From the archive: a brand identity for Idle Hour, a bookstore in a small Kansas town. Unfortunately, I don’t think they ever did open up, but still pretty pleased with the work. Blackletter wordmark based on some Helmut Salden lettering, ornament inspired by the building that was to house the shop.

Some letters should be hard to read!

Designed a book cover.

Our final batch of 100 Tens features contributions from this brilliant bundle of designers:⁠ ⁠ Lucas Sharp⁠ Matthijs Herzberg⁠ @herzberg.bsky.social Nolan Pelletier⁠ @nolanpelletier.bsky.social Craig Frazier⁠ Oded Ezer⁠ Christoph Niemann⁠ @christophniemann.bsky.social Petra Dočekalová Susan Kare⁠…

Here’s every typeface that I’m currently working on (to some degree or another). Hopeful that they’ll all see the finish line before I start drawing 2 dozen new ones. Which one are you most excited about?

The most minimalist “1” I could manage drawing, in honor of @letterformarchive.org’s 10th anniversary. I think that everyone in the typosphere has, at some point or another, benefitted from the Archive and its tireless efforts to preserve, showcase, and honor the mighty letterform.

In use: Ubique, the new & custom house typeface for Foreign Affairs magazine. Here it is seeing the light of day for the first time in the July/August issue. #typedesign #caslon

Font WIP: Better Böcklin (better name yet to be workshopped).

Wordmark redesign for Lore.

Crisp italics, drawn in procreate.

Lettering in 3 weights.

“When in doubt, use Caslon” Ubique is the new house typeface for Foreign Affairs Magazine, used in print and on their website for everything from headlines to paragraphs to footnotes.

Two rounds of RS/RGS monograms + the final thing.

I drew this handy guide for folks who, like me, keep forgetting the order of the alphabet

Goofballs shall inherit the earth!

“Drew an uppercase to this psychedelic blackletter” hmmm that’s not gonna take off. “It’s the way I drew an uppercase to this psychedelic blackletter for me”

Southern Gothic, WIP blackletter with Width and Weight axes.

Obviously the most pressing and urgent part of the website redesign I’m grinding on: drawing a 404 page.

Mardi Gras rain break

A slide from tomorrow’s presentation on earning a living drawing shapes: last year’s shape-drawing income distribution.

I’m presenting a lecture about my work and career as a shape-drawer at Loyola university here in New Orleans. Free entry, all are welcome. Nunemaker Auditorium, Wednesday February 19, 2025 from 4:55-6:10. See ya there!

Oops! All ornament

Last day of my last sale ever. Get it while you can. Herzbergdesign.com/fonts

30 percent off all my fonts on herzberg design dot com, applied automatically. This is the last time I’m doing a black Friday sale, or any sale for that matter, so have at it!

Here’s 16 European towns, letter’ed by hand in Procreate in various Art Nouveau inspired styles. Goal here was not to imitate any existing lettering work from the period, but instead find new forms that still fit the style.

White on black just looks better. Miscellaneous lettering pieces from the archive, all drawn in Procreate.

KD & AZ monogram sketches

Two recently designed JTF monograms for a client’s personal use. She liked the concepts so much, she couldn’t pick just one.

A WIP typeface I haven’t touched in a while. High contrast, not too calligraphic (for once), with art nouveau flair, weight and width axes. Absolutely begging for optical sizing and an italic.

Gonna keep posting past lettering here to gain ✨f o l l o w e r s✨. This one says “New Orleans” in case you couldn’t tell.

Psychedelic blackletter WIP

A handful of the wordmark explorations for Stride’s rebrand.

Here’s a wordmark I drew last year.

Mancine if it had been released in 1900 (with a letraset renaissance in 1970)

a guide to the new fonts of 2024

New font: Mancine. Based on left-handed calligraphy and Art Nouveau. Test and learn more here: herzbergdesign.com/mancine

Cloisterfuch 1.3! Now with swash caps!

Portuguese cities, now in weird letters.

Booking freelance work for ‘24. Typeface design, branding, art direction, logos, lettering, monograms, illustration, icons… DM or email, lets chat!

3 flavors of Mancine, a WIP typeface in the Nouveau Nouveau style.

HNY

All fonts still mad cheap! Only sale I do each year. Herzbergdesign.com/fonts

SSSSAAAAALLLLEEEE! Get em on herzbergdesign.com/fonts Discount applied automatically.

Certificate designed for Unseen Histories, to be shipped alongside restored historical photographs. Letterpress and foil-stamping by Typoretum in UK.

Sketch for a Cyrillic expansion of my font Fang.

the three most important drugs to make yourself feel good from day to day are exercise, a healthy diet, and drugs

Concepts and final wordmark design for Paradice, a Dutch streetwear brand.

Only you can make your brand good. But I can help you by making it pretty. Read about my process on Herzbergdesign.com/branding

I found a dog and I can’t keep him. Will drive Marty anywhere in the US if you can provide a good home!