Jill Bell Design is involved in many forms of letter crafting: calligraphy and signpainting, handlettering, logotypes and icons for advertising, packaging and entertainment, as well as type design. She has designed and/or digitized fonts for ITC, Adobe, Agfa/Monotype and for clientele such as Disney and Johnson & Johnson. Her designs are informed by her broad knowledge of letter creation: from ancient inscriptions and writing through contemporary graffiti and tagging, and from diverse cultural traditions as she has studied devanagari, siddham and kanji. Her work is stylish, contemporary, fun and funky.
Jill Says: I usually don’t sit down to design a typeface. The designs usually originate from lettering I have created for other purposes: a note written to myself, lettering done while experimenting or something created for a client. I strive to have the alphabet look unique, like something I haven’t seen before, while still maintaining legibility. I’m definitely a display kind of gal. All of my typefaces to date were primarily done by hand and retain a handwritten feel. They were created with a traditional broad edged calligraphy pen, a pointed copperplate pen, a dry bristle brush, a pointed Chinese brush, a Sharpie, or even the wrong end of a brush in the case of Smack. Afterwords, they were digitized and refined.
See Jill’s website at
jillbell.com for about Jill Bell and her work.
