Typography is an ancient foundation of graphic design. As any good designer knows, the way that words are presented has a powerful influence on the way they are interpreted by the viewer. Here we've collected 53 stunning uses of typography by eight different designers. We hope you're inspired by this selection!
1. Fabiano Hikaru Higashi
I couldn't find an official portfolio website for Fabiano Hikaru Higashi so I can't tell you much about him. What I can tell you is that he is a younger designer from Brazil. He is a big fan of both movies and music and I think it shows in the samples of is work that I included. He enjoys working with typographic and vector related projects.
2. Karl Kwasny
Karl Kwasny is another somewhat young designer. At just twenty four years old he has worked some much bigger names than I will probably ever have the chance to. Some of his past clients include brands like Rip Curl, Coca Cola, and Warner Brothers Records. Just a few glimpses at some of his work will show you why he has a long list of big name clients.
3. Ivan Vidovic
Ivan Vidovic does both graphic design and motion design. His family is originally from Bosnia, but moved to the States in 1996. Like many designers, Ivan started out young with just scribbles and doodles. He currently takes classes at the Art Institute of Portland where he hopes to expand his skills as a graphic and motion designer.
4. Kasper
Kasper is a Danish designer who currently lives in Roskilde, Denmark. He recently started a design internship with a major design firm there called re-public. He is a truly talented typography and poster designer that works in Windows XP. Yes, that are some talented designers who work with Windows. He has quite a trendy style that he has seem to make his own.
5. Stefano Joker Lionetti
Stefano Joker Lionetti is an Italian designer based in Milano, Italy. According to his portfolio website, he currently works with a design company called Zetalab Studio where he works as a graphic design studio. He has a huge fetish for all things type and typography related. My favorite comment from his portfolio; "Please don't ask me to set a text in Arial, Comic Sans or Times New Roman: I'm definitely not interested on it."
6. Patswerk Grafisch Ontwerp
Patswerk Grafisch Ontwerp's portfolio is in another language so I can tell you zero things about him. What I can tell you is that his work is pretty freakin' sweet. He has lots of bold colors, hand drawn fonts, and creative illustrations. From t-shirts to poster, this guy has a little bit of everything.
7. Sébastien Nikolaou
Sébastien Nikolaou is another talented and young designer. Born in 1985 in Greece, Sébastien Nikolaou knew early on that he wanted to do something creative with his life. His passions have evolved from drawing, to graffiti, and finally into graphic design. Sébastien Nikolaou is currently studying graphic design in Greece.
8. Robin Libbrecht
I'll finish of the list with, you guessed it, another talented and young designer. Robin Libbrecht is a design student with a love for typography and music. His interest in hardcore and punk music can really be seen in some of his other works not listed here.
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )dylan john western May 6th
these are great, very inspirational.
( )logolitic May 8th
Well said, really inspirational. Very simple things are looking so complicated sometimes. I`m always inspired by typography.
( )Mason Sklut May 6th
Well designed Typography can make something plain look amazing.
( )Marvin May 6th
The link for Robin Libbrecht is wrong
But wow, amazing! I’ve never used typography, I should really considering trying to do so.
( )615 Productions May 6th
Great Post
( )snnaqvi May 6th
Amazing
( )TheMostEpicManInTheWorld May 6th
Very nice. I love typography.
( )Jan May 6th
Wow, these are mind blowing!
( )emmanuel May 6th
Patswerk Grafisch Ontwerp’s is not a person i’s a company, a groupe of artists if i’m reading this corectly. it was started by Ramon Avelino, Rogier Mulder and Lex van Tol in 1982
( )Ricardo May 6th
GOSH!!!
But… give me a tutorial about this designs please!
NICE ARTICLE
( )merxhan May 7th
I want a tutorial too, smth like Kasper designes.
Great article
( )Diego SA May 6th
Wow, that’s a huge collection of beautiful use of typograph. If I had all these arts in poster size… Wow, awesome!
( )keruchan May 6th
I love it… CooL! great for inspirations
( )Kayles May 6th
Thanks taking the time to collect all of these. It’s a great article and quite inspiring. Some of these pieces are just amazing. Thanks again!
( )Ben Bankson May 6th
Awesome stuff! Very inspirational
( )Carolina May 6th
These are beautiful! Thanks for taking the time to showcase them!
( )praeter design May 7th
Typography… one of the 7 wonders of design
( )pica-ae May 7th
wonderful collection and some awesome guys behind the artworks
( )"Survulus" (Andrew Golden) May 7th
Some really superbly interesting designshere, pefect for inspiration. I particularly like th Clockwork Orange poster and the 1984 idea is brillliant. The “trerry Francis Mickee” poster is also amazing.
( )imsraaia May 7th
awesome… collection
( )Jamie Allsop May 7th
This is a great collection of some really good typography and is perfect for inspiration. There is just so much that you can do with typography and these pieces of work are great examples of this.
