A celebration of the world of letters found or created in unexpected places: natural, artificial, and urban alike

Even non-graphic designers know that type is everywhere: fonts and typefaces fill everything we consume or inhabit. They communicate, inform, sell, explain . . . and yet finding serendipitous letterforms in the least likely locations can also excite and inspire. Once experienced, it is impossible not to see letters in anything from forests to housing projects, from leaves to brickwork. The eye becomes accustomed to seeing a world built of letters.

Unlike most books on typography that present the “best” and most refined examples, the object here is to reveal the “lost” or “unseen” typographies in nature and our cities. From machine-made and sculptural forms to flora and fauna, from the fading ghost types on buildings from a pre-digital age to the subterranean forms found beneath our urban centers, from crowd-sourced creations to the popular vernacular, there is a universe of letterforms all around us.

Steven Heller is co-chair of the MFA Design “Designer as Author + Entrepreneur” Program at the School of Visual Arts. He is author, co-author, or editor of more than 165 books on graphic design, typography, and popular culture. Heller is in the Art Directors Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the AIGA Lifetime Achievement Medal in 1999, and the Smithsonian Institution National Design Award for “Design Mind” in 2011.

Gail Anderson is a designer, educator, and partner at Anderson Newton Design who also teaches at the School of Visual Arts. In 2008, she received the Lifetime Achievement Medal from the AIGA. Anderson also serves on the board of the TDC and the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee for the United States Post Office.

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