharer.
She has become well known for both her side projects and her client work which includes several big names from Barack Obama to Starbucks and many more. She also speaks at conferences and has written two children books and a “normal” one called “ Work in Progress” in which we can take a look inside her sketchbook and process, from Pencil to Vector.
What I enjoy the most on her work is her glamorous yet fun and approachable style with plenty of detail that doesn’t make us get lost. She uses amazing typefaces, most of them made by herself and her soothing colour palette are enjoyable and inspiring to look at.
Becca Clason
Becca Clason a tactile lettering artist has a studio, So Mighty, that works with stop motion videos, tactile lettering, and event installations. She is also the founded Letter West, an annual conference for people who love hand-lettering, and of Love Letters Museum, an interactive pop-up exhibit in Salt Lake City.
Personally, I especially like the way she manages to create those compositions and the way she makes it interesting but not overwhelming. I also love that each letter kind of has its own personality, and if it stood alone without the others, it would look beautiful as well.
It’s really interesting that she works in such a unique area, with a vast use of different materials in a pleasant way. Her work is extremely creative, eye-catching and in some way, kind of hypnotising (at least for me 😅)to look at.
Halfstudio
Halfstudio is a Portuguese Lettering and Sign Painting studio established by Mariana Branco and Emanuel Barreira. They have been showing their work in exhibitions and urban art festivals, not only in Portugal but also all over the world.
I love that their work has such consistent style with those detailed three-dimensional letters, the fact that they sometimes create cool optical illusions with them, the energetic and joyful layouts, that, of course, are helped with the vibrant colour palette. It’s also interesting that the message in their work is always inspired by the place where the piece takes place.
Their work completely changes the space and it spreads joy, life and a feeling of fun, which just proves that art, specifically lettering, in this case, is needed and makes a difference.
So, these were my top 5 inspirations, hope you liked 🙂
Bye!
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