( )Linus May 7th
clockwork orange <3
( )Victoria Web May 7th
A brilliant collection, a complete mix of typographical styles and uses. Some really clever type manipulation, a great example is “The Gangs Of New York” using type to construct a top hat, really inspirational work.
( )underdog May 7th
wow.thx Danny Outlaw your post always awesome!!!thx very much!
( )tibô May 7th
nice !
( )mixn May 7th
we need more typography-tuts, folks .. !
( )who’s with me?
antonio May 7th
I love this collection
( )Zik May 7th
Brilliant !
( )photofolio.be May 7th
Stunning! Have to think more out of the box …
( )Daryn Hobden May 7th
Inspired now. thanks.
( )erp;av May 7th
These aren’t mind-blowing, its mind blasting…
It blasted my mind.
( )Sean May 7th
Gangs on New York one is brilliant
( )zebra May 7th
Patswerk is actually the combined work of 3 friendly dutch guys, not just 1. Just to make sure credit is being given to those who deserve it.
( )Great work by all the designers!! We are proud to be amongst them.
Serkan May 7th
All wonders of design. Great examples of this.
( )Bruno Abrantes May 7th
Some pretty awesome examples of good typography up there. There’s something about beautiful use of typography in graphic design that gets me all hot and bothered
( )Rachelle May 7th
It’s a wonder to see what people can do with type.
Amazing collection…thanks for this post!
( )Gareth Coxon - Dot Design May 7th
Some really great work here, especially among the hand drawn typography, thanks for sharing
( )Zakir Naz May 7th
Niiiice – thanks for this
( )Aki May 7th
Some are awesome, especially 6 and 7.
( )Mees May 7th
Really love this topic. Nice for some inspiration, I aint good yet with typography ( not good at all in PS ) but this will definetly help me deciding what I’m going to make next. Thanks a bunch.
( )richard May 7th
never underestimate the strength of wasting your time with arial … some of these works are sooooo weak.
( )Manfre May 7th
Good!
( )SGTBlitz May 7th
Wow,, i am honestly amazed with typography yet it is probably my weakest area, anyone know of ways and methods i could use to get me thinking more about GOOD typography? Thanks
( )Robert May 7th
Many of these pieces are quite striking (I say many, because some of them are just too similar in style to one another or use typography that is just too hard to read) but I must ask…
What is with blog posts these days having such large listings. It’s like Smashing Magazines thinks any list under 100 is useless. I much prefer “10 Mind Blowing Uses of Typography” … this much lends itself to sensory overload.
( )Willy Willy May 7th
The link for Robin Libbrecht isn’t correct (going to a previous one)
( )Dario Gutierrez May 7th
Awesome list!! Is very inspirational.
( )Derek May 7th
I have to disagree with some of the images listed here.
If I can’t tell what it says, it’s not doing its job.
Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate the time and creativity that goes into some of the images that are hard to read, but it’s pointless if you can’t make out what the artist wanted you to see.
( )Artboy34 July 24th
Agreed. I can’t read half of them, and don’t know quite where to look on two-thirds of them.
And few, if any, get to “Mind-blowing.”
( )tron May 7th
i saw a skin of that first one at mytego.com.
its a pretty cool site, you can turn your designs into skins for laptops and phones and stuff.
i guess someone REALLY liked it.
( )Design East Anglia May 7th
Fantastic. Love the Sébastien Nikolaou stuff
( )Pablo May 7th
Thanks for the inspiration! this stuff is mind blowing
( )Damian Herrington May 7th
Absolutely fantastic, all very talented people and inspirational
( )Adam May 7th
Don’t forget this one! http://cargocollective.com/workerman#7894
( )Montana Flynn May 7th
great stuff, really great! I am blown away.
( )Chris Robinson May 7th
some really great pieces
( )Patricia May 7th
Very impressive stuff
( )Newso May 7th
Perfectt list and very enjoyed reading, well done
( )m. gartsman May 8th
ah, hell yeah! awesome post. cheers!
( )yu July 30th
m gatsman your a cunt and you know you are
( )Jince Thomas May 8th
Its great… Inspiring.. YEAHH!!!
I ll try my self now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..
Thanks a lot
( )Tim Bennett May 8th
Awesome list, thanks for compiling these!
( )Felix May 8th
Great stuff. Love them all!
( )thanks for posting this typographical awesomeness ^^
Shaw May 8th
Awesome post! This has gave me alot of ideas
( )Thanks
koko May 8th
i love it , wonderful post
( )chrisberth May 8th
Great work, thanks
( )Symon May 8th
An amazing collection of inspirational ideas. Thanks!
( )B-82 May 8th
cool ! it inspired me today !
( )http://b-82.deviantart.com/art/the-GOSSIP-wallpaper-121831662
Black Sheep May 8th
I enjoy these inspirational sections. They help you break out of your normal design ruts.
