The Design Block
If you're looking for the latest in advertising and marketing, design related technology and lifestyle tips, and art or design highlights then you're in the right place. Find all this and more with the Design Block blog.
Adieu Smalls: The world’s first cat-inspired font
Adieu Smalls is a cat-inspired font created as part of a campaign for natural cat food subscription service Smalls.
Most frequently used typefaces of hundreds of brands
It’s true that people don’t look like their Instagram shots, or they’re not as happy as their Facebook profiles try to convince us. It’s also true that designers don’t use all those trendy font combinations you might think.
Write people up for design offences with the Typographic Ticket Book
Is someone using terrible kerning, stretching type or did you get a client brief in the dreaded Comic Sans? Don’t despair. The next time someone commits design offences, you can write them up with this Typographic Ticket Book.
Braille Neue typeface combines Braille with visible letters
For the 285 million visually impaired people around the world, Braille allows them to read and write what they cannot see. But for those with sight, Braille looks like a coded language that isn’t easily deciphered. And that’s how it started for Japanese designer Kosuke Takahashi. He…
Funny typography puns to put a smile on your face
This series of typography puns is meant to lift the spirits of fellow designers; it’s a good way to start your week. In this DesignTAXI series created by Caisa Nilaseca, you’ll find yourself smiling at these funny typographic puns.
Not just a typeface, Helvetica is now a coffee
Helvetica is a sans serif typeface that’s one of the most popular in the world with designers. That’s why it shouldn’t come as a surprise that its influence has spread far and wide; but to coffee? Now that’s something you probably didn’t see coming.
36 Days of Type project leads to adorable 3D typography
As designers we love typography. Design and typography go hand in hand; always evolving with various treatments and styles. Designers the world over use it in everything from logos to advertisements, packaging, posters and more. It can make any piece of work stand out from the crowd.
What’s the difference between a font and a typeface?
In today’s digital world, the words font and typeface are often treated similarly. In most instances when people refer to fonts, they really mean typefaces. However, they’re not the same thing.
Grope Sans: A quirky and risqué private parts themed typeface
Apparently, Valentine’s Day wasn’t all chocolates and roses. Food design and research studio Bompas & Parr, out of Liverpool, has created a new risqué typeface called Grope Sans. Created for Valentine’s Day, this racy typeface by graphic designer Flo Fairweather, is adorned with nipples, vaginas and penises.
Futura-inspired font magically adjusts to look its best as you type
Five years ago, design studio Høly created Futuracha, which started as an experimental font. Based on the Futura typeface, but with an extravagant art deco style, it was published to give creative people the chance to explore and create. The response was overwhelming.
Instagram account pokes fun at fonts and typefaces
Instagram is a good resource when you’re looking for inspiration. It’s also a great place to find hilarious quotes and sayings.
The 10 best Google Fonts for your designs
As a web designer, you’re probably well aware of the importance of typeface. With the growing amount of businesses engaging in content marketing, font selection is becoming all the more crucial.
Shazam-like handheld tool for font finding
This handheld tool captures typefaces — even colours — from the real world and searches for them online.
Type-Cycle animated typeface uses 3D bicycle parts
This sleek typeface is created using 3D letters that are cleverly animated to showcase various bicycle components.
McDonald’s unveils bold typographic packaging
McDonald’s new packaging designs for their bags, cups, and boxes feature minimalist typography.
Make words look good with Scrabble Typography
Winning Solutions has switched up the game of Scrabble by making Scrabble Typography.
Presenting 25+ of the best free fonts to download
I’ve scoured the web to present you with a list of free fonts of varying styles that include: scripts, serifs, and a range of retro, grunge and more! These free fonts will give you greater flexibility in your designs and add to your arsenal of design tools. Some of…
What are the best fonts for me? Everything you need to know
There are typefaces and fonts everywhere you look; we use them everywhere from tv to posters and billboards, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. But do you really pay attention to them?
Typography tips for better web design and sales
We’re a visual society. And with our fast-paced lives and the amount of information we’re constantly barraged with, it takes a striking visual to get our attention. But you also need smart copy presented with good typography to back it up.
How typography can help boost a brand
To creatives and designers, typography has never played a more crucial role to boost a brand than it does today. Your brand is more than a logo; it’s the emotion that consumers associate a brand with when using your product or service.
The most admired typefaces by world-renowned designers
If you could use just eight typefaces, which would you choose?
Gigantic mirrored letters that reflect their surroundings
San Francisco Design Week is the Bay Area’s largest design event, bringing together thousands of people across every discipline of design for a week of events, talks, and open-studios. As part of their Look Closer campaign, branding and design agency Character has created a series of gigantic…
The top 10 fonts designers love to hate. Is your on the list?
There are certain fonts that designers love to hate for one reason or another—either due to their overuse or ugliness. Sometimes it’s because of just a few characters; sometimes it’s the whole design.
Making fun of common type mistakes using Star Wars quotes
More than just arranging pretty fonts on a nice background, typography is an essential part of most designs—they can make or break a project. Unfortunately, common type mistakes tend to make a bigger statement than good typography. They stick out like a sore thumb, while good…
Sarcastic poster series shows the reality of being a photographer
Few careers are romanticized like that of a photographer; traveling the world, engaging with people, places and things. But is the reality all that attractive?
A website that helps you match typefaces
To help you mix and match typefaces for your next project, Canva has created a Font Combinations website.
Creative alphabet made by cutting, folding and manipulating paper
Berlin-based artist Tony Ziebetzki has created a series of alphabetic paper designs. Using only a scalpel, pieces of paper and a scanner, he wanted to find out how many ways could there be manipulating paper into letters.
Witty uninspiring posters about life’s lows
For most of us, that uninspiring or depressed feeling comes and goes. But when sadness persists it affects your ability to function at work, at home, or in other aspects of your life. So if you’re currently in a funk, you might want to avoid…
An alphabet poster series inspired by The Beatles
A fan of The Beatles, Tumblr user Lexi wanted to pay tribute to her favourite band. Using her knowledge of the band, she imagined each letter of the alphabet corresponding to a word that relates to their legendary history, band member’s name, or song title.
3D printed laser cut pasta typography
The possibilities with 3D printing technology are endless – like the 3D printed dress that becomes transparent the more you share online. So, creating an edible typeface laser cut from pasta seemed inevitable.