When we first saw Mario Carpe’s print series, You Are My Type, we loved it, even if we couldn’t quite classify it. In three volumes, You Are My Type is experimental typography, bold poster composition, and an exuberant color lab. It’s an enduring reminder of the power of words and visuals, especially when they are one and the same.
The brainchild of Mario Carpe, a Spain-based graphic designer, You Are My Type, explores the visual nature of words. When Carpe stepped away from his usual illustrative work to experiment with typography, he immediately found an incredible build-up of creative energy, enough to produce the body found in the three volumes, with presumably more to come. Using a relatively straightforward process, Carpe started with rough sketches, which he pulled into Illustrator to manipulate and test layouts. The designer used many familiar phrases and quotes but wanted to go beyond the words’ known meaning to embody the words and phrases expressively.
Carpe’s compositions communicate through his experimentation with type, but each volume has a thematic element. You Are My Type Vol. 1 is inspired by our social and working lives. The second volume explores diverse themes, from love and passion to self and societal commentary. In volume 3, Carpe delves into humorous introspection and personal growth, with a little social critique on the side.
Each work within the series presents letters as more than symbols; they are vessels of emotion, meaning, and thought.
Mario Carpe
Individually, the compositions express meaning, emote, inspire, notice, and protest. When viewed as a whole, the compilation is visual candy, a dazzling visual array. You Are My Type is a studio-ready flip book of color and typographic inspiration.
Images © Mario Carpe.