Movie Titling / Hand Craft

Working from Scratch: Customized Type Face Design, Font Development and Motion Picture Design The presumption is — design by hand and the work is better. Is that right? In the study of aligning idea to shining, brand to epiphany, inspiration to magic — there is the...

The Heart in the Hand

The hand with heart holds more I was wandering, looking down old alleys, plazas and ancient streets. And I spied an old friend. The Hamsa. خمسة | חַמְסָה The Five. I used to wear one of these in college, during another phase of talismanic connection. I lost it...

Simple Design

Can you do that style? Earlier in my career [1976,] as a advertising studio illustrator, comp[rehensive] packaging artist, headline drafter [for rough ad layouts] and an occasional calligrapher, I got that line, as a request. “Can you do that style?” “Sure I can.” It...

The Hand and the Heart

Make something. Use your hands. What’s coming back to me is the realm of the personal — that which is made by a person, from that person, to me. As we’ve moved GIRVIN from downtown Seattle [they’re demolishing our building] to the bottom of West Queen Anne, we’ve all...

Hand Drawn Brush Signage

The Script of The Multi-Stroke Brush Lettering Old-style Grocery Signage Script When I began my career [1975,] I was a lettering artist, a sign-writer. I wasn’t a designer, I was more to a kind of tradesman. I had no idea about what design was, per se — I knew about...

The Alphabet | A History of Girvin Calligraphy

Early hand drawn explorations of the letter IMAGE: GIRVIN | hand made cut star alphabets in 12 languages –––––– There’s a rhythm to the alphabet, drawing it, the forms can flow from one character to another. The story of their evolvement is a legacy of thousands...