Watching the process

Lettering is beautiful to look at and possibly even more interesting to watch in the process. I've recently been spending a lot of time browsing YouTube for typography-related videos. There is a wide variety of videos out there, from the current "kinetic type" fad of using animated type to illustrate a voice-over, to videos of artists creating words using all sorts of mediums.

The following are a few of my favorites.

"Unravel"
This film by Argentinian graphic designer Andrés Yeah is a simple stop-motion video of a simple phrase. Although each word is drawn in a different typeface, the end result is surprisingly cohesive.



"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
Dutch artist and filmmaker Roel Wouters pairs father Job Wouters and young son Gradus Wouters in a fast motion race through the alphabet. The viewer's attention is split between the flowing strokes of Roel's experienced hand and the uncertain jerks of a four-year-old who doesn't yet know all the letters of the alphabet. I found my attention drifting toward Gradus's unpredictable letters more often than not.



"Typo Linomation Hand Carved & Printed"
I have never seen hand carved animation before, an impressive and time-consuming process that graphic designer Mark Andrew Webber is experienced in. This short film tells the story of a capital "A" and its tragic death at the hands of lowercase letters.



*For more typography-related videos, check out my Typography playlist on YouTube.