The Daily Heller: It’s My Party*

… And I’ll sell books if I want to … (*headline thanks to the late Lesley Gore).

Today is my birthday, and I’ve stepped over the line well beyond the age where being humble is an asset or virtue. So now I shamelessly pitch you my latest book with Gail Anderson, Type Speaks (Abrams)— with thanks to Joe Newton—featuring over 400 exciting, if not revelatory, pages of digital (and a few analog) typefaces designed to express, emote and otherwise brilliantly telegraph concepts, notions, ideas, people, places and things.

In bygone days, many of these faces were looked upon as "novelties," a derogatory appellation intended to insultingly distinguish between classical and ephemeral. Today, they are essential to communicating messages in a world in the midst of a tsunami of conceptual and commercial products for sale.

So, as I sit in my old rocking chair swatting flies and watching time fly by, why don’t you take the time to invest some surplus cash or credit and buy multiple copies of Type Speaks. If you’re not completely satisfied, well, that’s—life.

Arabic Lettering Workshop (ALW). Typeface: Fedra Arabic Display. Designers: Khajag Apelian, Wael Morcos, Kristyan Sarkis. 2016–2018.

Typeface: Proprietor. Designer: Guillermo Vizzari. 2012.

Unapologetic Calendar. Typefaces: Impact, Arial Narrow. Designers: Rita Matos, Elisabete Gomes. 2017.

Beatrice. Designer: Lucas Sharp. Foundry: Sharp Type. 2015.

Lil Thug. Designer: Brando Corradini. 2018.

TpDuro. Studio: TwoPoints.net. Designers: Martin Lorenz, Juanra Pastor Rovira. AD: Martin Lorenz. 2010.

Beastly. Foundry: OH no Type Company. Designer: James Edmondson. Client: The Herb Lubalin Study Center. 2015–2018.

Radiator. Foundry: Pyte Foundry. Designer: Ellmer Stefan. 2016.

Matryoshka. Foundry: Volcano Type. Designer: Peter Brugger. 2009–2010.

Google Fonts + Korean. Designer: Roon Kang. Developer: Wonyoung So. Client: Google. Korean text editor: Min Guhong Mfg. English text editor: Hannah Son. Font curation: Yang Jang. 2018.