Typography: ‘The style and appearance of printed matter.’

Typography is present in the majority of modern spaces. You witness it every day, whether you are consciously aware of it or not – think of the different types of fonts that you see digitally and physically on a daily basis. The inception of typography as a craft can be traced back to practises of the ancient Greeks, where the very first punches and dies were created in order to stamp seals and forge currency.

Enough on the origins already, because the modern day usage of typography can be seen quite differently. As far as streetwear is affiliated, typography usage can be ornamental or even decorative. Largely speaking, it doesn’t specifically relate to the communication of information itself. Sometimes if it looks the part, it looks the part – and lauded labels are able to broadcast extensions of its personality through a creatively typographic lens which doesn’t misconstrue the perception of the brand and its image.

PLEASURES

PLEASURES are an LA label that can be considered playful with its typography usage, changing-up its fonts at will to suit creative design choices. The first example is from its Crumble T-Shirt, which embraces a gothic font evoking the brand’s grungy roots.

Yet here, the West Coast brand opts for a more futuristic font on its Hacker T-Shirt. PLEASURES switch up the font for this design, but still make sure that it aligns with its identity which is heavily inspired by music, art, and in this case, film.

Nike

Now onto Nike, who have embraced typography in different ways across its versatile array of subdivisions over the decades. The first image depicts Nike embroidery from the brand’s Script releases, where they use calligraphic lettering to portray the brand’s more vintage-inspired lines; a subtly pleasant showing of the Oregon natives evolvement over the years.

See but now this probably looks a bit more familiar to the ordinary eye who knows Nike as a sportswear brand through-and-through. From the college-styled lettering to the small print beneath the Swoosh globe, this is a classic lesson in typography from Nike – a global giant who knows what they are and what they aren’t to an absolute T.

Dickies

Lastly, we move onto Dickies, the Texan workwear label. Here we’ve got two of its ‘Raven’ and ‘Herndon’ T-Shirts. Both of which essentially do the same thing – adopting dated produce packaging as a visual extension of the workwear brands identity, yet in two opposing fonts with different case sensitivities.

Take note: this is a good display of how ornamental typography can be used where the view of the brand isn’t altered whatsoever, where typography is merely borrowed to fit a creative agenda.

Got a keen eye for detail? Read the counterpart to this piece which focuses on iconography.