Alphabet Roadtrip

Like, Like...... Love: The New UnFacebook "Like" Stickers from Iskra Design

 
© Iskra Design

To download the UnFacebook personalized "Like" stickers go to the pdf portfolio section at Iskra Design.

The Seattle Times Logo, Well Weathered Gothic

"Signs I Like" has been on a long vacation. But today I saw something I could not resist outside the Lighthouse coffee shop. I did the lettering for the Seattle Times masthead about twelve years ago, in association with Landor Seattle. Coincidentally the logo was featured in Logo Reviews a few days ago. The true test of a logo is how well does it stand the test of time? Here it is on a newspaper kiosk, rotated so you can compare it with the way it is used in the paper. I had nothing against that eagle, but I do like how abstract (and even more Gothic) this becomes without it. Perhaps someone liked it so much they tore it out to sew on their jeans:

My task was to look at every other Gothic newspaper masthead in America and come up with a subtle, very legible, fresh variation. Here is the before and after:

(I do not know who did the eagle, so unfortunately I can't credit them here.)

Masthead typography is uniquely challenging. Gothic is by its nature very difficult to read. It may look traditional and authoritative, but it is based on a completely zen principle: the space between letters and that magical yin/yang balance of darkness and light. This was a dream project. My father was publisher for eight years of the paper he started, The Auburn Citizen, which also had a Gothic masthead. This assignment connected me back through time to the long tradition of the small- town newspaper and work in the original public sphere. Websites, as convenient and up-to-the-minute as they are, do not age well; we will never admire their distressed and curling edges or how the wind transformed their serifs.

 

Lettering Design For Book Covers: Fantasy Genre

 

Title design by Iskra, a mix of Gothic and Uncial pen calligraphy

                    

Drawn typographic lettering design by Iskra

Title and Author lettering design by Iskra

The Imajica letterforms were designed by me as a proprietary style to be used in Clive Barker's books over a period of time. They were then lifted and turned into a font for general use by another designer without my knowledge or permission, a perplexing and less than gallant appropriation of one artist's works by another.

See more book cover title lettering at Iskra Design.

Classic Calligraphic Lettering Styes for Romance Book Jackets

I do title and author design for many books by romance authors. These recent covers for Karen Robards and Danielle Steele are a good match of lettering style with other visual elements.

Title and author calligraphy by Iskra, Art Director Lisa Litwack

Title calligraphy and lettering design by Iskra, Art Director Lynn Andreozzi

Watercolor and Ink Illustration from The Rollercoaster of Love

You have probably noticed that this is the month with the red heart in the middle, and you will be consuming flowers and chocolates at a frantic rate in advance if not on the Day. Of all consumer holidays, Valentines Day ranks as one of my favorites. It is built on true emotion and complicated sentiment, starting right in kindergarten when a child starts to wonder if the little SweeTart glued to a piece of constuction paper (from That Boy) "means" something.

I promise you something very interesting is coming to Alphabet Roadtrip on Valentines Day. But in the meantime, who doesn't love an amusement park? Especially one that has a little cafe called February where you can think about life and write in your journal. Croquill pen with India ink and watercolor.

© Iskra Design

Lettering Design for Book Covers: Samples of Historically-based Calligraphy and Hand Lettering for Titles

What I like about book title design is the variety of skills I get to use. It's not just about pens and brushes and lettering techniques.  Each genre of book requires a different expression of historical era and a feel for the part of popular (or elite) culture the book lives in. These examples of book title and author typography are all based on traditional historical letterforms.

"Juliet" is Humanist, with a flourish. Alexandra Ripley's "Love Divine" is a very condensed and stylized version of Uncial. "The Lost Recipe for Happiness" is a nostalgic mix of small caps with ornamental italic accents. "Nelson's Trafalgar" incorporates a hand-drawn cartouche with a script that is more font than calligraphy, although it is completely hand-lettered.

