Nightjar Blog

Typography & Illustration: Jessica Hische [USA]

Jessica Hische’s custom hand-lettering and illustration has been a very big inspiration to me. Letterpress, ornament and typography; where can it go wrong?

Amazingly, Jessica state’s in her site’s FAQ that she mainly works on the computer using her mouse:

I don’t use a wacom tablet (at least not yet), I’m a point and click kind of gal. People are flabbergasted by this but I used to work exclusively on the trackpad on my laptop. I will have carpal tunnel by the time I’m 30.

She also says she mostly goes straight to computer, without sketching and scanning. Keep all of this in mind as you view her stunning work…

Some of Jessica’s hand-drawn type

Jessica works for Louise Fili Ltd., a design firm in New York City that specialises in food packaging and branding for restaurants and delicious things, as well as logos and book design in general. You are probably familiar with the studio’s work.

Design*Sponge published a Sneak Peek into the fabulous studio of Louise Fili Ltd and it looks like a wonderful creative space filled with a gorgeous selection of ephemera collected by Louise on her travels.

Images from Design*Sponge

Jessica on which designers and illustrators motivate her:

So many its hard to say. I have a major design crush on Marion Bantjes and a brain/concept crush on Christoph Niemann (you should reread the illustrated article he did for Print a few years back (2005? 2006?) on being an illustrator). Of course Louise Fili is a major inspiration. I have a really talented group of friends that also keep my motivation high. I see work every day on sites like ffffound, the dieline, etc. that makes me seethe with jealousy. Envy can be a big motivator.

Some more of Jessica’s gorgeous custom lettering and illustration is below. This Boston Globe cover is amazing. Her attention to detail can’t be faulted, I love the ornamental decoration and the way each letter harbours more delights.

A cover from the Boston Globe, May 3. I love the little fella in the ‘E’

For culinaryculture.com

More gorgeous custom lettering

All images and quotes are © Jessica Hische

Visit her at http://jessicahische.blogspot.com/

and http://www.jhische.com/

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Artist: Giovanni Battista Braccelli [Baroque Period]

I recently found my way over to Rare Book Room via TypeNeu.

There I was blown away by images I found of a book by Giovanni Battista Braccelli (b. between 1600–1650). He was an ‘almost unknown’ Florentine painter and engraver and the book illustrated below book remained obscure until relatively recent times.

A remarkable precursor of the radical artistic movements of the twentieth century, this rare show of visual oddities is filled with fabulous and jocund variations on the human form, constructed from a hallucinatory variety of animate and inanimate components.
— From Octavo

The book, Bizzarie di Varie Figure, (1624) is full of the most extraordinary figures made up of all sorts of different shapes and objects. It is fascinating and brilliant.

All images below are © The Rare Book Room. http://www.rarebookroom.org/

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Artist: Catherine Campbell [Melbourne]

Catherine Campbell runs herself a little Etsy store filled with treasures like these little gems:

From Diamond Pullovers set

‘Curious Adventures on the High Seas’ 2007 - Print Set

Searching for Romantic Icecream Moments & detail

Visit her blog at myfolklover.typepad.com and Etsy store called myfolklover.

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Studio: Ma + Chr [France]

Ma + Chr is a French design duo of Mathilde Aubier + Christine Delaquaize.

According to their website, they like “little dogs, riding bicycles and decorating”.

I thoroughly enjoyed my little visit to their site this morning, not least because I can’t even remember how I got there. Here is a selection of their work that I loved:

Ma + Chr
A work from their January 2009 Exhibition “Logs & Little Dogs”