Three exciting new Typography intensive workshops have been created for designers and communications teams. These combine theory with hands-on explorations, activities and plenty of thought-provoking discussions.
In session 1 you’ll explore the psychology of typography. This will take you back to the most important question of all: why does reading feel invisible? Understanding this is the key to unlocking how your brain responds as a type consumer. You’ll discover for yourself how much your subconscious is influenced by typography, backed up by innovative research by myself and others.
I’m delighted that live, in-person events are happening again after a very long break. It’s wonderful to be in the same room as all of you with the collective energy, banter and all those random post-event conversations. I’ve especially missed those.
Recently I spoke at the incredibly inspiring TBD evening at Fora (you can see how happy I was to be there). Tonight I’ll be live at the London Transport Museum for a fun evening of Fontastical Games as part of their After Dark series. This will be part gameshow and part quiz. It’s heavily influenced by my love of 1970s gameshows full of laughter and things that will inevitably go wrong.
Roll up roll up for an evening of fonts, letters and signs. Can you guess the tube station from the font clues? Will you spot the real sign from the fake? Shout along with typography karaoke. Play along with font charades. And we’ll end with the classic lost property conveyor belt game.
You’ll have the chance to win spot prizes of my books and a set of Hidden London virtual tour tickets.
Friday 12th November Fontastical Games at the London Transport Museum After Dark 6.30–9pm, £10/£12 Come along and join me
Are you looking for a unique gift for the graphic designer in your life? Or someone who loves typography? Are you searching for an unusual Secret Santa gift? Visit the Type Tasting Typography Emporium for a range of items created for font fans young and old. These are all designed by Sarah Hyndman and published by Type Tasting.
Vouchers • T-shirts • Cards • Books • Zines
(More items will be added over the next few weeks, get in touch if you have a request).
Typographic t-shirts
Exclusive Type Tasting t-shirts. Designs range from puns and ampersands to asterisk snowflakes and secret messages hidden in Letraset-inspired designs. The t-shirts are 100% organic cotton printed by Teemill in the UK in a renewable energy-powered factory. Worldwide shipping is available.
Send an exclusive typetastic card. The ampersand and asterisk cards are the current top sellers. Printed in the UK by Thortful with worldwide shipping on premium quality paper stock with a premium grey GF Smith embossed envelope. “Everything is lovely about them. Even the envelopes” Theo.
Passive Aggressive Fonts Typographic colouring book for adults By Sarah Hyndman
Colour your fonting frustrations away. Vent your vexations colouring a confrontation of snarky fonts. Exorcise your exasperations as you creativity the heck out of an antagonism of tetchy typefaces. Scribble your way through a clamour of passive aggressive phrases. Including those classic fonts you love to hate.
Typography time machine gift vouchers Draw & learn online workshop series Series gift voucher £40 / £190
Curious to know why there are so many typefaces? Intrigued by where the different styles come from? Fonts are like magical time machines. They transport you to different times and places. They conjure up stories of decadence, revolutions, transformation and ingenuity.
T-shirts, birthday cards and colouring books for the young dinosaur fans in your life. They’ll learn to recognise the letters in each dinosaur’s name with fonts matched to the personality of the each prehistoric creature. Fontosaurs evolved from a typographic collaboration between Sarah and her then 12-year-old nephew Eddie.
Typography Time Machine drawings shown (left to right, top to bottom). Terrific Tuscans drawings are by Olivia Krawczyk, @minarama, Sarah Wilson, Mina Bach, @stircreativenz and Kat Gaska. Book to Poster drawings are by Amy Muddle, @typographHer, @minarama, @jenna_b_design, @nicewriting, @thecreativeapes, @Jenna_b_design and @mycolourfullife.online. Sans (Serif) Seekers drawings are by Jenny Monds, Kat Gaska, @stonkingfidosetc, Olivia Krawczyk, Jitka Hrůzová.
Kerning is a geeky typography term for the spacing between individual letters. There are lots of examples of when kerning goes wrong with unfortunate and amusing results. One of my near-misses was when I set the words FLICK THE PAGES on a scented book for an exhibition. I realised just in time that the close spacing between the L and I looked more like a U. Oops.
The three typefaces that feature on the Kern Baby Kern t-shirt were available as rubdown Letraset sheets. Chromium One was designed by David Harris in 1983. This was perfect for a decade of chrome and airbrushed posters. Shatter is an experimental typeface designed by Vic Carless in 1973. Carless literally smashed Helvetica up, which is what Punk did to Modernism in the 1970s. Piccadilly was designed by Christopher Matthews in 1973—this neon font is pure 1970s disco.
These are unisex t-shirts in regular men’s sizes (different colours and styles can be arranged on request). They’re printed on a 100% organic cotton t-shirt and printed in the UK in a renewable energy-powered factory. Worldwide shipping available.
Not-to-be-missed interactive, funny and fantastical live events. Sarah’s on a mission to make typography exciting for everybody by inviting you to take part in games and demonstrations so you can make the discoveries for yourself.
Come along to this fun and irreverent online event with author Sarah Hyndman. Join in with games from her bestselling book Why Fonts Matter. She’ll answer as many of your questions as possible, no questions are too silly or too strange!