 

The childrens' and fantasy genre books below draw from historical sources also, but with subtle differences. Each cover treatment should look unique to the author, and the typography and hand-lettering become important parts of the author and series brand. "Babe" is done with a calligraphy pen on rough paper, which gives it a soft look that goes with the sweetness of the cover colors and the rounded animal shapes. "The Knight" started as calligraphic Roman Caps but was then inked and given a more retro-typographic feeling, enhanced by the outline. The bolder serifs give it a masculine and heroic feeling echoed in the illustration.

 

 

Additional samples of the Uncial style showing how differently it can be expressed. For Brian Jaques (yes, you can fall in love with a mouse!) the ornamental serifs and quirky curves go with Martin the Warrior's character and mimic the ornamental border. "Son of the Sword" is closest to a purely historical Uncial of any of these titles, done with an edged pen on rough paper. The Uncial d is one of my favorite letters of all time.

 

Hand lettering and hand lettered typography © Iskra Johnson

See my book jacket portfolio at www.iskradesign.com

Handwriting in Lettering Design: Examples of Unique Handwriting Used Instead of Fonts

I've been working on a wonderful handwriting project this month, which I'll be able to post part of in a few weeks when it has gone to print. In the meantime, because I get so many requests for handwriting I am posting part of my portfolio today as an easy online reference.

All of these projects were for clients who wanted a look and voice that they could not find in existing fonts. Handwriting is a particular part of lettering design that has unique challenges. Fonts always look like fonts, no matter how many alternate letters are added. And they have to go through the sifting machine of endless compromise: each letter has to play well with every other letter no matter the circumstance. This takes away a lot of their spirit. I have designed proprietary handwriting fonts for several clients including Betty Crocker and PBS. The fonts turned out well, but I always felt the pain of sacrificing my children: those wonderful leaping upstrokes and sweeping descenders and playful flirty serifs all had to be called in from recess and made to sit still in class. In this portfolio page of handwriting the letters get to express their personality.

You can see my complete handwriting portfolio at www.iskradesign.com

How Do You Say Coffee? Expressive Mixed Media Calligraphy

When I do expressive calligraphy, expression wins out over technique and traditionally beautiful lettering design. What matters most is the personality of the words, and in this case, the personality of the coffee customer.

I live in Coffee Town USA, yes, that would be Seattle, and I am a confirmed devotee. I do love to watch how people order their favorite drinks. Particularly those people who request the "no-foam-no-caf-non-fat---latte?" I mean, what is this? This is not a latte. It's simply a state of denial. But then I'm in the camp of coffee-is-a-vehicle-for-cream, or why bother.

This piece is done in watercolor, guache, felt pen, pointed pen, brush and a variety of brushes. It was created as part of my ongoing fascination with letterforms as an expression of voice. I see my job as a contemporary lettering artist as being a channel for character. I'm not a stylist with a "hand" but a character actress, making visible the intangibles of tone of voice, personality and unique DNA.

See more expressive calligraphy and calligraphic illustration at www.iskradesign.com.

Snow Day in the Studio: Expressive Calligraphy

It snowed this week. Power was intermmitant and I had to shut down my computer for awhile. It gave me time to look out the window and slow down. It was truly lovely, especially at night, when I went for long walks. In the morning the light in the studio was luminous and bright, and I didn't need to turn on any lamps.

I mixed some water the color of the sky and the snow and the stellar's blue jay on the roof, and did some loose expressions of "SnowDay." Often my work is highly refined for reproduction, and must be absolutely legible. My only task here was to please myself and it did not matter if the words could be read from thirty feet away. It's like skiing, using a pen this way. The paper is just like snow, velvety and welcoming, and forgiving you if you fall.

Edged Pen with Pelican Tusche and Cobalt Blue on Teton Cover and Karma Cover.

See more expressive lettering at  www.iskradesign.com

A Fabulous Video Animation of a Bookstore

This charming video came to my inbox this week. A bookstore, animated, in all its touchable, three dimensional quirky wonder. Check it out, and support your local bookstore!

New Calligraphic Icons, Work in Progress

©Iskra Design

Icon project for an art center: different approaches to representing dance, by way of the classic ballet slipper.