Graffiti Alphabets: Street Fonts from Around the World

by Claudia Walde

“Each contributor has a distinct skill that refutes the mainstream view of graffiti artists as mere vandals.” ― New York Times Classic graffiti lettering and experimental typographical forms lie at the heart of street culture and have long inspired designers in many different fields. But graffiti
artists, who tend to paint the same letters of their tag again and again, rarely design complete alphabets. Claudia Walde spent over two years collecting alphabets by 154 artists from thirty countries to show the many different styles and approaches to lettering within the graffiti and street art cultures. All of the artists have roots in graffiti. Some are world renowned such as 123 Klan (Canada), Faith47 (South Africa), and Hera (Germany); others are lesser known or only now starting to emerge. Each artist received the same instructions: design all twenty- six letters of the Latin alphabet within the limits of a single page of the book. How they approached this task and selected the media with which to express their ideas was entirely up to them, and the results encompass not just street art but sketches, sculpture, digital art, and photography. 400+ color illustrations

Genres: Art, Graffiti, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2011

Reviews

[Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a typography nut, so much uncharted territory in the expanses of graff, where your letters can either be unmistakable or absolutely defy characterization. An art form that prides itself on color and style rather than the simple masters of legibility and fontmaking programs that a fontographer would have to go through. Hand-drawn kerning, with custom leading and maybe, even maybe, an additional illustration on top of it all, this book contains, basically, 150 different "fonts". Which each is a short synopsis of the writers' work, as well as "what is your favorite letter", which I thought was brilliant.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inkie: http://inkie.co.uk
Jeremyville: https://www.jeremyville.com/
Klub7: http://klub7.de/2017/
L’Atlas: http://latlas-art.org/
Ment: https://marceloment.com/brasilia-2017/
Staynice: https://staynice.nl/
TAKECARE: http://www.thelocalgenius.com/

[Casseroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for inspiration. I was looking more for singling out styles and imitating them. There are lots of different font styles shown with credit going to known artists, so you can try to imitate what's shown then make something your own. I like AlphabeatZ by Woshe for the basics at the moment.

[Elizabeth Dailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It helps you develop your own style , very helpful

[Neko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book to flip through and look at. What each writer says isn't as important imo.

[Lady Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this was pretty cool. Highlighting how many different graffiti artists creating letters, and from all over the globe no less, one two page spread is given to each artist with a blurb about them and their style along with a picture or two of some pieces with significant text. The opposite page of the spread is given over to a complete alphabet done in the artist's style. Some are fairly typical, at least to me in my very limited knowledge, grafitti writing while others resemble the bubble letters one does in elementary school, and still others are incredibly difficult to read and I would be hardpressed to be able to read anything written in that style.

This was definitely an interesting way to look at grafitti art and it certainly pleased this art fan who picked this book up merely out of curiousity... and frankly because it had a nice bright cover that appealed to me....

[J.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

154 active and former graffiti artists show off their destinctive style. Some street art photography and some small pieces on paper. Every artists gives us a portrait of their alphabet, every letter drawn out just as it would be done in a piece. Short bio's of the artists as well. Oversized hardcover. Good pictures. Real nice alphabet drawings. A really great art book if you dig this sort of thing.

[John Hajdar · Rating 3 out of 5]

some good fonts
some are graffiti generic... oh well.

[Ashley Godfrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!