What I Do (#1 of 3)

May 27, 2008 on 4:40 pm | By | In Notes, Wayback Machine | 3 Comments

People are always asking me how I ended up doing what I do. They also want to know if what I do has a “name”. My intention was never to set out to be a “lettering artist”, but somehow I always gravitated towards solving communication problems with letterforms. I guess in some ways I’m a designer who works like an illustrator. I have done work of all kinds in all sizes—from billboards to postage stamps, from logo design to labels, from CD covers to signage—and then of course there’s font design.

I don’t feel it’s ever a good idea to try to fit one’s work into categories or niches: what I do overlaps several categories: illustration, graphic design, lettering, typography and font design. What I usually tell people is that I’m a “letterforms” artist—a definition vague enough not to be too confining, but at the same time giving a little more emphasis to the “lettering” part. How I ended up “inventing” this genre (I hope that doesn’t sound too immodest) is a whole other matter. I don’t want to give myself more credit than I actually deserve by focusing on this, but people are always asking how I got here . . . so, if you’re interested, stay tuned for my next post for more of the backstory.


3 Comments

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

  1. […] I did it, I styled it after another piece I had done—a cover for the Japanese graphics magazine IDEA. Over the years this piece has gotten more notoriety (founded or unfounded) than almost any other […]

    Pingback by Alphabet Soup » Blog Archive » For All You ‘KISS’ Fans Out There… — June 18, 2008 #

  2. What you do is GREAT and I have always love that cover for IDEA.

    J-X

    Comment by José Cruz — May 28, 2008 #

  3. Thanks for sharing, Mike!

    I have been a fan of your work since I stumbled across your website some years ago and was amazed at your skill level. I really dig your personal and honest blog – please keep it up 🙂

    Comment by Don G. — May 28, 2008 #

Leave a comment

Powered by WordPress and Nifty Cube with Recetas theme design by Pablo Carnaghi.
Entries and comments feeds. Valid XHTML and CSS.