My nephew Eddie loves fonts. Those of you joining me for the Sunday Painting with fonts Zoom sessions know him because he joins us most weeks. If you’ve been to my other Zoom events you will know his voice from the Typography Karaoke game.
Last Christmas Eddie had the brilliant idea to make the faces of animals like cat, dog, cow, pig and T-Rex out of the letters of their name.
Creative Lockdown Project: Music alphabet
Challenge
What music has been the soundtrack to your time in lockdown? Draw, photograph or take screengrabs of the letters from the names of your favourite bands or album covers. Combine these to make up a word or phrase that describes how the music has made you feel at this time of social distancing.
Results
Share your finished project on social media with #CreativeLockdownProject. Tag #TypeTasting as I’ll be sharing some of the results.
These challenges are designed to be a bit of fun and to document our time collectively spent in lockdown. Please share it with friends and post your final results on social media with #CreativeLockdownProject. If you also tag #TypeTasting I’ll be sharing some of the results.
Creative Lockdown Project: Letter hunt
We’re all starting to look forward again as we plan our way in a very changed world. At first, I really missed seeing everybody but I’m constantly amazed by how adaptable humans are as we find new ways to interact online.
This week’s challenge comes from Heidi Robinson of TGSA Creative Arts & Design technology, who also took all the photos.
These challenges are designed to be a bit of fun and to document our time collectively spent in lockdown. Please share it with friends and post your final results on social media with #CreativeLockdownProject. If you also tag #TypeTasting I’ll be sharing some of the results.
Creative Lockdown Project: You & me colouring together
This week I’ve really missed being able to hug my family and friends. While it might not be the same as a hug, I’ve found that spending time doing something together creatively over Zoom or Facetime has really helped me to feel less separated from them. This is the inspiration for lockdown challenge number seven.
These challenges are designed to be a bit of fun and to document our time collectively spent in lockdown. Please share it with friends and post your final results on social media with #CreativeLockdownProject. If you also tag #TypeTasting I’ll be sharing some of the results.
Creative Lockdown Project: Rainbow alphabet
This is the sixth creative lockdown challenge. These challenges are designed to be a bit of fun and to document our time collectively spent in lockdown, this one is also intended to say a huge THANK YOU to everybody who is working to keep us safe. Please share the project with friends and post your final results on social media with #CreativeLockdownProject. If you also tag #TypeTasting I’ll be sharing some of the results.
This week’s project is inspired by the wonderful rainbow alphabet (shown above) created by my very talented friend Miho Aishima for the children’s ward at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich and community group @NunheadKnocks. She designed a rainbow typeface and created posters for kids who can’t get outside to see the rainbows out there. You can download Miho’s rainbow fonts here.
Creative Lockdown Project: Everyday display letter
In the 1820s Louis John Pouchée created decoratively extravagant letters which were based on a fat-face style typeface. The letters featured imagery of things that were popular at the time like flowers, farmyard scenes, musical instruments and Masonic symbols.
Challenge
To create your own modern-day version of an ornamented letter that illustrates your everyday life while we’re in lockdown. Please share this project with your family and friends so you can all compare your letters.
Win Fontosaur giveaway packs
Fontosaur: When dinosaur fonts roamed the Earth
There are 20 free giveaway packs up for grabs to celebrate the launch of the exciting new typographic colouring books for children Fontosaur: When dinosaur fonts roamed the Earth.
Fontosaur: When dinosaur fonts roamed the Earth
A colouring book written and illustrated by Sarah Hyndman
Buy the book here www.typetasting.com/books
This is the first in a new series of books that combine dinosaurs with fonts. It began when Sarah’s 12-year-old nephew Eddie had the brilliant idea to make the faces of animals like cat, dog, cow, pig and T-Rex out of the letters of their name. Sarah and Eddie are now working on a collaborative sequel together.
Typographic animal sketches by Eddie Shelton (dog, cat, T-Rex and pig).
The idea to make a typographic book just about dinosaurs came about when a friend’s three-year-old son Blake unwrapped Sarah’s The Night the Fonts… books at Christmas and was disappointed because he really, really wanted a book about dinosaurs. Sarah says “I felt very sad that he was disappointed by the books even though they were full of farting and burping fonts and so I took up the challenge to make a book that he would love”.
Creative Lockdown Project: Type Safari in your home
The combinations of type found on street signs reveal a great deal about a city, town or specific area. They reflect the social, economic and historical development of the area and create their own, unique typographic DNA.
For a number of years, I took people on Type Safaris through Dalston in East London. These are guided walks exploring the signage with a photography challenge to create a phrase using letters from Dalston signs, as shown above. We often ended the tour by going for drinks in a quintessentially Dalston-style bar with a chequered lino floor (from its previous life as a furniture shop), a glitter ball and lampshades made from plastic vegetable colanders.
I’ll be inviting you to join me on a virtual Dalston Type Safari, dates to be announced soon. In our lockdown lives, we’re instead finding ourselves navigating our way around the rooms in our homes. This is the inspiration for this week’s Creative Lockdown Challenge.
Creative Lockdown Project: Type Safari in your home
This week’s challenge is to create a typographic composition to reflect your lockdown life at home.
Creative Lockdown Project: Edible alphabet
This is the third creative lockdown challenge. These challenges are designed to be a bit of fun and to document our time collectively spent in lockdown. Please share this creative challenge with your friends and post your final results on social media.
Challenge
Use the food you have in your home to create an edible alphabet. Think about a word you would like to spell out and work out how to make the letters. Will you arrange the food you’re about to eat or would you like to bake something from scratch?
Don’t go out shopping to buy any extra ingredients, the challenge is to use what you can find in your kitchen. It would be great to see photos of the process as you bake or create your letters.
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