Fun with Fonts: Lost Type Co-op

Lost Type Co-op is a font-sharing site where you buy fonts using the pay-what-you-can method, and the font designers get 100% of any earnings from their design.  The fonts on the site are very retro-cool, often inspired by vintage posters or packaging. Here are some of my favourites, including Oil Can above, designed by Ellis Latham-Brown.  Click on the image to go the the font purchase page.

So tell me, do you have a go-to site for fab fonts?

Toronto Transit Font

I love love love this beautiful poster by graphic designer Jonathan Guy of all the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) stations that use the original 1950s font.  I saw it on the wonderful BlogTO, which has a great piece on all the fabulous Toronto maps out there as well as this later post on Jose Ongpin's 2006 project for OCAD about the typographical history of the TTC, featuring this great poster:

It is worth a look!  For those typographic geeks out there, here is the Toronto Transit font: Toronto Subway Regular, from Quadrat:

They made it from rubbings of the letters on subway walls and photos.  It is kind of sad that the newer TTC stations no longer use this great font.  All the articles have a ton of links to more and more info on the history of the design of transit in Toronto - which is not as boring as it sounds!

They remind me of the great buttons put out by Spacing Magazine of the TTC stations - which the National Post declared "the civic pride fashion statement of the year" in 2005.  Now if only they could put more trains on during rush hour...

2011 Calendar

There are so many amazing and lovely calendars out there, it is really hard to choose just one.  Often, this leaves me with none.  However, that changed this evening when I discovered this lovely polaroid camera on poppytalk, sold on Etsy by photographer Azuree.   The combination of the polaroid shots, with the beautiful font, all ready to be popped into one of my Ikea frames...sold.

Included are bakers twine and mini clothes pins for hanging, in case you don't have Ikea frames on hand like me... If you are in the market for a unique and hand-made 2011 calendar, head over to the shop (where there are also lovely cards and prints for sale) and enter xopoppy at the checkout for 40% off!  Thanks for the head's up Jan!

cool font, eh?

This awesome font, created by 10four design group in honour (with a 'u' - thank you very much) of Canada Day, is an amazing tribute to Canadian stereotypes and references.  What other font can teach you that a Canadian invented insulin, alkaline batteries, the goalie mask, the paint roller, and the jolly jumper?  It was only recently that an American colleague explained that he didn't know what a toque was... who knew?  The font has upper case, lower case and numbers too, and if that weren't great enough - it is FREE.  Geez, Bob and Doug would be some proud, eh?

 Seen on The English Muffin Blog.

Subtle vinyl

I was always on the fence a bit about the whole wall decal business.  Some of them I really liked, and I looked at quite a few on etsy and other sites, but when it came down to getting one, I just never did.  Part of it, perhaps, is that we have so many things to hang, and not enough wall space, so the thought of having a wall decal up instead of actual art just never made sense.  But they also got kind of predictable and ubiquitous, and in the end I think I am glad I didn't get one.

However, I just came across these wall decals from Tasty Suite (on Bloesem) and I think I could live with them - especially this first one.  They are more subtle and fun, less of a statement, which is I think more appropriate for wall decals!  Here are a few of my favs:

OK, so this one isn't subtle, but I do kind of like it.  You could stick it (get it?) in a corner somewhere...

Fun for the kiddies rooms!

Getting hitched?

If you know anyone getting married, point them to this amazing downloadable invitation package from e.m.papers.  This black and white printable Wedding Invitation Kit contains an editable PDF template for every piece of stationery you will need for your wedding: a wedding invitation, a save the date card, a response card, a wedding program, a menu, place cards/escort cards, table numbers, a seating list and a thank you card.  I love the vintage looking illustrations, fonts and, oh by the way - it's FREE!

You can find it here.  


Via How About Orange?

typography

I saw this lovely mobile on Swiss Miss and went on to investigate the source, Veer.  They have a pretty awesome site, with fonts and images and some other merchandise, like

These cool coasters (which remind me of the bookhou alphabet)

And this awesome lap pad for laptops - much more beautiful than the one I have from Ikea! :)

Ninainvorm

The other day I was travelling through flickr, which is my new favourite thing to do, and came across these gorgeous alphabets.  The font is super fun, but the colours are just amazing.  So I clicked through to see the artist, and found this terribly creative chick in the Netherlands who does these cheerful ceramics that were all over my design blogs not long ago.  I think her colours were just what I needed to help me believe that someday spring will come.

I love how she find vintage ceramics with a very traditional/folk pattern and adds her whimsical overlays.

Her personalized plates are super cute.

Here is her blog, and her etsy shop!

Alphabet Art

There are so many beautiful alphabet prints for kids rooms and play rooms, and trust me, when I was preggo with Cameron and envisioning his room I looked at most of them!  I really liked the one above from Orange Ink on Etsy, and here are a few more that caught my eye:

This one is a gorgeous wood cut from Toronto's own Bookhou, which has a store online and on Dundas West.  I love that it is 3-D, not a poster.  They have amazing kids stuff.  But at $50 it was a bit steep.

This one is from Petit Collage ($50 USD!)

This screen-printed poster by Blinth is inspired by mid-century modern wooden toys, so you know I love it.  It is $85 USD unframed.

This one is actually one of my favourite ones, from WestWillow on Etsy, and is only $15!

After looking at them all for a while though, they really didn't look that complicated to do, so I made up this one in word using the colours I wanted, and am hoping that Dan or Yara can help me figure out how to print it...

What do you think?  Should I quit my day job?  :)

A couple of other round-ups of alphabet posters can be found on Design*Sponge, and of course Ohdeedoh.