🔊 Listen to the audio version

Looking at typeface trends might seem super-geeky, but it’s a way to unlock the secret visual codes that reveal so much about today’s social attitudes and the things you care about. Typefaces don’t just spell out words, they’re also visual codes for ideas. You interact with typefaces almost constantly in your everyday life. They’re the interface between you and your day-to-day experiences that not only inform, but shape, influence and narrate the choices you make.

The typographic landscape around you changes constantly, even if you might not notice at the time. It happens just like tastes in fashion and music change. Sometimes typeface silhouettes mirror the clothes of the day, think of those fat-bottomed fonts in the 1970s when everybody was wearing flares and big platform boots. Typefaces also reflect the cultural attitudes of the moment—ransom note type embodied the rebellious voice of Punk and Stephen Coles of the Letterform Archive observes that the popularity of minimalist typefaces happens in cycles coupled with new technology and waves of modernisation.

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Do you want to know what type trends reveal about social attitudes today?

I’m excited to be launching two brand new experimental publications on Patreon. These are inspired by the conversations I’ve had with you at online events over the last few months. One of the most popular topics with everybody, not just designers, has been about type trends. Do they matter and what they mean?

As a result I’m creating two digital publications, which you can get hold of on Patreon. De-code looks at trends and cultural messages. En-code is for designers who use type.

The first trend you’ll explore is ink trap type. I was a judge for the D&AD Awards recently and I noticed that lots of the entries featured ink trap style typefaces. I wondered why, so this became the topic for the first issue.

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Sign up to the tasting type curiosity club on Patreon. You’ll be supporting my research and writing, and you’ll get access to the publications:

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De-code

What stories are these curious-looking letters telling you?

In this experimental pdf zine you’ll decode the cultural attitudes that a trend reveals and explore how creates meaning. 

Launching 13th May
Patreon, De-code Zine tier
Sign me up now

En-code

Discerning or gimmicky? How to use this typeface trend 

I’ll do the legwork for you and curate a directory of fonts for a current type trend each month to inspire you. You’ll also discover when to (and not to) use them in this experimental pdf companion to De-code.

Launching 13th May
Patreon, Insider Insights tier
Sign me up now