The rules are simple. Two designers. One letter. One day. They are given the letter in the morning and somehow have to find time to make a unique and freaking cool letter. The winner is decided by a poll.Tumblr (3.0; @betterletters)http://betterletters.tumblr.com/<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz96je3fYv1r9s0cjo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><h1><b>The Better State of the Letters Address</b></h1> <p>First of all, thank you all for your voting and contributions! You guys rock! We just wanted to give you an update on what we’ve done and where we are planning to take this and we wanted some feedback from all of you.</p><p> <br/></p><h2>The Past</h2> <p>To date, we have successfully had 27 battles which generated 55 letters! That’s freaking awesome.</p> <br/><h2>The Future</h2> <p>Bree and I initially created this as a one month challenge and side project to relieve our pent up typographic stress as well as keep ourselves sharp. We threw it together pretty quickly (and fairly sloppily) because our time was pretty limited prior to our start. Tumblr works for now, but is pretty limiting. The next step for us is to create an identity, get a domain, and flesh out a non-tumblr site (probably WordPress). This would allow us to be a bit more flexible on what and how we post as well as looking alot nicer than this tweaked theme.</p><br/><p>We also are cutting back to one or two posts a week (as Bree mentioned earlier) in order to free up our time, but want to continue having as many guest battles as possible. We encourage any of you (designer or not) to join in and compete. Just let us know and we’ll get you scheduled.</p><br/><p>We are also thinking of making all the work uploaded from this point on available for anyone to use under the “Do What the F*** You Want To Public License” <a href="http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/">http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/</a> If you have issues with that going forward, we can make exceptions.</p><br/><p>If you have any suggestions or requests that you would like to see or if you have opinions on anything, let us know!</p>http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/17466326290http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/17466326290Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:29:41 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz5pvaKQOS1r9s0cjo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz5pvaKQOS1r9s0cjo2_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p>To reignite the creative flame, we had to find our spark! This competition also marks a couple of changes at Better Letter. First, now that the January rush is over, we are doing battles (between Michael and Bree) once to twice a week as our time permits. We will still be doing guest battles as frequently as possible. Last, as you can tell by today’s challenge we have upped the ante to include full words!</p> <p>We hope you enjoy the changes!</p> <p>Who did it better?</p> <p><br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5929071.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5929071/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/17363262418http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/17363262418Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:00 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyurqy8sjg1r9s0cjo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyurqy8sjg1r9s0cjo2_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> Kyle Warfield really covered some voting ground with his topographic @! Well done, Kyle!</p> <p>The @’s where it’s @! Better Letter guests <strong><a href="http://warfield.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Kyle Warfield</a></strong> vs. <strong><span class="gD">Nami</span></strong>. These beautiful @’s need your votes.<span class="gD"></span></p> <p><span class="gD">Who did it better?</span></p> <br/><br/><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5908910.js"></script><noscript><a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5908910/">@Left or @Right?</a></noscript>http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/17020125123http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/17020125123Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:00:00 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyn3d1U8031r9s0cjo1_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyn3d1U8031r9s0cjo2_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> What a chilling triumph! Congrats Breeanna!</p> <p><strong>Michael Arestad</strong> vs. <strong>Bree Heiss</strong> again! And yes, that s is made of ice!</p> <p>“<span class="quote">Mr. Cody, if you could be a forest animal, what’d you be? I be a snake, walkin’ around all like ssss ssss… scarin’ bitches.</span>” —Ghetto Hikes</p> <p>Who did it better?</p> <br/><br/><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5893987.js"></script><noscript><a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5893987/">Left or Right?</a></noscript>http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16809985642http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16809985642Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:00:00 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyjmqrMGzS1r9s0cjo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyjmqrMGzS1r9s0cjo2_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> Breeanna slides ahead in another close victory!</p> <p><strong>Bree Heiss</strong> and <strong>Michael Arestad</strong>. Too cool for school? Check out the chillin’ C’s and choose the classiest! Crossword or curvacious?</p> <p>Who did it better?</p> <p><br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5887416.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5887416/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16687557933http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16687557933Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:22:00 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyhqau3b7N1r9s0cjo1_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyhqau3b7N1r9s0cjo2_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> Another single vote difference victory! This time it was Breeanna in the lead!</p> <p><strong>Bree Heiss</strong> and <strong>Michael Arestad</strong> in a U-off! So hard to choose the better one! U MAD?</p> <p><br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5885003.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5885003/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16625033310http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16625033310Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:00:00 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyg0no9m131r9s0cjo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyg0no9m131r9s0cjo2_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> Jared Brown scores a win with a presidential victory!