Design Trend: Painterly Type

On a recent visit to Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, I naturally gravitated to the wall of new novel releases. For both Adult and YA, the type treatment of the moment is this painterly, brush-stroke-like hand lettering that's 1) quite large—as in, it takes up most of the cover; 2) a basic color, mainly white or black; and 3) at a slightly left-sloping angle. Some of my favorites:

Which then got the wheels turning and ultimately inspired the final iteration of Lauren Myracle's upcoming YA novel, The Infinite Moment of Us. A complete look at the making of the cover coming next week. Stay tuned!

Handlettered type

Hand-lettered type. My first go at hand-lettering for a jacket. Took quite a few tries, three sharpie markers, and pages of vellum to get it right. New jacket art for Lauren's Myracle's upcoming novel to be revealed shortly!

Today's Inspiration: The Sight of the Stars

The Sight of the Stars. Saw this on a friend's blog and was immediately smitten, not just by the message but by the gorgeous, gorgeous typography. Crafted by the brilliant typographer Seb Lester, this limited edition print is screened by hand in metallic gold ink on midnight blue paper. And as if it could possibly get more beautiful, embedded in the lettering are thousands of tiny stars: