Graffiti was once considered a way to convey one’s artistic passion. The majority of graffiti work is referred to as a doodle. However, graffiti has developed its allure for art enthusiasts throughout time. Many street artists are coloring the world’s street art scene with diverse qualities. As a result, modern graffiti with more artistic value began to grow.
Graffiti artwork is now being used in a variety of themes. Graffiti-style fonts are starting to be created and are becoming increasingly popular in creative designs. Now, not only on the walls, but people can enjoy graffiti on numerous media, including digital media.
How do you use graffiti fonts in your creative designs? Let’s find out (plus, we’ll give you some advice on which fonts we recommend for you).
The Philosophy behind Graffiti
First and foremost, before getting to know about graffiti fonts, the world needs to understand what graffiti art is. Graffiti is defined as wall graffiti that uses a combination of lines, forms, colors, and volumes to write certain words, sentences, or symbols. Simply put, graffiti is a painting in a large media that is easily noticeable.
The Initial Purpose of Graffiti
Graffiti is derived from “graphium,” a Latin word that means “to write.” Archaeologists initially used the term to describe writings on ancient Roman and Egyptian buildings. You are accurate if you assume that graffiti has been around since the old days. People in ancient times used wall media to paint about hunting and their daily activities.
There is proof all around the world. One of them is hidden within the walls of Egypt’s pyramids. The writing, widely known as hieroglyphic script, reveals numerous mysteries that have yet to be explained. Graffiti as a visual expression can also be found in Roman society, particularly in the Pompeii area.
A blend of literacy and visual arts is used to tell the story of hunting, social protest, and graffiti poetry. It takes special skills to create a work of art in uncommon and large-scaled media.
Graffiti in the Modern World
In the 1960s, The first modern graffiti appeared in Philadelphia. Later, graffiti evolved into an art form that they applied to write names and signify the territory of particular gangs. It is also frequently used to express dissatisfaction or protest against the government, and it is expected to convey messages.
Graffiti was famous periodically during the 1960s and 1970s. It was common to be seen on subways, bridges, railway carriages, and residential walls. These vibrantly colored artworks are becoming increasingly popular. Street artists have influenced and eventually affected creative arts all across the world.
Today, what once was perceived as mindless vandalism has now become part of the main currency of creativity and design. From musician album designs to fashion designs and print designs, graffiti fonts for typography, multimedia, and advertising are all available.
Major Types of Graffiti
As a form of art, graffiti has a diverse range of visual art and design styles. This artwork has significantly impacted graphic designers and has paved the way and introduced graffiti fonts with entirely new shapes, color combinations, compositions, and message purposes. Here are the most popular types of graffiti adopted by artists worldwide.
Tags
Tagging is the most basic and straightforward graffiti style; it only uses one color and serves as an identifier. Taggers use this type of graffiti to sign their names to gain fame and recognition. It is considered impolite to write tags over the work or tags of other artists.
Throw-up or a bomb
This type of graffiti, also known as “throwie,” is straightforward. This type is typically in the form of a simple line of letters that are then colored.
Calligraffiti
It is an art form that blends graffiti, calligraphy, and typography. This type is abstract expressionism, defined as visual art that integrates letters to convey a message that is broader than their literal meaning.
Letters
This type of graffiti has several different styles. Here are some of them:
- Wild Style: This is a haphazard throw-up version that is more complex and difficult to read. It frequently includes curves, arrows, nails, and other symbols that non-graffiti artists may find confusing.
- Blockbuster: These are blocky letters used to cover a large area instantaneously. As a result, you’ll only see bold, giant letters covering a large extent.
- Bubbles: graffiti fonts with letters that are round, circular, and frequently partially overlap one another. It creates a picture that seems to bubble up and expands somehow.
- Sharp: this technique uses sprayed or painted letters or elements in the most angular and sharp shape possible.
Stencil
This type of graffiti uses a stencil made of cardboard, paper, or other media. The desired design is cut from the chosen substrate and applied to the surface with a roll-on or spray paint.
Stickers
Sticker art is a type of street art that publicly displays images or messages using stickers. This art uses popular processing methods to create works of art with 3D effects.
How to Use Graffiti Fonts in Any Project
Graffiti is a tool through which a group of people carries a message to one another; it connects it to graphic design, which can effectively raise brand awareness. Graffiti art and graphic design have blended to create new styles and techniques in the form of graffiti fonts.
You can use a graffiti-style typeface for every type and niche of creative project. Check out the following tips:
What is Your Goal?
The first stage is to develop a strong vision of how you want your audience to react to the presented content. Then, this is tied to your project’s target market, theme, and topic. You don’t want to get bubbly, bright fonts mixed with a formal, serious project theme.
The Readability
Graffiti font is a type of decorative typography. For that reason, this font has low legibility. Most fonts with unusual shapes, excessive ornamentation, creative deformation, or other novel design elements may cause readers to take longer to digest what they see before understanding the content.
So, ensure that you dynamically modify the font type, color, tracking, size, leading, and other elements merged into one overall impression. After all, communication comes before style, so prioritize readability.
What Mood Do You Want to Deliver?