</p> <p><strong>David Diaz</strong> and <strong>Jared Brown</strong> 4 TEH WIN!!!</p> <p>RANDOM, AWESOME FACT:</p> <p>The word <em>four</em> has four letters. In the English language there is no other number whose number of letters is equal to its value.<br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5881834.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5881834/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16569347151http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16569347151Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:00:00 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lye3rdCfgR1r9s0cjo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lye3rdCfgR1r9s0cjo2_r3_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> Michael’s won by a single vote!</p> <p>RRRRRRRRRRRR YOU RRREADY?!?!? <strong>Michael Arestad</strong> and <strong>Bree Heiss</strong>. Ohsnap! Rrsnap?</p> <p><span class="body">“Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.” —Paul Rand</span> <span class="bodybold"> </span></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5878275.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5878275/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16512328136http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16512328136Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:50:00 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyc8smIg591r9s0cjo1_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyc8smIg591r9s0cjo2_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> Nicholas wins! Congratkz!</p> <p>Ligatures are some of our favorite parts of typography here at Better Letter. That’s why we crave crazy combinations that don’t normally exist in a standard glyph set. For this one, we’ve asked <strong>Andrew Solano</strong> and <strong>Nicholas Valadez</strong> to do their best with lowercase k and z. Who did it better?</p> <p><br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5874937.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5874937/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16456468883http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16456468883Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:28:00 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyaimf0zez1r9s0cjo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyaimf0zez1r9s0cjo2_r3_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> Michael won with a mere four vote lead!</p> <p>What’s wonderful about this windy day’s post? Tiny W, that is, w.</p> <p><span class="body">“I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.</span> ” – Woodrow Wilson<br/><span class="bodybold"></span></p> <p>Who did it better?</p> <br/><br/><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5871445.js"></script><noscript><a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5871445/">Left or Right?</a></noscript>http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16399575223http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16399575223Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:29:00 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx9a51jBQr1r9s0cjo1_r2_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>*UPDATE* Congratulations to Lauren McGhee, the winner of the capital Z battle! Do you have what it takes to compete? Ask us about starring in the next guest battle!</p> <p>Better Letter is taking it to the people! Designers <a href="http://kylewarfield.com" target="_blank">Kyle Warfield</a> and Lauren McGhee test their skills in a head-to-head battle with the capital Z!</p> <p>Who did it best?</p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5810658.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5810658/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/15281337945http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/15281337945Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:56:49 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly6ttaQhJN1r9s0cjo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly6ttaQhJN1r9s0cjo2_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> Congrats on Kat with her super sugary victory!</p> <p>We here at Better Letters are proud to present a surprise guest match up for you! This match, between <strong>Kat Zupan</strong> and <strong>Josh Farnworth</strong>, is complete with sexy stems, audacious ascenders, rounded out by sultry shoulders. That’s right! We are talking about lowercase h.</p> <p>Who did it better?</p> <p><br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5865126.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5865126/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16279955701http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16279955701Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:20:00 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly4t2pvn9V1r9s0cjo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly4t2pvn9V1r9s0cjo2_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> Breeanna won the Poundpocalypse by a mile! Suck it, Michael!</p> <p><b>Michael Arestad</b>. <b>Bree Heiss</b>. The pound down.</p> <br/><br/><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5862432.js"></script><noscript><a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5862432/">Left or Right?</a></noscript>http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16216529343http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16216529343Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:00:00 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly2n27bpJ31r9s0cjo1_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly2n27bpJ31r9s0cjo2_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><b>UPDATE</b> Congratulations to Lauren winning with a 4 vote difference!</p> <p>& then there was a battle to end all battles. Harkening back to the ampersand’s history we have devised a hand-lettered battle between <strong><a href="http://laurenmcghee.com" target="_blank">Lauren McGhee</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://www.shockthebourgeois.blogspot.com" target="_blank"> Elizabeth Lockhart</a></strong>. No computers except to scan! Who did it better?</p> <p>Ampersand History, courtesy of retinart.net:</p> <p>Originally a shorthand mark for <em>et</em>, Latin for <em>and</em>, the ampersand has a very traceable and visible evolution. Simply put, the <em>&</em> is not much more than <em>e</em> and <em>t</em> coming together. The ampersand is a marriage of the two letters, which came about through rushed writings and abbreviation starting at its birth around 45AD.