Ideal for beginners, students and anybody curious about reading fonts. We’re all font consumers in our everyday lives. Sarah will show you that you’re already an expert, even if you don’t realise it.
WHO’S THAT FONT? Tuesday 14th September, 7pm to 8pm (BST) Do fonts have personalities? Which would you date, ditch or just be friends with? What does a font reveal about your personality?
DO FONTS SMELL? Tuesday 28th September 7pm to 8pm (BST) What might different fonts smell like and what memories do they evoke? Can a font make your jellybean taste different? How do fonts interact with all your senses? Bring a matching pair of jellybeans for an experiment. £1.99 per person, only 25 tickets. Book here
Once you’ve purchased your ticket you’ll be sent the Zoom details. Please tell your friends, let’s have some fun.
Are you ready to immerse yourself in the fantastical world of fonts?
About your host Sarah Hyndman demystifies the amazing world of typography. She is the author of Why Fonts Matter. She is a TEDx speaker, a regular on radio (BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth with Michael Rosen, Saturday Live, Today.) and TV (Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch). Sarah is a multisensory typography expert and collaborates on studies with Professor Charles Spence of the University of Oxford.
Many of you know about (and share) my love of Letraset—the sheets of rub-down lettering that often featured the fashionable fonts of the day. The first gig I went to was with my friend Caryl to see David Bowie. He was the soundtrack to our teenage years. My school books were adorned with meticulous drawings of lettering from his record covers. I was so excited when I found the Hunky Dory title typeface, called Zipper, as a sheet of Letraset. Now I could make my books look like Bowie merch with the official Hunky Dory font.
Your t-shirt is inspired by that sheet of Letraset. Letters have been removed to leave a secret message on your shirt. They spell out Hunky Dory, David Bowie, Changes, Life on Mars and 1971. (Geeky detail: the second ‘1’ in 1971 is made from a deconstructed ‘T’ because Letraset sheets don’t always have enough of the characters you need).
Would you like an alternative way to spend Valentine’s Day? Come along to an online Typographic Swearing Workshop and get creative.
THIS IS NOT A DATE—everybody’s welcome. This is an antidote to all the gooey cuteness of Valentine’s Day.
This is a typographically fun and rebelliously creative workshop where you can vent some frustration using fonts. Learn about rebellious typography through history. Explore the sounds that make swear words so satisfying. Subvert lettering to create your own typographic profanities. Suitable for all, no experience needed and you can join this virtual session from anywhere in the world.
Professional development typography masterclasses—not just for designers!
Invest in the professional development of your company with effective Zoom workshops that are engaging and fun with plenty of “aha!” moments.
Typography is the voice of your brand and it’s important for everybody in a company to understand some basics, not just graphic designers.
This is a series of Zoom masterclasses hosted by author, researcher and Type Tasting founder Sarah Hyndman. Sarah’s an expert in making learning fun and is on a mission to make typography exciting for everybody. Each masterclass focuses on an experiential area of typography with enlightening activities, engaging demonstrations and useful how-to guides. These are currently available as live Zoom sessions, which means you can join a masterclass from anywhere in the world.
Ideal for departments across the whole company, not just designers
These are interesting, inspiring and fun workshops with clear and empowering takeaways for people from all roles in a company. They’re ideal as a team-building session or to reinforce the importance of coherent use of language and fonts for your brand.
You can arrange a private session for your group or organisation, or come along as an individual to a public event. Private sessions are modified to suit the participants.
“Such a fun, interesting and inspiring workshop with clear and empowering takeaways. It reinforced the importance of coherent presentation of our brand for colleagues from all parts of our company, in all types of roles.” Nicky Borowiec, Springer Nature
As another lockdown is about to begin here in England I’ve been thinking about ways I can help at a difficult time for so many. I’m creating new Learn in lockdown workshops on Sundays starting this coming weekend (scroll down to see the dates and topics). These are interactive and fun creative sessions, which are suitable for all levels and you can join in from anywhere in the world.
I know from the conversations I have with so many of you that there’s a shared feeling of loneliness and isolation during lockdowns. In response to this, my live Zoom workshops are packed with interactivity and you’re encouraged to keep your cameras on where possible so we all feel like we’re in the same room together.
There’s an option for a small group to join me for a chat after the event. I’ve been finding that this is a wonderful opportunity to talk about the event with people from around the world and to hear how so many of our experiences are shared.
I’ve started a new online series based on the extremely popular activity from my in-person workshops called Typography Life Drawing. This article is a celebration of the results and feedback I’ve received so far, which you can see here are wonderful. A selection of the work is featured here or click here to visit the growing gallery.
This is an innovative new way to learn about type history through drawing, storytelling and music.
“It’s 3 x half-hour sessions a week but the sessions are recorded so you can do them in your own time. Brilliant!” Jan Lewis
There’s still plenty of time for you to join in. With a new topic each week you can just join in for the weeks that interest you or sign up for the whole series!
Full series subscription £65 (only available until Sunday 23rd August) book here
“Another incredible week of Typography Life Drawing. I can’t recommend these enough. Come for the drawing, stay for the history lessons.” @Minarama
👏🎉 Terrific Tuscans drawings shown above are by Olivia Krawczyk, @minarama, @stonkingfidosetc, @minarama, @stircreativenz and Kat Gaska (left to right, top to bottom) 👏🎉
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