Aside from the fact hand lettering is a lot of fun, there are four really great reasons that stand out as to why you should take up hand lettering now if you haven’t already.
1 . Interest in hand lettering is on the rise
According to Google Trends hand lettering has been gaining interest since 2007. Around 2007 to 2013 it had slow but steady interest. Then throughout 2013 interest in lettering started to rise massively and has been rising ever since. It’s hard to determine the exact reason why there was such a rise in interest a couple of years ago. Possibly because more and more people are taking their businesses online, and there is a need to have personalised logos and lettering so sites stand out as individual.
2. There are lots of great resources available now to learn from
Social networks can provide great resources for learning hand lettering and for providing inspiration. Social networks make it easy to find and share lettering, and you can pick up tips from all over the place. You can also come across lettering inspiration daily and then learn to replicate what you find inspiring. Finding so many examples of lettering was a lot harder to do before the reign of the internet, and before social networks were so prominent. In the past to find lots of examples of lettering you would have had to go out of your way, now it’s just one click away.
There are also lots of helpful tutorial videos, websites and classes around now that make learning lettering accessible and possible for most. In previous years to learn lettering, it would be a case of visiting somewhere local or possibly somewhere not so local to participate in a workshop or class. There have always been a few books around that focus on lettering too, but few cover all the different types of lettering available to learn in one handy resource.
3. There are fantastic opportunities to monetise your lettering
(Please note that this section includes affiliate links. So if you purchase anything through clicking on a link, I could earn a little at no extra cost to you.)
When developing skills in hand lettering, there are avenues to monetise your work. These avenues simply didn’t exist a couple of years ago. Setting up a web shop can be done in a couple of clicks nowadays that can allow you to sell your work. There are also marketplaces that allow you to sell work through them. Creative Market is an excellent place for finding hand lettered goodness. Many people have created their own custom fonts from their hand and brush lettering, and then sell them through Creative Market. Some create logo templates from hand lettering and sell those too. In the past it was still possible to sell your lettering work and monetise it, but it wasn’t as easy to reach such a wider audience.
4. The world hasn’t seen too much hand lettering just yet
Sometimes when you’re browsing on your phone, or you’re on your computer or tablet, you see an advertisement for an app, book, or film. Instantly you think ‘not another one of those’, where what ever it is you’ve just been shown is something that’s already been done over and over again. Sometimes it’s a silly picture, and sometimes it’s a cover of a cover of a cover of a song. I’m pleased to say hand lettering hasn’t reached that point yet. Hopefully it will never reach a point where it gets too much, and people start to get fed up of seeing it. Words and letters are an essential part of day to day life for most, and inventing new ways to portray them is something that shouldn’t grow old.
