Type: all sewn up

This tutorial shows you what's possible with type when you use it in a non-traditional way. Typography doesn't just have to be used on screen or on printed materials - instead, it can be your own interpretation of letters communicated in your own way. Type can be found, produced and presented in a limitless number of materials, most of which can be applied, developed or produced at home for a hand-crafted feel.

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Over the following pages, we show you how to construct a typeface using a modular grid system and organised proportions in FreeHand. We talk you through some simple tools and ways of constructing bespoke typographical shapes.

Then we show you how to expand these flat-screen shapes into fully formed three-dimensional stuffed fabric letters to demonstrate how type can be turned into a 3D object and take on a physical quality all of its own. The type comes to life, is fun and carries the message of the production process as well as the words themselves.

We use a production process that can easily be replicated at home with materials that cost very little but enable you to achieve a truly individual response to a design of your own.

Click here to download the tutorial for free