26 friends for life

this past week was all about letters.

at work i was consumed with art directing & crafting the finishing touches of a new corporate font for a client. very intense. very exciting. i carefully set close to 200 wordmarks in the newly christened typeface, testing out and caring for perfect letter pairs. i smoothed out troubled relationships. i analyzed weights. i heeded to length, width and fit. i aimed for balance. respectfully handling these newborn glyphs, i tended to the core principles of my trade.

at home i was dazzled by my daughter's beautiful, bilingual bananagram musings humbly laid out on the kitchen table. i was touched by the variety of words, messages and scripts i received on my fb birthday wall. i was swept away with the sans, the serifs and even kanji. i rambled on about typographic terms to an interested kindergarten mom and talked over lunch with my mother about the emancipated type-era in which we live where one's choice of favourite typeface rivals that of movie or football team. typography has taken its place amidst pop culture.

these wonderful 26 forms, punctuation marks and distinctive symbols are not only the basic elements of my work as graphic designer but provide a richness to life we all take for granted. each with a defining character like true good friends. take note of them as you navigate throughout your day. they are the stuff of stories, signs and learning – of life.