As designers, we handle typography created by others on a day-to-day basis. Choosing the correct typeface for a piece is a difficult decision, and one that plays a huge role in the success of a project.
Sometimes, though, it is most rewarding to create your own type. One of my biggest passions is creating my own typographic illustrations for posters, editorial work, apparel and other areas of design.
Recently I visited the Herb Lubalin Study Centre of Design and Typography in New York, where I looked through the work of Lubalin, one of my favourite designers. His typographic illustrations for Avant Garde are inspirational. Most of the type I create starts out with basic elements: circles, squares and triangles, and in this tutorial I'll explain how I created the 'Prosperity' typography out of geometric shapes, gradients, lines and a few useful Adobe Illustrator effects.
