Behind the type
Why Handmade Fonts Matter in the Age of AI
AI can already produce clean, convincing letterforms. So where does that leave the type designer? For me, the opportunity lies in physical materials, stronger ideas and making work with a history that AI can't honestly claim.
Mr Blue Sky Font: The Story Behind the Typeface
The story behind Mr Blue Sky—a bold handmade display font inspired by popcorn packaging, drawn in Procreate and refined in Illustrator.
Why I made Miss Kooky font
Miss Kooky began as an excuse to learn how to build an OpenType SVG font. I wanted to find out exactly what the format could do while keeping the artwork entirely vector-based—no painted bitmap images this time.
GRL PWR Font: The Story Behind the Typeface
How Pinterest girl-boss lettering inspired GRL PWR, a hand-drawn pink 3D OpenType SVG colour font created in Procreate, Illustrator and Fontself.
Gods Own Junkyard: A Neon Font With a Real Story
Discover Gods Own Junkyard, Simon Stratford’s neon font inspired by Chris Bracey, with 92 glyphs and a Photoshop action for realistic neon effects.
How to Use a Whisky Bottle Mockup in Photoshop
Learn how to use a whisky bottle mockup in Photoshop: replace the main label and neck artwork, change the colours, adjust the shadow and export.
10 Graphic T-Shirt Designs I’d Actually Wear
Ten graphic T-shirt designs that get the type, illustration and layout right—from vintage workwear and tattoo graphics to a fish finger sandwich.
Fab Lolly: a full-colour vector font made with OpenType SVG
Fab Lolly is a full-colour OpenType SVG vector font with built-in chocolate, sprinkles and two styles for packaging, posters and bold display type.
Balham to Brooklyn: A Retro Script Font for Café Branding
How I designed Balham to Brooklyn, a connected retro script font with contextual alternatives, more than 5,000 kerning pairs and plenty of American nostalgia.
Misfitz Font: The Story Behind the Typeface
Misfitz began with me playing around on an iPad, sketching letters and experimenting with bold geometric shapes, awkward proportions and characters that refused to look overly controlled. Here’s how those loose Procreate drawings became a finished typeface.