36 Days of Type is a fantastic chance for our studio team (and beyond!) to showcase their design talents. It’s all about interpreting a letter or number in any way they fancy, which has led to some pretty wild and wonderful creations! We all know designers obsess about type, after all. You can read more about the project at www.36daysoftype.com.

For the 2022 edition, we sat down with three of the team to talk about just what 36 Days of Type means to them, and why you’ll find it taking over the ilk Instagram grid year after year.

Why’s it important to take part?

‘It’s a release from the projects we normally do’, says Senior Designer Mike. ‘All the pressures of client work go out the window. You’re left with creativity in its rawest and light hearted form.’ Design Director Stew agrees. ‘The biggest draw is that we pretty much have free reign. It’s a chance for us to try things we might not always have the platform to do.’ Midweight Designer Ruth also loves the chance to ‘do something that has no rules or constraints. It’s a great space for experimenting!’ But most of all, for learning. ‘I took time to watch tutorials and brush up on my skills. Some things worked, some things didn’t, some I remember and some I’ve already forgotten.’

What have you taken inspiration from this year?

For Senior Designer Ben, seeing creativity from unexpected sources has been the big takeaway. ‘It turns out one of our Account Managers has a real knack for drawing, specifically dotwork. It’s a labour of love, but her letter was amazing! Check her out at  @elisebrownillustration on instagram. Ruth was also impressed, exclaiming ‘I think I’ll leave the dot work to her… that girls got the patience of a saint!’ Stew found inspiration in the work of people outside the agency. ‘I’ve always followed the work of Kerry Roper, a UK Graphic Designer and current Head of Art at Saatchi & Saatchi. His style was the inspiration behind my H.’

Where did your designs stem from?

It was all about utilising pop culture references for Mike. ‘For the “E” we wanted to represent the 40th anniversary of ET, with this idea in place it opened up a plethora of possibilities. Do we take the E from the logo? Do we utilise the iconic bikes flying in front of the moon? Could we ditch ET and champion E for Elliot?’ For Ben, it was less a case of inspiration, and more exploration. ‘I wanted to use a specific piece of software I’ve not used in ages. Everything started from there.’ With Ruth, the spark came via gradients. ‘I just live ‘em! I just doodled and went for it, with my gradients as the theme tying it together.’

You can check out all those designs, and more, on the ilk Instagram grid – all starting from 7th March 2022.