Type Art

I love the idea of typography as art. There are just so many possibilities. This is probably part of the reason why I prefer when a story has little or no art. It means anything goes.

But what about type as art? As in the actual characters themselves? Now that is something I'd really like to do. Check out Abduzeedo for some neat design things. (My favorite section is "daily inspiration" where there are really cool photos and illustrations selected by Abduzeedo's writers and users) Specifically check out this site where they showcase forty-five "type faces". All the art is made from letters arranged to look like faces. Seems time consuming, but the result is so cool. Here's a Marilyn rendition that is cool:
In other type news, here you can find a fun article from the Wall Street Journal that interviews Vincent Connare, the typographer behind the much-hated Comic Sans. According to the article there is a wide-spread movement to ban Comic Sans from use (and would that really be so bad?) The best part of the article? "Comic sans walks into a bar and the bartender says, 'we don't serve your type here.'"