</p> <p>Through time the symbol has changed to the point where most ampersands are distant cousins of the original <em>et</em>. But there are a few typefaces that have more of a distinct features relating to its ancestry.</p> <div class="gallery-img"> <div class="thumb tleft"> <div class="thumbinner"><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Historical_ampersand_evolution.svg"><img class="thumbimage" height="100" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Historical_ampersand_evolution.svg/390px-Historical_ampersand_evolution.svg.png" width="390"/></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="thumb tleft"> <div class="thumbinner"></div> </div> <h5>An example of the evolution of the Ampersand.  (via wikipedia)</h5> <p><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5859331.js"></script></p><noscript><a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5859331/">Left or Right?</a></noscript> <div class="thumb tleft"> <div class="thumbinner"></div> </div>http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16163304680http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16163304680Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:36:00 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly13x5Itq51r9s0cjo1_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly13x5Itq51r9s0cjo2_r3_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p>*UPDATE* Congratulations to Michael, winner by 5 votes!</p> <p>We love the L-train, the Louvre, and llamas, but none more than an epic battle of Ls! <strong>Michael Arestad</strong> and <strong>Bree Heiss</strong> go head-to-head unable to tell who has done the better letter. Help them decide!</p> <p>“I love the comment ‘You must love designing for a living.’ At that point I usually start to laugh or break into uncontrollable tears.” —Andrew Lewis</p> <p><br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5855772.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5855772/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16106845234http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16106845234Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:57:58 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxzao3T6l91r9s0cjo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxzao3T6l91r9s0cjo2_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p>*UPDATE* Though the battle was close at first between these two takes on the #8, Joe’s geometric number came out on top!</p> <p><strong><a href="http://warfield.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Kyle Warfield</a></strong> and <strong>Joe Garrick</strong> jamming on the first number battle on Better Letters! The 8!</p> <p><span id=":15i">“Mathematics are the result of mysterious powers which no one understands, and which the unconscious recognition of beauty must play an important part. Out of an infinity of designs a mathematician chooses one pattern for beauty’s sake and pulls it down to earth.”</span> —Marston Morse<br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5852275.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5852275/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16053587158http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/16053587158Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:01:23 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxxgv9FpgF1r9s0cjo1_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxxgv9FpgF1r9s0cjo2_r3_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p>*UPDATE* By 18 votes, Bree’s blackletter inspired F wins!</p> <p>F YEAH! <strong>Bree Heiss</strong> vs. <strong>Michael Arestad</strong> in an F-OFF!!!</p> <p><br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5848712.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5848712/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/15998676690http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/15998676690Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:00:06 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtnct5aAA1r9s0cjo1_r3_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtnct5aAA1r9s0cjo2_r4_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p>*UPDATE* By only 2 votes, Bree squeaks out a victory!</p> <p>Sesame Street has the inside scoop on the letter D.</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOJXE1DWLAc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOJXE1DWLAc</a></p> <p>Who will get schooled this week? <strong>Bree Heiss </strong>or<strong> Michael Arestad?</strong></p> <p><br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5842528.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5842528/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/15875077924http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/15875077924Sun, 15 Jan 2012 07:06:45 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxrzyrm5aA1r9s0cjo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxrzyrm5aA1r9s0cjo2_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><a href="https://twitter.com/michaelarestad" target="_blank"><strong>Michael Arestad</strong></a> and <strong>Bree Heiss</strong>! The letter Y!</p> <p>Men. Brought to you by the letter Y.</p> <p><span title="Source: Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back">“<em>No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.</em>”</span> ―Yoda</p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5840188.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5840188/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/15817596667http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/15817596667Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:00:06 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxq02t9elD1r9s0cjo1_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxq02t9elD1r9s0cjo2_r2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p>*UPDATE* By 16 votes, Brandon’s sock b wins! Way to sock it to the competition.</p> <p><strong>Patrick Vinson</strong> and <strong><a href="http://dribbble.com/brandonmakes/" target="_blank">Brandon Manheimer</a></strong> go battle over the b!</p> <p>Who did it better?</p> <p>“…try to absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is essentially your own.” —Bruce Lee</p> <p><br/><br/></p> <script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5837063.js" type="text/javascript"></script><!--<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5837063/">Left or Right?</a>-->http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/15766737617http://betterletters.tumblr.com/post/15766737617Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:06:40 -0500