Typography Tuesday : Ann Patchett on Life

I knew I wanted to highlight this quote which comes right at the end of Ann Patchett's essay Dog Without End (from her wonderful collection This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage) as soon as I read it a few weeks ago. And it's become even more poignant given some pretty sad news we received over the weekend. Yes, the endings will so often break you in half. But yes, all the stuff in between - the life and love and blue skies on winter days - make it worthwhile. I've said it once and I'll say it again, go seek out this book. It's brilliant. 

The font is another from the mix and match Harman family designed by Ahmet Altun - Harman Retro. I reckon the whole font family is pretty ace, worth the investment especially as it's on special right now.

Typography Tuesday : Ann Patchett on Writing

Ann Patchett's This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage was recommended by someone, somewhere. A favourite author, on the radio, maybe. I'm not that far in to it, but I've already underlined half the book. Ann writes about the art and craft of writing with such clear eyes, it's both reassuring and slightly frightening.

It's been a timely read; I've been thinking a lot about writing lately. Last year was kind of the year of the image for me, and it feels like 2015 might just be the year of the word. 

Art stands on the shoulders of craft. I like this sentiment a lot. It's something I believe to be true for many things, possibly for everything. Sometimes it feels like we live in a world where we are encouraged to jump straight in - to go for the creativity bit without first learning the skill bit (I know I do this all of the time). 

We see others creating fabulous things and we want to have a go and, sometimes, we want instant results. But we forget the long years of hard work, of sleepless nights and study, that led to that fabulous thing. 

Ann writes "If you want to write, practice writing. Practice it for hours a day, not to come up with a story to publish, but because you long to learn how to write well, because there is something that you alone can say. Write the story, learn from it, put it away, write another story." See that? Write the story and put it away. Don't pitch it, don't publish it, don't sell it. Put it away. 

In the happy social media glow of likes and comments and follows I often feel the need to share and publish and sell. And if I don't share and publish and sell I sometimes feel like I've wasted my time creating whatever it is I've created. So this is a much needed reminder that time spent building skills and knowledge is never wasted. Before art comes the craft.

The font is Harman Script. It's from a family of mix and match fonts designed by Ahmet Altun. It's pretty expensive (I bought it on special a little while ago) but each font in the family is loveable and versatile, beautifully crafted. 

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Is this something you struggle with too? Do you allow yourself time to simply practice your craft, whatever that may be? Do you feel pressure to share and sell, or do you just enjoy the creative process?

Typography Tuesday : David Walsh on Death

And right here we have Exhibit A on why I'll never win Pinterest, why I'll never make a motivational poster, why I sometimes struggle with Typography Tuesday. Because sometimes the things I find deeply moving, deeply life affirming, kind of might seem like they stem from a slightly dark place. But to me they don't. To me they capture the complexity of life, the confusion and chaos and unfairness, and still say F**K YEAH life is GREAT!

This is a quote from David Walsh - the guy who made a stack of money from gambling and decided to spend it on something amazing. It's thanks to him that we have the beautiful, joyous thing that is MONA. This quote is from the tail end of an interview with Phillip Adams that aired on Radio National last week. 

David was musing on death, and the privilege of being alive. He talked about the ridiculous odds, the "incredibly fortuitous process", that played out to get to the end point of him being alive, now. He went on to say "And that's the great privilege of facing death, it's the privilege of having had the opportunity to contemplate it in the first place. I'll take that any day. I'll take it for as many days as I can take it." 

If you like listening to intriguing, honest, funny people discussing love, death and gambling then you should really listen to the whole thing here.

That lovely clean font is Futura, and the chunky hand drawn one is Monstro.

Typography Tuesday : Worry is Creative Kryptonite (Part Three)

So simple, so true...or is it? 

Sometimes thinking about making stuff IS fun. The buzz of a new idea or project. The brainstorming and honing, and thinking that you just can't wait to find the time to get started on it. That is fun, yes? 

It's only a problem when you get so caught up in thinking about making stuff that you never get around to actually making it. So caught up in thinking about all the things that could go horribly horridly wrong, all the ways you'll cock it up. All the ways it's not good enough, or worse, all the ways you're not good enough. Yep, worry is kryptonite. For cameras, for creativity, for happiness. 

Do you know how many projects I have inside my head or jotted down in a notebook or stored on my hard drive right now? How many half started things that have never been made public because they're not quite right? Too many! So thanks @joshjohnson, for reminding me that it's the making of stuff (and the sharing of stuff, now that I think of it) that's the really fun bit. 

Font is Menlo, which is pretty great and it's free if you own a mac (apologies if you're on a PC...).

Typography Tuesday : Worry is Creative Kryptonite (Part Two)

More words of wisdom from the Instagram account of @joshjohnson, under a 'Josh's Journal' post titled Worry is Camera Kryptonite. Says it all really. Just do it, as that sneaker company might say. 

Photo is from the streets of Seoul, font is Veneer.

Typography Tuesday : Worry is Creative Kryptonite (Part One)

I've been struggling with creating a Typography Tuesday post for some months now because most of my favourite literary quotes aren't really appropriate for this kind of thing. They tend to fall in to the 'life/love is hard and confusing and complex and we're all going to die but isn't it a wonderful, wonderful ride' category, rather than the 'yay everything is great and you are great and we can all do great things' category. (I may have some issues with motivational quotes but that's a whole other blog post...) 

