Trendwatch Tuesday: Subway Art

What do you think of when I say that words "Subway Art?"  Okay, you can't actually hear me saying them, just imagine with me here.  What do you think of?  Graffiti?  Spray paint?  How about typography?

Typography, you say, Jan?  Yes!  Typography!  A new hot trend is the combination of different font faces with words or phrases on a theme.  The inspiration is vintage subway signs.  Today's designers are taking the original concept and turning them into delightful works of typographic art.

Here is an authentic vintage New York subway sign from the mid-1900's.  This is one of many on the SubwaySigns.com website.  Pretty cool, huh?  Want one?  It'll cost you a cool $799.00.

$799.00? Whoa!  If you are like me and don't have that kind of dough to drop on a vintage sign. Why not make your own?  A lot of folks are!

Most designers creating subway art typographic posters have moved away from just one plain font and are using a nice mix of serif, sans serif, and scrip typefaces.  Many even throw in a little graphic here and there, usually just a silhouette.  I especially like those that mix negative space fonts like stencils on a colored background.

In fact, I've got a little roundup of several free printables for Christmas and Thanksgiving!  Be sure to read to the bottom for a link to a tutorial to make your own in Photoshop.  There's also a link to where you can purchase a Thanksgiving themed one to cut on your digital die-cut machine. It's a good deal. Don't worry, I won't steer you wrong.

First from the wonderful eighteen25 a gorgeous Christmas printable Subway Art Poster plus a banner!  Bonus!

Here's one from Mine for the Making:

There's a whole set of gorgeous Thanksgiving printables over at Blooming Homestead.  This one's my favorite:

Lots of colors to choose from on these from Today's Fabulous Finds:  Christmas...

and Thanksgiving versions!

If you want to make your own from scratch, here's a good tutorial from The Daily Digi to make one in Photoshop.

Lastly, if you want a file you can cut on your cutter, here's how to get it!  I've got a great Thanksgiving themed one in the November VDBC Grab Bag.  It's only $7 for $45 worth of designs!

The Subway Art - Thanksgiving design also includes two printable versions (light and dark backgrounds) for us lazy folks who just want to print and frame!  No, I didn't call you lazy, I called ME lazy!  I'd totally print it. But, you who are not lazy might want to cut the design out of vinyl.  I know you will, so go on and do it!

Time to get crafty, people!