40 Inspirational Examples of Typography in the Wild

For many designers today, the art of typography consists of picking a typeface – and, maybe if the audience is lucky, experimenting with leading, tracking, and kerning. That’s not to say that there aren’t many extremely talented designers working with type today. Typography is, of course, an intricate art form.

As computers continue to increase in power, typographers working digitally have been experimenting with textures, lighting, and more to create awesome effects including a whole movement of 3d style work. But what about real-3d? Technical advances often spur a strong backlash, and typographers are no exception.

The designers below have literally taken their type off the page using materials including hair, cigarettes, toothpaste, underwear, and condoms to create beautiful 3d typographic works.

From Vladimir Zivkovic’s Google Earth project to Arjan Benning’s pinched skin alphabet, these designers are working with anything and everything to push the envelope.