Thursday, May 6, 2010

Typeface has left the book.

I'm headed to Las Vegas for a bachelorette party tonight for a long weekend.

Now that you're jealous, I thought I'd give myself a proper send off... by writing a post about it. Tom Wolfe said that "Las Vegas is the only town in the world whose skyline is made up of neither buildings, like New York, nor of trees, like Wilbraham, MA, but signs." Now, I'm a first-timer so I have no idea if he's correct, but the idea goes along well with the current trend of typographic artwork.

More sophisticated than the "I'm with stupid" t-shirts, this artwork is a great way to breathe some life to a wall without filling it with another picture. There are many different styles and sizes for this type of artwork, leaving a variety of routes you can take with your home. My personal fave: hang this type of artwork in an unexpected place like the kitchen.

Typically, kitchens are places where people choose a specific theme such as "Tuscan Winery" or "Little Italy". Today, I've noticed designers shifting away from the "need to theme" and moving toward making it look more like an extension of the living room. This is a great direction to be heading in if you entertain a lot given that majority of your guests will inevitably end up in the kitchen.

The key to picking out great typographic artwork that will mesh with your current stuff is to stick to the basics. Look for compositions where the typeface is the primary focus. Here are some great examples that may be too muted for Vegas but could certainly live in your home. 



FAKE IT: Check out your local Joseph-Beth or Barnes & Noble to find artistic renditions of the good old-fashioned greeting card. Grouping similar styles or using an over-sized white matte will prevent this option from getting lost on a wall.

1 comment:

  1. Really great blog post Kate! I love typography as art -- seeing a lot of letterforms as sculpture too!

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