Then I realised - the quote doesn't have to come from a book or even a movie, it could come from anywhere! So obvious, so simple, so stupid of me not to realise that earlier! Sigh. 

Here's some thoughts from Josh Johnson on getting out there with your camera and taking some snaps:

Josh Johnson is a professional photographer who fell in love with Instagram in the early days. He's since gone on to garner a ridiculous number of followers and create an amazing, supportive, ever-expanding Instagram community.

This quote is from a recent 'Josh's Journal' post, and it hit home. It's about photography but it could apply to anything. How often do you let the perfect get in the way of actually doing something? For me, so very often. The thought of not being able to create at the level I want stops me from going out there and creating at all, which means I'll never actually get to the level I want. Vicious cycle huh? 

I need to remember that even the best of the best take photos that suck. It's just that they don't pay them too much attention. They move on quickly, shoot some more.

So, memo to self - spend less time fretting over the ridiculously high standard that exists only in your head and spend more time chasing your next loser. You might even find a gem along the way. 

The font used is the delightful Mr Anteater, one of my most favourite hand drawn fonts ever.

This quote is from another of my favourite authors (who was also introduced to me by my Mum - great taste must be in the genes, right?). It's from Jeanette Winterson's autobiographical novel Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? (excellent title, yes?), which I am currently devouring. 

I adore this quote. There's something about it that just rings true. Play it safe when you're thinking about lunch (a grilled chicken salad, perhaps) but when you're choosing who to love, how to live, fling yourself over that edge. Indeed. 

The font is a lovely skinny hand drawn one from Cindy Kinash. It's called 'Hello I Like You' (excellent name, yes?), and it's only US $20 which I reckon is pretty great value for such a useful font. 

The watercolour bits and bobs are some photoshop brushes by Mindful Pixels, you can get them here, from Creative Market (my new favourite graphic design-y resource-y place). I have downloaded a lot of brushes over the past few months and this set is by far my absolute favourite, and it's only US $5! 

In other news, I have realised photoshop is not a creative tool at all. It is actually a giant black vortex that sucks up masses and masses of time and the next thing you know it's hours past eating-o-clock, your arse is numb, and all you've got to show for it is a squiggle or two. Which you've test viewed in at least 37 different colours. Or is that just me?

I guess if you haven't seen Finding Nemo then this quote may not sound like a lot. But if you have then you'll know that these words from Dory mark the moment in the movie when your eyes tear up, more than a little. 

I've got two go to movies for when I'm feeling a bit blah and need a (slightly teary) smile - Finding Nemo and Love Actually. I've watched both more times than I can count. Luckily the husband loves them too. We watched Finding Nemo with the step-sons again recently, on a lazy sunny afternoon. It reminded me that it really is as close to a perfect movie as you can get. 

The font is a a nice, simple hand drawn one - and it's free (yay!). It was made by Elsie from A Beautiful Mess (on her iPad!). It's called Tall 'n Skinny and you can get it here.

Hold onto your hats people - it's a second instalment of a series within a few weeks of the first instalment! Woah! 2013 is totally the year of me doing proper bloggy type things! Go me! 

Anyway, shall we talk about how awesome Margaret Atwood is? Yes, we shall. She is awesome. My mum got me reading her when I was an impressionable youth. I think Cat's Eye was the first Margaret Atwood book I read, when I was about 16 or so. I don't remember much about the book, but I do remember falling in love with the language, the beautiful writing, the ideas. After that I worked my way through her back catalogue, and I've read most things she's written since. 

This is a quote I've had squirrelled away for awhile now. From a time long before this blog, but when I half considered myself a writer of sorts (I've got folders full of half written, very cringe worthy short stories). It's from The Blind Assassin and I think it perfectly captures the process of writing honestly. 'Impossible, of course.' 

The font is Bombshell, designed by Emily Conners - a new favourite for me. It's not a free one (I will feature some free fonts soon, promise) but it's worth every gorgeous cent!

I love typography and I love a good quote - be it funny, moving or just one of those things that make you think 'yes! that's how things are!'. So welcome to Typography Tuesday, a semi-occasional possibly-maybe series (you know I never like to over commit on this blog...) in which I share a quote that's recently caught my eye or ear in some of my favourite fonts. 

We re-watched Muriel's Wedding over the weekend. If you haven't seen it you should. It's an Australian comedy classic. It's ugly and funny, sad and uplifting; all the things a good comedy should be. And Toni Collette as Muriel is so, so great. I'm not a big ABBA fan myself, but this quote struck me. It's one of those brilliantly written bits in a movie that make you chuckle and shed a little tear at the same time. 

The font is Funkydori by Laura Worthington. It's not free, but it's awesome. And as much as I think it's great when we can get fonts for free I also think it's nice to buy a font when you can to support all those amazingly talented designers out there.

European Vacation: Italy is typography heaven, no?

Considering the visual assault that was the cruise boat (you know I secretly love it, don't you?) it was refreshing to spend a few days either side in the country that effortlessly oozes stlye, Italy.

One of the things I especially love about Italian design is that they really know how to work a good font.  Everywhere you look there's some delicious typography to admire - on coffee cups, on store fronts, even on the napkins.

So, here's a little Italian font love for you - enjoy!

(Did you spot the 'cravattificio'?  It actually translates as 'tie factory', but I like to think of it as a cravat emporium, a kind of 'cravats r us' if you will.  Wonderful!)