Another tip to using graffiti fonts in your project is to define the mood. Classify your product and goals before settling on the spirit impression you wish to provide in the visual design. Remember that the ability of one typeface to convey mood differs from that of another.
Break the Rules
Graffiti speaks about breaking the rules. You may be attempting to follow the dos and don’ts of graphic design, but the process and experience keep you on track. So, feel free to experiment with the available styles, colors, and other elements.
10 Best Graffiti Fonts
One of the trademarks of graffiti art is that the typeface is iconic, with a rather complex, eccentric style that is sometimes difficult to read other than by the creator himself. An excellent imagination flow is essential to create typefaces specified in graffiti art.
However, what if typical graffiti letters are already in ready-made fonts? So, all you have to do is type, and the desired graffiti writing is there. The following are graffiti fonts recommendations that we dedicate to graffiti art enthusiasts:
SplashArt
Take a look at this epic font if you’re seeking a traditional graffiti font style. SplashArt is a functional Display Font that includes uppercase, lowercase, and symbol letters. This font is multilingual and fully legible while still having a graffiti vibe.
SplashArt is designed for a broad audience and offers a style alternative that is ideal for bringing an urban edge to your works: branding, catalogs, fashion products, and any other designs you require.
Wall Art Saga
Use this energetic graffiti font and wow your audience with a jaw-dropping design. This lively hip-hop-style writing is packed with vibrant punch and fun gradations. Wall Art Saga is one of those bold graffiti fonts that are very clear to read and undoubtedly versatile. This typeface is ideal for use on Hip Hop music, graffiti posters, branding, comic books, flyers, product package designs, and more.
Rockrose
Inspired by vintage graffiti tagging from the 1980s, the Rockrose font pack includes a set of expressive and sharp written characters that are excellent for use in logo designs, clothing, quotes, editorials, product labels, and more. Plus, Rockrose provides a variety of ligatures that can be adjusted to fit your personal needs as a designer.
Funky Wizard
Use these stunning graffiti fonts to expand your graffiti design ideas. Funky Wizard supports multi-languages and includes all special characters and punctuation, with a natural and bold stroke effect.
This font design refers to graffiti art that is versatile and flexible, perfect for poster titles, product logos, clothing prints, product packaging, and even headlines.
Quick Blast
Quick Blast is a bold font with a classy ombre. As a result, your design will be ready to hit the streets with a charming tone without losing its rebellious touch. The strokes flow flawlessly and include the essential punctuation and character set you need. Quick Blast is one of the best graffiti fonts and is terrific for sports-themed magazines, movie titles, youtube thumbnails, covers, posters, hip-hop music, etc.
Wall Bomber
We included this typeface because Wall Bomber is a simple but effective example of graffiti art. It has strong lines that are very legible and easy to read, making it a creative option for your projects: surfing apparel, graffiti posters, street magazines, social media page covers, vintage logos, beach posters, movie titles, etc.
With simple installations and fully accessible, this is all included:
- Wall Bomber family (TTF/OTF/WOFF)
- Punctuation & Numbers
- Basic Latin a-z and A-Z
- PUA Encoded Characters
- Works on PC & Mac
Street Pops
Wide and bubbly graffiti typefaces are trendy. Street Pops is a bubbly, bright graffiti-inspired typeface with a playful graffiti look. This collection is ideal for kids’ posters, books, comics, and cartoons. You can, however, use it for other creative projects such as posters, package logos, and so on.
Snake Head
Snake Head is another example of timeless old-school street art, perfect for designers looking to add a splash to their work. This collection includes multilingual uppercase letters, numbers, and punctuation marks that you can use as needed.
The Snake Head is an excellent choice for a wide variety of designs because it has a clean and dynamic feel, ideal for logos, posters, headlines, titles, and many other projects.
Lodstay
Aren’t you tired of the same old traditional styles? It’s time to experiment with graffiti fonts that generate a magnificent effect. One of our favorites is Lodstay Graffiti Font. This font has built-in features with bright colors and eye-catching elements: lowercase, uppercase, multilingual, punctuation, OpenType, and PUA encoded.
You’ve probably seen layouts for superhero marvel comics full of creativity and energy; That is how your final design will look when using the Lodstay font family.
Maxtield
Maxtield is one of those unique graffiti fonts with a basic, smooth, stroked look. Its writing style is inspired by handwritten with a thick marker and a little ink dropping.
With fast strokes and fine detail, you can use Maxtield ideally for product packaging, wall art, clothing, logos, templates, headlines, and many other projects. It is the safest and easiest option for those who favor a bold, easy-to-read street art style.
Conclusion
Graffiti describes works of art created in public areas, typically on large surfaces such as walls. It has been practiced since ancient days, and the 1980s was the era of the explosion of graffiti street art. This artwork is then widely used in various art genres and styles, including graphic design.
Using graffiti techniques in your design style offers a retro feel as if it brings the audience to the heyday of punk in the 1970s or grunge in the 1990s; it seems rundown but bold and full of character.
Graffiti art will remain forever! Here are some ways to use graffiti fonts in your visual designs. You can find more amazing fonts at Aqrstudio. Let’s get inspired and start designing your stunning graffiti design today.