Stencil Type

by Steven Heller, Louise Fili

An invaluable collection of underappreciated stencil typography through history. Designers often look to the past to inform their work. In this new paperback edition, design gurus Steven Heller and Louise Fili explore the variety and influence of the world’s most ubiquitous typographic style, which dates to prehistoric times and has been used on a range of surfaces, from street signs, buildings, and bridges to packaging and posters. This expansive sourcebook presents hundreds of international examples of stencil typography from the late nineteenth through the twentieth centuries. The wonderful array of stencil types highlights surprising instances of artistry and ingenuity from a broad range of locations and objects―from military, traffic, and transportation to home decoration, mass communication, and street art. And the survey is global, drawing on design from America, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Eastern Europe. An introduction surveys the history and applications of stencil typography, and samples of stencil type ordered by their geographic origin. Illustrated in color and black-and-white throughout

Genres: Design, Art

352 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2015

About the author

Steven Heller writes a monthly column on graphic design books for The New York Times Book Review and is co-chair of MFA Design at the School of Visual Arts. He has written more than 100 books on graphic design, illustration and political art, including Paul Rand, Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Avant Garde Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century, Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design Second Edition, Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age, Graphic Design History, Citizen Designer, Seymour Chwast: The Left Handed Designer, The Push Pin Graphic: Twenty Five Years of Design and Illustration, Stylepedia: A Guide to Graphic Design Mannerisms, Quirks, and Conceits, The Anatomy of Design: Uncovering the Influences and Inspirations in Modern Graphic Design. He edits VOICE: The AIGA Online Journal of Graphic Design, and writes for Baseline, Design Observer, Eye, Grafik, I.D., Metropolis, Print, and Step. Steven is the recipient of the Art Directors Club Special Educators Award, the AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and the School of Visual Arts' Masters Series Award.

Reviews

[Mariya Frantseva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sophisticated vintage feel and look that Stencil type gives just to everything that it touches is something to admire. That was a wonderful journey through time and continents, included the beloved Paris subway signs and the rough Venetian walls that absorb house numbers and street names in Stencil so genuinely. In the chapter where Heller talks about a phenomenon that he calls 'a love affaire between the Czech avant-garde and Stencil type', all of a sudden I saw a name of my namesake who designed a Cyrillic version of Stencil in Prague, presumably in the 20s. A very nice Cyrillic type, which is quite rare. I even felt proud. Thanks Sumerians for the Stencil invention!

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

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