Tag Archives: type tasting

Kern Baby Kern

What’s the story behind the t-shirt?

This t-shirt is inspired by the song Disco Inferno by the Trammps. It’s a disco classic and almost impossible to listen to without dancing along.

🎵 Listen to the song (turn up the sound and dance)

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.

Buy the dark grey & white print t-shirt, £19
(available worldwide)

Buy the white print t-shirt, £19
(available worldwide)

See all the t-shirt designs

(Buy t-shirts and support my book writing)

What’s the secret message hidden in your t-shirt?

🎵 Listen to Hunky Dory on Spotify (and spot the Zipper font)

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).

Buy the Zipper t-shirt

Visit the new Type Tasting shop

(Buy t-shirts and support my book writing)

Experience the emotional impact of type: Mood at MAX multisensory installation

Type Tasting installation at Adobe MAX in Los Angeles

Type Tasting created a large-scale multisensory installation for Adobe Fonts at the Adobe MAX conference in Los Angeles from 2nd to 6th November 2019.

“F*!*ing genius!”

Visitors were immersed in the mood of different typefaces through all of their senses. At each station they were invited to put on headphones, to smell a scent in a jar or by flipping the pages of a book, to eat a small taster and to feel a texture. Each set of stimuli was designed to bring a mood to life in the participant’s imagination. There was curiosity and intrigue as the first visitors arrived and they were soon returning with groups of friends saying “you have to try this”.

This is a multisensory installation featuring a selection of booths designed for participants to experience the emotional impact of type. Each booth immerses you in the mood of a typeface with sound, smell, texture and taste.

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Font Selfie Workshop at the V&A for the London Design Festival

Font Selfie Workshop at the V&A for the London Design Festival
Type Tasting
Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th September
11am to 5pm, free drop in, no booking necessary
Sackler Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum
London Design Festival 2017

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Pop Up Type Tasting Typography Lab

Pop Up Type Tasting Typography Lab
Stoke Newington Literary Festival
2nd & 3rd June, 11am to 8pm, free.
Venue – Locations around the Town Hall

*** NEWS ***
One of the experiments we ran at this event has now been published: The role of typeface curvilinearity on taste expectations and perception by Carlos Velasco, Sarah Hyndman (Type Tasting), Charles Spence (University of Oxford), International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, January 2018.
***

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Experience ‘Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions’ at the British Academy


Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions is an interactive sensory exploration of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, created by AVM Curiosities & Type Tasting for the British Academy’s Literature Week.

Taking inspiration from the typography found in three editions of this classic novel, Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions uses type, sound, sight and scent to serve one story three ways.

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Review: Type Tasting masterclass at the D&AD Festival Fringe

Wake up and Smell the Fonts, a Type Tasting masterclass with Sarah Hyndman at Shoreditch House for the D&AD Festival Fringe

It was exciting to be a part of the D&AD Festival Fringe at Shoreditch House on the 26th April. We filled the exclusive private club’s Library with games and experiments involving typography and all the senses. This was followed by a talk and a lively Q&A session and everybody went home with a pile of Monotype goodies. A preview of results from one of the experiments were published in The Times newspaper.

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The Times: Using right fonts on labels could tackle obesity

Kat Lay, Health Correspondent
May 1 2017, The Times

“Some believe that smaller chocolate bars and sweets are the answer, others want a tax on sugary drinks or to encourage children to be more active. One expert, however, has come up with a novel solution to child obesity.

Sarah Hyndman, a graphic designer, says that the right typefaces can “nudge” people into healthier food choices, and this should start in schools…”

The article references the food can experiment that ran at the recent book launch at Tate Modern, and at the Type Tasting event at Shoreditch House for the D&AD Fringe Festival, were you there?

A brilliant, and absolutely crazy journey into typography

Teaching typography at the Ecole Intuit Lab Mumbai

Sarah Hyndman took Type Tasting to the Ecole Intuit Lab, a design college in Mumbai, India, where she spent a week teaching typography to sixty second and third year students. This is the experience of the week in the words of the students: Neha Godambe, Ruchi Mehta, Shruti Vidyanand, Tvesha Shah and Zahra Dhuliawala.

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Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions at the British Academy

Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions

AVM Curiosities & Type Tasting present
Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions
British Academy Literature Week 2017: Adaptations and Transformations
15th–19th May, 9am to 6pm. Free, drop in, suitable for all.

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