I enjoy even more laughing at the negative comments about some of the designs. Always a “just graduated design school” genius out there trying to be the pointiest hat in the room.
( )Artboy34 July 24th
Please… been working for many years, and some of these are just plain visual garbage.
( )Alex October 1st
Not even graduated school yet, and I’m not trying to be the “pointiest hat in the room” as you say. As an illustrator and a student, I just think a lot of them suck. That’s my personal opinion. I can’t stand the “grunge” and cute style that’s become popular, and I find it hard to read or typically without much discernable visual content. Nowhere in that statement am I saying that my opinion is based in absolute fact or that anyone has to take it as a divine pronouncement on the state of design in our world.
So before you go and make an ass of yourself by making the general statement that negative comments are always “just graduated design school”, try and think about how stupid it makes you sound.
( )Peterson October 13th
Please, get off yoru high horse. A lot of these are very strong and this is by far the best round up of typography based posters ever. But many of these posters sucked ass big time. BIG TIME.
( )loswl May 8th
This is a cool post!, I am inspired
)
( )Franky May 8th
I love this stuff.
( )Swiss design, classic!
mr_nelson May 8th
HOT. I love it!
( )Klaus May 9th
Very fine!
( )solemone May 9th
Great inspiration!!!
( )kasper May 9th
Great stuff! Inspirational
( )Joe May 10th
Good inspiration. lovely collection
( )kixvix May 10th
Great list!
I especially love Sébastien Nikolaou and Patswerk Grafisch Ontwerp’s works. i love their typography and color choices. Very bold and really eye-catching!
( )WallpaperDude May 10th
Some of them aren’t as mind-blowing as others, but they’re all pretty neat. Typography is not one of my strong areas, so I’m easily impressed.
( )rap May 11th
aw.. I love typography.. thanks for the list! very nice!
( )prisca May 11th
what a wonderful collection of work
typography love — very inspirational…
Thank you for these — brightened up my day
( )nnes May 11th
I love thz fact you took the time to really sort the designs per deisgner, and mentioned their name and some short information about them! I wish more people did such things!
And I hope one day my name appears in a blogpost like this
( )ideaboom May 12th
Crazy
( )Hillary May 12th
This is an awesome list!
( )tasarhane May 12th
great designs.. nice list.. thanks.
( )_sinzen May 13th
Just what I needed to spark some imagination tonight. Thanks for the great selection!
( )jackson5 May 13th
seems like every other stumble i get is of “awesome” “great” or “brilliant” typography or graphic design. nothing original really anymore. b*tch at my comment if you want, but when is someone going to come up with something fresh. seems like everyone is doing this style of typography and design now a-day, just like every pop singer now thinks they can sing just because they use a vocoder (that makes their voice sound like a robot, disguising that they really cannot sing). don’t get me wrong, these are cool, but we need to move beyond calling this stuff mind blowing, blow my mind with something fresh!
( )e11world May 13th
This is a great collection and it refreshes my brain with new ideas (many I’ve seen before though). I would love to see some of these perhaps in other languages (Arabic). I might have to make a few if not many are out there on the net.
( )Reg. May 13th
makes me want to be creative right now on the spot
( )Tyler May 14th
Wow, this is a great round-up. Thanks
( )MamaLeOompa May 14th
These are absolutely beautiful! Very inspiring indeed
( )Stijn May 14th
Some great work, very inspiring!
( )microwaveb May 15th
these look photoshopped to me. I can tell from the pixels and from having seen a few shops in my time.
( )jonathan May 16th
Are you sure they aren’t just scans from dusty old Graphic Design text books?
( )Fredrik May 15th
Thanks for sharing, all of them looks really good.
( )jonathan May 16th
I’m with you on this one, jackson5. Several of these designs use exactly the same template too, which blew my mind even less. Nothing I haven’t seen before, but a fairly decent collection of examples of classic typography (i.e. really old – some of these concepts are from the 1920’s or earlier).
( )javiinthezone May 19th
The Best Article of all!
congratulations psdtuts!
( )Trozdol May 19th
One I think that belongs here is the Venture Bros. Skull Logo it’s a genius idea.
( )Bunny. May 20th
thanks fer this. it really inspires & gives off so many ideas.
( )mike June 5th
I love it – great stuff!
( )Cary June 5th
I love it! But the one with the lazy dog thing irks me. WIDOW ALERT! WIDOW ALERT! Widows = Not good.
( )Mike June 15th
These are great! Nice compilation.
( )Elcodigodebarras June 22nd
Simply delicious…ILOVETYPOGRAPHY
( )Mike Designer June 22nd
I love it, great stuff.
( )jim August 25th
these are great! top list, especially liking Patswerk Grafisch Ontwerp. thanks!
( )Omer September 27th
very nice thanks for the update.
( )