Young Intellectuals

Here's my new print for this week - some Young Intellectuals.

It's the first print I've done in my looser, note-taking style (although the Vintage Radio Calendar is close). I've always enjoyed drawing like this because, even though it looks simple, it forces you to make every line count. So you have to bring everything you know about how faces fit together - all the 'rules' - and gently bend them.

This is also the first print I've put up in the shop that isn't hand-lettered. I wanted to make something that was kind of promotional material for young intellectuals (can I still count myself among them, I wonder?), so the layout's very faintly suggestive of a poster. Ranged left type - can't beat it. And Helvetica Bold - as you know from my Gill Sans post earlier, I love a nice sans serif. I was out of love with Helvetica for a long time. But visiting New York and seeing it employed so beautifully - white on black - as signage on the subway system (among many other places) made me realise that it can be a force for good rather than for blandness.

And while we're on the subject, here's the trailer for Gary Hustwit's film about the font, appropriately entitled Helvetica. It's well worth checking out.