Mar 9, 2012 | Book Covers, Recent Posts
Here are samples of different ways contemporary script calligraphy can be integrated into book cover design. Most of these books are ongoing series, in which the hand lettered book title becomes part of the brand.
Casual, fun brush lettering integrated into the illustration
Monoline pen handwriting for Sophie Kinsella's "Shopaholic" series
Brush calligraphy that flows with the curves of the illustration
Script as illustration, a visual pun
Contemporary brush script designed to play off of a font
A long title treated as a text shape for Laurel House
Elegant contemporary pen calligraphy in two different styles
Feb 24, 2012 | Recent Posts, Signs I Like
"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.
See more typographic logotypes at Iskra Design.
Feb 19, 2012 | Book Covers, Recent Posts
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.
Feb 19, 2012 | Book Covers, Recent Posts
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
Feb 13, 2012 | Handwriting Design, New Work, Recent Posts, The Like Project UnFacebook Stickers |
© Iskra Design
To download the UnFacebook personalized “Like” stickers as a pdf go here.
Designer, calligrapher, lettering artist. 