Grungy, distressed, dirty or trashed typefaces, you can call them what you want, but they are always an interesting possibility if you're designing something that needs a used look. But what if you need a special corporate typeface in a 'trashed up' look and your favourite type designer doesn't offer it? The answer is simple - you do it yourself!
In this tutorial you will learn how to apply a distressed look to any existing font. You can spend hours messing about with old typewriters, photocopiers and scanners trying to mess up type to create a suitably distressed look, but all you really need is Illustrator CS2's new LiveTrace function (you can also use the Trace tool in Freehand MX) and FontLab for further modification of the typeface you create.
