{"id":7500,"date":"2015-03-10T13:15:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T17:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartsignblog.com\/blog\/?p=7500"},"modified":"2026-02-16T06:46:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:46:30","slug":"stenciled-lettering-gets-noticed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/stenciled-lettering-gets-noticed\/","title":{"rendered":"Stenciled lettering gets noticed"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a lot the average person probably doesn’t know about stencil typography. A few examples cited in this recent Co.Design article<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It’s nothing new. In fact, it’s an ancient technique, dating back to the caveman days.<\/li>\n
  2. Its use isn’t limited to any particular part of the world. It’s been found in prehistoric Chinese and Japanese art as well as the work of indigenous people all over the globe.<\/li>\n
  3. Stenciled letters may look \u201cchopped up,\u201d but they’re actually formed using basic shapes. Rectangles, triangles, and parts of circles\u2014with spaces in between\u2014combine to become what we see as letters.<\/li>\n
  4. Because of the above, stenciled letters are easier to read than non-stenciled. The style is especially useful on printed materials that need to be deciphered from a distance. The farther you stand from a stenciled sign, the easier it is to read.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"stencil\"

    Paris Metro signs use stenciled lettering. From Pedro Ribeiro Sim\u00f5es<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

    This is the sort of information compiled in Stencil Type<\/em><\/a> (Thames & Hudson, 2015), a book by designers Steven Heller and Louise Fili. It follows several previous books by this pair, including Vintage Type and Graphics<\/em><\/a>: An Eclectic Collection of Typography, Ornament, Letterheads, and Trademarks from 1896 to 1936<\/em>, (Allworth Press, 2011) and Scripts:<\/em><\/a> Elegant Lettering from Design\u2019s Golden Age<\/em> (Thames & Hudson, 2012), as well as many more by the designers\u00a0individually, including Louise Fili\u2019s Elegantissima<\/em><\/a>: Design & Typography of Louise Fili <\/em>(Princeton Architectural Press, 2012) and Steven Heller\u2019s Graphic Style Lab<\/em><\/a> (Rockport Publishers, 2015).<\/p>\n

    While perhaps appealing to designers in particular, Stencil Type<\/em> has obvious allure to the average reader, too. There’s no denying the charm of the photos, particularly the retro-looking \u201cOrange Crush\u201d printed on an orange background (likely a crate) and the signs from the Paris Metro. What is it about those stenciled letters that makes you want to gaze at them? Is it the simple shapes? The easy readability?<\/p>\n

    If you do find yourself caught up perusing the photos in Stencil Type<\/em>, rest assured it\u2019s a natural reaction. Stenciled lettering really is<\/em> visually appealing. As this article’<\/a>s author points out, that\u2019s the reason it’s used so often on signs, in the military, and in the transportation industry. It’s the reason revolutionary movements\u2014such as Occupy\u2014have used it to state and symbolize their messages.<\/p>\n

    Expect to experience the Baader-Meinhof\u00a0phenomenon now. Just as\u00a0when you hear a word for the first time and then you hear it everywhere, you’ll probably start noticing stenciled letters everywhere, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    There’s a lot the average person probably doesn’t know about stencil typography. A few examples cited in this recent Co.Design article: It’s nothing new. In fact, it’s an ancient technique, dating back to the caveman days. Its use isn’t limited to any particular part of the world. It’s been found in prehistoric Chinese and Japanese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":7501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[515,514,439],"class_list":["post-7500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-sign-design","tag-stencil","tag-typography"],"yoast_head":"\nStenciled lettering gets noticed | SmartSign Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new book on stenciled lettering highlights the merits of this surprisingly historical typeface.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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