hand lettering

Tuesday, September 8, 2009


cafe logo/identity

Last week completely out of the blue I received an email from an editor at HOW magazine she was working on an article on hand lettering and would like to feature little ol' me and my typographic wares in the article - Shut Up ! - to say I was thrilled to pieces by this request would be an enormous understatement. It felt like a big ol' shot of happy juice swallowed with a few tablets of vim, vigour and let's do it ! spirit. My work has been featured on the HOW magazine blog here and here another huge thrill - hanging out with some tres impressive company. This is a fantastic opportunity and I have been mildly (ha ha) stressing myself out trying to decide which 6 of my hand lettering pieces to send and/or what other mind blowing typographic creations might I whip up just for this opportunity. The deadline is today so very soon time (or the lack there of) will help me out with this fretful decision making.

So ... along with my regular projects which thankfully I have plenty o' going on here at the teak topped desk this last while I've been fussin' and mussin' over which 6 examples of hand lettering that I'm going to submit at the end of day today. This logo is actually one I did years ago when I first moved to this little village and at that time was working a regular 9-5 stint at a big giftware company as a product designer/creative director here dans this little village. Even with a full time job I always did my fair share of freelance graphic design and this cafe logo has always been a favourite of mine. Yesterday I cleaned it up a little, changed the colours and got it ready to place in the pile of possible and maybe type treasures to submit.

There's also a short list of questions to answer and send back and it's funny now that I've had over a week to ponder this hand lettering skill (and love) of mine. Where did it come from ? and what were and are my inspirations ? I realize I've been a little typographer since way back, long before I'd ever heard that word. I used to enter every poster contest going as a child (and won most of them). My grandmother Flo (an artist and a big, big influence on me and my creativity growing up) and I used to make wall hangings, spread out on her giant dining room table, using brightly coloured glued felt shapes and designs on burlap, we'd glue sequins (for bullets) and ric rac (still a favourite of mine) instead of rules and bars, little typographic elements and embellishments out of sewing notions and many of my little wall hangings would very often include words, brightly coloured felt letters hand cut with scissors - really profound words like Boy and Cat. ;-)

I often think and hope that she is looking down at me from her cloud and smiling ... and just maybe, she's been keepin' company with the red + yellow dogs

14 comments:

  1. Congrats Susan! Your work is fabulous so I'm not surprised you are being featured! I'm sure Gram and Jake are proud of you!!

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  2. I love your work - and your amazing letters. :) Congrats on this! Bask in the light - let it get you toasty warm. xox Pam

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  3. Wow!! I love HOW magazine. How cool of them to take notice and feature your work. I admire your hand-lettering as well.
    Congrats Susan! :)

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  4. You GO GIRL!!! Kudos and hugs from Willow Manor. Fun to hear how the lovely Flo helped to get your creative juices flowing at such an early age.

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  5. How SMART of those folks over at HOW Magazine to feature your work!
    We ALL think your hand-lettering is far and away some of the very best we have seen! We'd like for EVERYONE to see it! Good for you!!!

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  6. This is fantastic. I love getting a glimpse into the process of how an artist produces their art.
    Bravo to you.

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  7. I think she probably is, looking down with the dogs, that is. And congratulations to you, Susan!
    Brenda

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  8. EXCELLENT! looking forward to seeing what you submitted.
    Tail Wags to All.
    ~Moose

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  9. Wonderful to be noticed for the thing you love doing!!! That poster is very cool! I wait to see what you choose:)

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  10. So wonderful!! Glad things are going well for you. Much love to you, Princess Dixon, Bleet, Ver and Mr. Fussypants.

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  11. Glad i caught this. Wow. How Magazine? Tres tres brilliant. Good for you. I hope it opens up lots of design opps for you too. I'll be interested to learn which pieces you selected in the end.

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  12. Good news! Did you make the deadline?

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  13. Congratulations Susan! Well done. Your grandmother sounds like an amazing person. Hope you'll share some more stories about her soon. I'll bet she is watching over you and is smiling proud! Nice achievement!

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