Vintage Hand-Lettering: Styling Phrases for Timeless Appeal

Hand letter a design based on vintage style packaging

ASSIGNMENT

Your assignment is to use vintage design resources as inspiration for your hand-lettered design. Your goal is to create a hand-lettered piece, whether it’s packaging, poster, or branding that doesn’t just copy the inspiration, but to look and study your reference material with a critical eye and create a design with your own interpretation. By doing the project, you’ll learn about composition, letterform styles, color, and hierarchy from your inspiration and how you can use those elements to create a timeless appeal.

DELIVERABLE

Upload your hand-lettered design. A completed project will include:

• Images of your brainstorm / conference call notes

• Images of your inspiration with the studies / doodles

• Images of your thumbnails

• Images of your sketches

• Images of your final design

• Images of your final piece photographed and mocked up (if it applies to your project)

Be sure to post each image as you complete it, sharing your progress and getting valuable feedback as you move ahead with your project.

CONTEST

I’ll review the students projects and choose Three winners to receive a copy of my book Hand-Lettering Ledger, personal 1-on-1 feedback on their project and posting images of their project on my social media. Upload your project by 11:59PM EST on Sunday, January 18th, 2015 for consideration.

RESOURCES

• thelabelman.com and shorpy.com for vintage inspiration

• Encyclopedia of Advertising Tins, Vol. 2, by David Zimmerman

• Antique Packaging by Josep M. Garrofe

• Graphic Design Before Graphic Designers by David Jury

• The Handy Book of Artistic Printing by Doug Clouse

• Learn more about hand-lettering with Mary Kate’s previous classes, The First Steps of Hand Lettering and The Final Steps of Hand-Lettering