Folk Typography

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About Folk Typography

Folk Typography, aka "outsider typography". Surprising, original letterforms created by people who are not designers, typographers, calligraphers, or graffiti artists-- in other words, people outside of all traditional schools of typographic influence. The unschooled world is full of unwitting innovations. Let's find them and celebrate them!

This group is not the place to put your pictures of any old bad typography, or hand-painted signs, or faded signage. That's what those other groups are for. This is also not the place to post your own typography, so please don't try. This group is just for letters you've found and photographed that are unique and different in some surprising way.

Images must show at least one example of an unwittingly innovative letterform. What I mean is: a letter with a surprising shape, created unselfconsciously by someone who is not a professional typographer. (Accidental innovations by semi-pros are okay too. But they have to be innovative.) Here are a few examples:




Or see this page for another example.

Single letters or entire words are okay.

Handmade letters are preferred, but machine-made ones are okay too, as long as they're original and unprofessional.