This past month at Ambrose our workshops were dedicated to the foundation of the modern word: letters. We were lucky to have Drew Melton of the Phraseology Project design this month’s tee and share what he’s learned thus far in a student workshop on typography. Drew’s self initiated Phraseology Project started with the simple goal: allow people to submit phrases they love and turn them into type candy. The results? Since it’s launch in February the project has drawn 16,000 submissions and 55,000 unique visits. Ballin’. After our workshop with students we sat down with over a bowl of ice cream to learn a little more (five questions specifically) of his story.
Ambrose – Have you always nerded out on typography? How has your interest in it shaped your work over the last few years?
Drew Melton – Actually, no! At least, I didn’t really know I was “nerding out” on typography for a long time. All through college I was completely unaware that people actually worked with letters as their full-time job. It just seemed to be a natural by-product of graphic design. Over time, I have become more and more focused on just the letters themselves. Typography reflects the things we do, the objects we use, our moods, etc. That’s what I love about it now. The amount of communication you can pack into a word or phrase just through the style or the color. It’s wonderful.
Take us through a Phraseology project start to finish. What’s your process?
Well, we have a large database of submissions (somewhere around 16,000 right now thanks to our awesome visitors) and when one catches my eye or I feel like I have a good idea for it. I select it and start sketching. Almost right away. I have found that the sooner I commit to getting the phrase down on paper and playing with it. The better I can understand the letters and how they need to work on the page. Sometimes the piece comes together quickly. Sometimes I have to rework my idea endlessly.
I try to get my pieces to a level of detail high enough so that I can scan and start outlining in Illustrator right away! Normally my time in Illustrator is the hardest because I create so many lines in my work. So there is a lot of the Pen tool. Almost everything I make in Illustrator is the pen tool, actually.
Once I get to a point where I feel like the forms are looking good I start playing with color, which is a lot of fun. At this stage I am always surprised at how color exploration can totally change the look of the piece. I love it. I end up posting the piece soon after. Posting the piece or sending it to the client quickly keeps me from thinking about my work too much or from moving on to a new piece. It is far more productive for me to create a new piece than for me to tweak a current piece.
We’ve gotten a lot of requests for prints so recently we’ve started doing a limited runs of hand pulled screen prints and offering them for sale on the site. They’re printed on French Paper (which is made in Niles, MI) and we work with local printers to get the ink colors just right.
What’s inspiring you these days?
I am very inspired by process these days. Everyone’s is different and I love that. I am also inspired by the amazing community of people on Dribbble who are putting out excellent work all the time. I can’t say how much that community has meant to me. I also try to keep my eyes open whenever I’m running around in new places. Letters are so ubiquitous they can sometimes seem invisible but if you’re aware of them you start spotting little diamonds everywhere. There’s such a rich history of typography in package design sometimes just walking into an antique store can yield a ton of inspiration; that’s one of the things I love about technology – having a camera always available is priceless.
Any advice for young designers dipping their toes into the world of graphic design & typography?
Start drawing now. Most of the time the only way to do something great is to do it the hard way. Don’t let failure dictate your value as a professional or as a person. Don’t compromise doing what you love, you will always regret it.
What’s next?
Well I am hoping to do a lot more Phraseology pieces and pretty soon I am hoping to get some power behind a book (shhhh). After that? I am working on a lot of lettering commissions and I have a few more projects that I just need time to start up.
