This weekend, we held a Copperplate Calligraphy Class at the beautiful Lore here in Denver CO. With a full table and eager minds, students approached the rather intimidating letterforms of the Copperplate style, and rather successfully too!  It can be daunting to try to get into learning such a disciplined and elegant writing style, but over the course of a few hours, we all got a little closer. 

The workshop included a handsome deck of instruction materials and a custom drawn alphabet based off of the work of Earl A Lupfer. 

Practice makes perfect when it comes to calligraphy, and every one had the chance to find their stroke and begin their relationship with the pen! 

We're looking forward to more workshops at Lore in the New Year. Calligraphy and beyond! If you missed your chance to get in on this workshop, follow us on Twitter and Instagram to be in the loop on all news and upcoming workshops. Keep practicing everyone!

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CNN SANS

The topic of Font Licensing has popped its little head into the global conversation once again this week with CNN presenting its very own new font: CNN Sans. The resounding immediate commentary on the font family is that it's pretty much Helvetica, which is hard to refute. But CNN is pumping the e-airwaves with videos and chatter about how its the new original face of CNN. 

What's interesting about the conversation this time is that it's not just about the fact that you should license fonts, but it extends the focus to the pros and cons of buying a large corporate licenses versus having your own custom typeface designed. 

It's a bummer that a lot of these conversations tend to end with clients deciding that getting a slightly modified version of something well known like Helvetica instead of getting something truly original commissioned is the right way to go, but I can see where they're coming from in several respects.

Monocle 24 recently took a swing at the conversation in their radio Monocle Daily program, highlighting reasons for and against CNN's new font family (i.e. is 36 weights really necessary?) and a little perspective from the font industry itself in the form of a Bruno Maag shout-out. Personally, I'm just excited to see people talking about this matter of buying or commissioning fonts at all.  

BIG — Illuminated Typography

The Danish Bjarke Ingels Group, or BIG, has put their cards on the typographic table with their recent modular lighting system. These designer lights are engineered to seamlessly fit together (so cool) to create any letter of the alphabet with no more than 4 joints. BIG states the goal of the project was "to design a new font that translates into light, an alphabet used to write and express thoughts, a tool to give shape to spaces." Take that bauhaus. Although we're not usually fans of oversimplified mathematical types, this project is a brilliant typographic design solution for an adventurous medium. 

See more of the BIG project on the Artemideblog. 

Glasgow Roadliners for O Street

It's Nice That had an excellent feature on O Street and their unlikely recent collaboration with street painters or 'Roadliners' to re-brand the UK based design studio. This is a brilliant campaign all the way from the research and respect for masters of an unseen craft to the application of the branding in an absolutely modern way. 

The real shining star of this project is the typography, drawn from the real world. We're often asked as studio, "How can typography really bring anything worthwhile to the brand that a good graphic designer can't?". Our response is always "A designer is only as good as his tools, and typography can be your Excaliber. This collaboration is a perfect example of that. 

View more of this project on It's Nice That. Or, see more of the branding application on O Street's studio site. 

Monocle Highlights Stationery Shops

Love this oldie but goodie from Monocle highlighting a few stationery shops around the world doing a great job bringing a seemingly antiquated product to a modern world market. The video stops in with Studio favorite Present and Correct, showing how graphics and text can really bring charm and character to any home.

Not only is stationery a real love for type designers, and really all designers in general, but they provide a gateway to an incredible tactile experience for all. A lot of stationery shops are still seen as quaint, ephemeral, or that increasingly meaningless label 'hipster'. Perhaps as we head deeper into the digital age, shops like these will be valued higher as a place to have a genuine connection to the real.