Jim Parkinson died today. He was a prolific and astoundingly gifted lettering artist, type designer, and painter. I feel lucky to say he was also my friend.

https://typographica.org/on-typography/jim-parkinson-1941-2025/

I woke up this morning to find that we’ve surpassed our funding goal in less than 24 hours 🥳

Funding for what, you ask? A brand new book brought to you by @blaft and little old me that celebrates the incredible street lettering in India.

Book your copy ➡️ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blaft/india-street-lettering-a-book while we think up some stretch goals 🙈

🥁 Welcome INDIA STREET LETTERING, the book! 🥁

I’m working with @blaft to bring together my documentation of letterforms from India’s cityscapes into a book — a 200-page hardcover full-colour volume showcasing striking public lettering from around the country.

We need your help to make this book happen 🤝🏼 Our Kickstarter campaign is live. Please chip in, pre-order the book and share the project with everyone you know ➡️ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blaft/india-street-lettering-a-book/

Here’s a much better piece on the visual thinking behind the Mamdani campaign https://www.curbed.com/article/zohran-mamdani-campaign-logo-graphic-design.html

@matratype @blaft This is excellent news. Backed!

How did alphabet books deal with the letter X before the rise of x-rays and xylophones? Here's some highlights: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/x-is-for

Well this is exciting: @matratype x @blaft making a book about Pooja's India Street Lettering initiative.

Backing it was a no-brainer, so you should follow suit:

https://typo.social/@matratype/114749873162294379

#India #StreetLettering #Signs #Lettering

A Final Resting Place for Letters at the Buchstabenmuseum

https://bl.ag/a-final-resting-place-for-letters-at-the-buchstabenmuseum/

Line up released for Glastonbury's new Chromatic Wood Type stage! 🤠 https://buff.ly/2uWLUsQ

Archie Proudfoot has released some July dates for his 'Gold School' introductory gilding workshops in London.

Check out the full details via https://www.archieproudfoot.com/goldschool

#Gilding #GoldLeaf #London #Workshops

Nice to see regular BLAG columnist Gustavo Ferrari in the 'pages' of Print Magazine:

https://www.printmag.com/designer-profiles/gustavo-ferrari-fileteador/

#FileteadoPorten̈o #SignPainting #BuenosAires #Argentina

@onpaperwings There are a few pangram links here, including to the @Richr list of those in other languages.

https://bl.ag/playful-pangrams-for-sign-painters-plus-other-languages/

I had a go at writing some sign-painterly ones, of which my favourite was, "My very fuzzy kit box just bulges with quick-dry paint."

PS. I can't recall the name, but there's a similar concept for sentences that include all the sounds of a given language.

#pangrams #languages

I recently bought a stainless steel pressure cooker [to replace an old aluminium one that can’t be used with an induction cooktop], so for the first time in my life I now own a cylindrical object with a highly polished mirrored surface.

When I went looking online for examples of cylindrical mirror anamorphic art (i.e. images that appear distorted until you view them reflected in a cylinder), I discovered a sculptor, Jonty Hurwitz, who does this for solid objects rather than just flat images.

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/01/the-skewed-anamorphic-sculptures-and-engineered-illusions-of-jonty-hurwitz/

[The antihero in my story “Crisis Actors” uses cylindrical mirror anamorphism as an “encryption” technique. Wikipedia notes that “A secret mirror anamorphosis portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie, held at the West Highland Museum, can only be recognized when a polished cylinder is placed in the correct position. To possess such an image would have been seen as treason in the aftermath of the 1746 Battle of Culloden”.]

Bringing Back the the Coast Manual of Lettering and Designs

https://bl.ag/bringing-back-the-the-coast-manual-of-lettering-and-designs/

@ashur Where are these?

So long San Francisco.

Three days was far too short, even if all I had to do was visit @letterformarchive and take the @ihazrabies ghost sign walks, but I still managed to pack a lot in.

Thank you to everyone that made it a very special first visit to the West Coast, not least my hosts with the most @laureola and @stewf

Here's a photo Stephen snapped as the sun went down on my last day.

Next stop: Cincinnati for Letterheads 50 🖌 🎨 🖼

#SanFrancisco #PacificOcean #Sunset #ThankYou

@willsh This feels like one for @uselessfactsbadlydrawn lol

@ihazrabies I didn't in the end, but I did catch this one as I made my way to the Ferry Building. I haven't looked it up yet, nor tried to work out what it says, but I know you'll know!

#ghostsigns #SanFrancisco