Many fonts will fit cleanly & undeniably into a graffiti genre while many will contain elements of many possible categories making them difficult to define. Now for the other 80%.Īs is true of all art, there is a lot of subjectivity at work. Each shows a hectic layered mass of graffiti art displaying tags, throws, pieces & characters from hundreds of writers built up over the course of years. The following 3 photos show well established locations frequented by writers of the time. A complex motif is in play, highly varied but not at all random. As described above, the modern art form of graffiti writing has evolved far beyond the simple act of writing or drawing on walls & trains without permission. To define graffiti typefaces one needs to first define graffiti lettering itself.
Since there were no pre-digital, hot metal, graffiti typefaces, we're speaking specifically of installable, digital typeface software in formats like: PostScript, TrueType & OpenType, actual fonts that you can actually type with. Let's also assume that when we say "font" we're talking about actual typefaces, not just styles or even alphabets that someone designed. For those who might not, I'll do my best to intelligibly "define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description".Ĭertainly any font designed to look like it was hastily scrawled onto a surface before someone catches you could be called graffiti but lets dismiss the basic, dictionry definition of the word "graffiti" for a moment & assume we're talking about the modern art form of Graffiti Writing, tags, pieces, throws etc. In reference to a certain, form of grown-up content, a supreme court justice once said: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. This results not only in "graffiti" categories filled with fonts that have nothing to do with graffiti but also in lists of Photoshop & Procreate brushes being intermingled with clip-art, typefaces & hand lettering all labeled as "fonts".
The subject seems to boggle some minds so badly that the difficulty in defining "graffiti" seems to metastasize into a difficulty in defining a "font". do a very poor job of determining what IS a graffiti style & what IS NOT. Clearly, most font websites, design blogs etc. For those unfamiliar with the graffiti art form & culture & it's traditions, drawing clear bouderies around a graffiti genre in type is admittedly more difficult. While this may seem vague, it's quite clear to graffiti writers & those familiar with the culture.Ī graffiti style font is any font that can be used to create tags, throws or pieces.įor many people, that statement won't mean much. More broadly, a graffiti style typeface is any typeface designed to emulate graffiti. The foundry actually predates the genre & was the source of the majority of early graffiti style fonts. The trademark was first registered in 2004 & the foundry is dedicated to the design of graffiti style typefaces. Technically, "Graffiti Fonts®" is a brand name like Coke® or Q-Tips®.
Contributions & Innovations in Typography.Timeline for the Emergence of Graffiti Fonts.Graffiti Lettering in Modern Art & Design.Understanding Modern Graffiti Art & Lettering.