Paul Shaw

Recent articles by Paul Shaw

Type history’s golden age

Issue 106, Summer 2024

Opinion

Digital technology and online resources have prompted a flowering in type history, says Paul Shaw

Don’t judge a book by its title

Issue 96, Spring 2018

Review

Never judge a book by its title. If I had done that, I would never…

Imperfect beauty

Issue 95, Winter 2017

Review

This book exists solely because its author Esther K. Smith considers Specimens of Chromatic Wood…

The unsung stencil master

Issue 92, Summer 2016

Review

W. A. Dwiggins (1880-1956), the US designer best known for his typefaces Metro, Electra and…

Carve his name with pride

Issue 84, Autumn 2012

Review

Michael Harvey, the British lettering artist and designer, has worked wholly within the ‘English lettering…

The line of beauty

Issue 83, Summer 2012

Feature

Script typefaces, currently enjoying an unprecedented popularity, bring a vital element of humanity to the digital age. By Paul Shaw and Abby Goldstein

Scale and spirit

Issue 71, Spring 2009

Feature

Optically sized fonts are the ‘slow food’ trend of typography, appreciated by a minority but with far-reaching influence

Pink is the new black(letter)

Issue 71, Spring 2009

Review

Since 1998, when Peter Bain and I staged the exhibition ‘Blackletter: Type and National Identity’…

To the letter

Issue 75, Spring 2010

Feature

Calligraphy, in the hands of artists like Carl Kurtz and Susan Skarsgård, can be abstract, gestural, conceptual, or simply beautiful. It is always surprising.

Trainspotting

Issue 67, Spring 2008

Opinion

Letter from Paul Shaw