‘Typsettra’ hand-lettered wordmark – Dave Thomason, c1975

Commercial hand lettering was almost always photographed and the photographic print was sent to the client to be assembled into the final art. The original lettering, usually with white touch up gouache, was rarely seen and, all too often, thrown out.

Each lettering artist had their own techniques but most would start by roughly sketching the word in pencil on the top of the sheet of tissue paper. They would then turn it over and refine the drawing on the back of the sheet. They would continue working back and forth until the word looked the way they wanted. Then, using rubber cement they would glue the sheet to a piece of medium weight card for stability. Tissue paper had just the right surface ‘tooth’ for either a pen or brush. The lettering would then be inked in using either a pen or brush.