50 - ratmnumberone

woo hoo! rage Against the Machine got the number one slot over the usual turgid ballad we all come to expect at christmas from the x factor programme...and that man that runs it / owns it / profits from it / tell stupid people what music is...

well, we've all heard the "RATM are signed to Sony too" - so what... at least their music is written by them , made by them, played by them - they got where they are with hard work, integrity and the ability to write a bloody good tune. Oh, and a fantastic campaign by Tracey & Jon on facebook...lots of lovely money for Shelter too...nice.

Anyway - I've decided to celebrate this event by making a typeface made up of photos of RATM... I hope that's cool witht he powers that be!



This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk. If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!

42 - up

We took Poppy to the pictures for the first time ever this week - to see the new Pixar film UP. it's fantastic! Poppy was mesmerised by the "giant telly!" and was fascinated by the big seats and all the people coming in... when the lights dimmed, she was highly entertained...and started whispering to us!... a natural born cinema goer!



Gabi decided to create a typeface based on the balloons used by Carl to take his house to South America. It's also quite fitting as Poppy has been to a few of her friends parties in Oct and Balloons keep being taken back to our house to be unserimonoiusly deflated over a few days...

This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk. If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!

26 - Blether

What's that noise?... that'll be the birds chattering in the dawn - being at 57 degrees north - we get a lot of light in the summer...and the birds seem to think the day starts at 5am...

We're waking up to all the birds on Selbie Drive having a good morning chat - so Gabi has made a typeface dedicated to all the chat from our avian friends...

It's a lower case font - but the upper case is "hollow" and the lower is "solid" - so you can overlay them.

PS...Blether is a Scottish word for "talking" (excessively!)


This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk.If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!

25 - atatat

Gabi has been having some more fun with her Dell mini 9 - running the dark and mysterious (to us non geeks) UBUNTU ("Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others" - how humorous of the LINUX people who can see the matrix and think everyone else can / should!)

This week, she somehow pressed a few tiny buttons together...and she changed her keyboard layout, unbeknown to her...until she tried to write an email! Trying to type in the @ sign kept dropping in the good old " (quote)... she fiddled, she poked...she called up the help files (written in "you should understand this, 'cos I did when I wrote it, mr Anderson" script)...

Anyhoo - according to Gabi - without knowing how, where or why, the keyboard somehow managed to fix itself (boy, boys, boys... don't ask).

This typeface is a tribute to that missing at sign... A fun, hand-drawn typeface, part of the "small stories" set Gabi is working on...

This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk.If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!

17 - Idea (from Ikea)

Well well well...what fun we had this week...a trip to Ikea. A rushed trip to Ikea. An "impromptu" trip to Ikea, you get the idea.... and this trip gave us an idea for the typeface for this week.

It seems that Claypots is seeping into everything we touch (rightly so...it will be our new home once we make it!) - and Friday's mission - was to purchase a Kitchen.

We've been looking for a while, B&Q, Magnet, Homebase etc...all nice, all more expensive (and probably the same quality) as our good friends in Ikea.


There's always a sense of cheating or "joining the masses" when you say you've bought something from the Swedish Box... I will not be Jack's silent scream...

One wonderful thing that Ikea provide a "home maker" is the ability to create a 3d impression of your room / home with this neat little free program (http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/rooms_ideas/splashplanners.html ) not only can you drag and drop Ikea things onto a blank canvas, you can save the model and open it in Ikea for an assistant to point out that you need 8 more bits (that cost at least £100) - bit's you won't see - but are essential... Anyway - this wonderful tool gave me the opportunity to make our first typeface for May.

It's a simpleton - a restricted set of characters. Read into that what you will (and 'scuse the pun).

This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk.If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!

12 - applestalk

We know it's spring...and the apples are still the brushings of a bees legs - but we're excited...about growth - change - new possibilities... so as a tribute to our new found energy and sense of growth - Gabi has created a rather cool typeface based on apples...

This typeface has no uppercase - but as you can see - looks rather good as a spindly, Tim Burton-esque tribute. We'll be using it in the Small Stories range....

This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk.If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!

07 - Worms

Now the snow has gone...we can get back into the garden! Poppy was digging this week and she found her first worm of 2009 - so gabi has celebrated that fact and has produced a lovely typeface based on worms.



This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk.If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!

03 clouds by g-r-a

Gabi was particularly inspired by the Cumulonimbus this week - big puff snow jobbers hanging in the sky. With a twist of "small stories" this typeface was designed for Gabi's jewellery and cards.

This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk.If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!