Made by hand

I enjoyed Steven Heller's blog posting about hand lettering on NY Times blog The Moment. I personally love the hand lettering look and think it adds a new dimensionality to typography that is often lost amidst sometimes bland computerized type. Replacing the stale, mechanical feeling of computer-rendered typefaces, hand-drawn typography lends a humanistic quality that often communicates volumes more than do the perfected strokes of traditional typefaces. This humanistic imperfection evokes a youthful, "indie" feeling, rebelling against the droning corporate mainstream. Ironically, the use of hand lettering has been adapted by the mainstream, as well as by independents; however, when used for large corporations, it is usually intended to distance the company from the corporate stereotype. Regardless, hand lettering has now become a widespread trend, and it is one that I enjoy for its democritization of design, personality, and youthful feeling.

Some examples of hand rendered typography as seen on book covers—one
of the books being one of my favorites, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Mike Perry's book Hand Job serves as a catalog of
hand-drawn type.

(Hand Lettering, The Moment)