Beautiful Typographic Flourishes

I recently found this graphics agency, SHCH Graphics Group, that specializes in rendering typographical forms into complicated flourishes, apparently by hand. They have a variety of examples of their work for major corporate clients, but also have examples of work they've done on napkins. I like their use of incredibly bold colors (mostly primaries, and reflex blue). Here's an example of a piece apparently for Nivea:


Their website has a lot of interesting pen work with a focus on fluid forms and fine lines. You can find the original site at sgr.kiev.ua. Unfortunately I know very little about them and stumbled across their work in my online travels. Here's another piece that incorporates thread (a common theme in their work) into the final layout.



Much of the work is in Cyrillic, as they appear to be in the Ukraine, so I'm unable to provide much more information about the finished pieces; on a purely aesthetic level, though, they are very pleasing. While the forms have a very tight and focused feel to them, I really appreciate that they are imperfect, for example, the arcs occasionally break or have small aberrations in the curve. The impression of handwork is retained, which is often lost in this style (which is commonly achieved with Illustrator or some similar illustration software, rather than a pen).

Be sure to check out their website, as there's quite a bit of work available to browse.

Fontify It!

Thanks to Jaime at Design Milk, I came accross Fontifier.com! It's an awesome website where you can actually create a font using your own handwriting. Great for scrapbooking, address labels, letter writing or table cards, once you dowload your font you can use it for pretty much anything! Well worth the $9. Above is a preview of what my font would look like. I think it could use some tweaking, but thanks to the genius that is Fontifier, I can do so, free of charge before I purchase my font! Fabulous!

A gift for you, a gift for...me.

A handwritten note is such a personal message. I am notorious for saving letters from the girls from summer camp, penpals from childhood, my grandmother's writings to me in college, and I know you have them-- old boyfriends. Something has gotten lost in the age of technology. Emails just can't be saved in the little box up on the shelf in the closet. These days, I love opening up the mailbox and finding that special envelope addressed to me. The one that took a minute and a little effort to put into the mail...the one I will not delete and add to the "trash" bin, as soon as it's read.

eInvite just added an amazing addition to our stationery selection! Maria Thomas, in her studio in the above image, has designed 8 exclusive custom alphabets for this modern and edgy selection, designed by Checkerboard. Her amazing handlettering is so exclusive and sought after by people all over the world. This selection is an exciting addition to the stationery market and so affordable. The papers make really great holiday gifts for everyone on your list. Take note of the super cool calling cards. I love them so much, that I am having trouble picking them out for friends, because I want to buy them for myself!

Items in the top left image are: 1. Zen, 2. Couplet, 3. Calling Card, 4. Flare

Items in the bottom right image are: 1. Provence, 2. Versailles, 3. Echo