News / Graphic Design

Songwriters Fonts instructed to shut down due to intellectual property legal issues

Words by Lucy Bourton, Friday 13 April 2018

Songwritersfonts-graphicdesign-itsnicethat-list

Following our story on typography platform Songwriters Fonts, which launched earlier this week, founders graphic designer Nicolas Damiens and copywriter Julien Sans have been instructed to close the project down.

The platform is a free font library which digitises the handwriting of iconic songwriters such as John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Serge Gainsbourg, Leonard Cohen and David Bowie to be downloaded for personal use, but the “unexpected success” of the platform has led to legal issues.

In a statement Julien and Nicolas said: “We’ve launched the Songwriters Fonts project, a series of typefaces created from famous songwriters’ handwritings, as a design project. The unique purpose of this was to inspire musicians and the next generation of songwriters to put their imagination at work.”

After many articles about the project this week cropped up in all corners of the web, the pair explain they have “been contacted by intellectual property rights owners, and are sad to announce that we have shut down this website because of legal issues. We’re sorry to have to say goodbye.”

More like this:

Work / Graphic Design Podcast company Gimlet’s new identity by GrandArmy is designed not to be too “slick”

Modern brands are so “quiet and inoffensive”, it’s like they “wish they could disappear entirely”. That’s according to Eric Collins, a partner at New York creative agency GrandArmy, who says he wanted this work for Gimlet to go against the grain.

Matt Alagiah — 16 August 2019
Work / Graphic Design Design studio de_form on its exhibition identity for Erik Kessels’ latest show

How do you highlight both the playfulness of an artist’s work and beautiful typography in one exhibition identity? Nora Demeczky and Eniko Deri chat us through their recent work designing the identity for The Many Lives of Erik Kessels at Mai Manó House in Budapest.

Jyni Ong — 16 August 2019
Work / Graphic Design Through playful and considered design, Elya Forelya aims to tackle the stigma around ASD

The Russian designer’s new multi-dimensional project comes decorated with bold illustrations and a playful colour scheme – a clear demonstration of her ability delve into research and tackle important issues with intention.

Ayla Angelos — 16 August 2019
Work / Graphic Design “A spaceship collided with a baroque cathedral”: Alex Valentina shares his latest typeface

The young graphic designer talks to us about his unconventional approach to type design and his newest project, GoliaGolia, a bold and playful experiment in typographic form.

Lorna Pittaway — 15 August 2019
Work / Graphic Design Gender equality platform notamuse discusses five female graphic designers we should all know about

Lea Sievertsen, Silva Baum and Claudia Scheer started notamuse during their Master’s degree as a way to explore the gender imbalance within graphic design. Going onto establish an international network of female designers, their work has recently been made into a book.

Jyni Ong — 14 August 2019
Work / Graphic Design Post-Medium captures the ins and outs of this year’s Chaumont Graphic Design Biennale

The Biennale International de design graphique in Chaumont, one of the industry’s most prestigious and historic events, took place earlier this year. Post-Medium’s book captures the hubbub of activity taking place over four months of design celebration.

Jyni Ong — 13 August 2019

Work / Graphic Design Podcast company Gimlet’s new identity by GrandArmy is designed not to be too “slick”

Modern brands are so “quiet and inoffensive”, it’s like they “wish they could disappear entirely”. That’s according to Eric Collins, a partner at New York creative agency GrandArmy, who says he wanted this work for Gimlet to go against the grain.

Matt Alagiah — 16 August 2019
Work / Fashion Utopia and dystopia collide in Bysanz Baisen Zhou’s other-worldly creations

The London-based multi-disciplinary designer brings his usual combination of creepy and beautiful to his latest work – A Better Feeling: Metamorphosis – which explores our increasing entanglement with the technologies we use.

Lorna Pittaway — 16 August 2019
Work / Digital Who are the people with the power to design the system we live in? Digital artist Peter Burr investigates

The New York-based artist’s film, Drop City, is the latest in a series of works exploring communities living off the detritus of a desktop environment.

Jyni Ong — 16 August 2019
Work / Graphic Design Design studio de_form on its exhibition identity for Erik Kessels’ latest show

How do you highlight both the playfulness of an artist’s work and beautiful typography in one exhibition identity? Nora Demeczky and Eniko Deri chat us through their recent work designing the identity for The Many Lives of Erik Kessels at Mai Manó House in Budapest.

Jyni Ong — 16 August 2019
Work / Photography Traditional fashion photography, fine art and 3D renders combine in Olya Oleinic's portfolio

The photographer’s work is hard to define but, despite its myriad inputs, has a visual consistency. Currently, her work is based upon reconstructing the daily observations – light reflected off the glass building surface, cultural dress codes across countries and communities, but especially people’s interactions, manners and unaware behaviour.

Ruby Boddington — 16 August 2019
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Cabeza Patata on finding the right way to represent the diversity of the world around us

Creating work which speaks to everyone is a difficult task and one that character design and animation duo, Katie and Abel, found themselves tackling when Spotify asked them to make a gender-neutral character for a new campaign. In a reflective and introspective talk, the creative partners spoke about what they “didn’t get quite right” and the pitfalls of trying to make someone who represents everyone.

It's Nice That — 16 August 2019

Work / Art “I feel like I am following breadcrumbs”: Mel Arzamarski on her pursuit of art

This Oklahoma-based artist’s work tends to evolve around a heavily saturated, hyperreal landscape that effortlessly blur the boundaries between fiction and reality. Where she gets her inspiration from, however, is far from made-up.

Ayla Angelos — 16 August 2019
Work / Graphic Design Through playful and considered design, Elya Forelya aims to tackle the stigma around ASD

The Russian designer’s new multi-dimensional project comes decorated with bold illustrations and a playful colour scheme – a clear demonstration of her ability delve into research and tackle important issues with intention.

Ayla Angelos — 16 August 2019
Work / Photography Ed van der Elsken’s new monograph highlights his contribution to Dutch street photography

One of the Netherlands’ most influential contemporary artists, Ed van der Elsken gained global fame with his black and white photography. Now, The Nederlands Fotomuseum pays tribute to the photographer restoring over 42,000 of his colour slides for a new exhibition and book.

Jyni Ong — 15 August 2019
Work / Graphic Design “A spaceship collided with a baroque cathedral”: Alex Valentina shares his latest typeface

The young graphic designer talks to us about his unconventional approach to type design and his newest project, GoliaGolia, a bold and playful experiment in typographic form.

Lorna Pittaway — 15 August 2019
Work / Publication DR.ME's latest zine sees The Simpsons cleverly collaged with renaissance paintings

The studio with an affinity for collage is back at it again. This time, it’s the world’s most famous yellow family which provided inspiration.

Ruby Boddington — 15 August 2019
Work / Animation Ikea and its products are reimagined as a Greek tragedy by Edern van Hille

The Parisian animator crafts a bold yellow and blue animation short from the Swedish superstore and its products. Featuring matricide, murder and elements of fate, Le Fils D’Ekia has all the makings of a contemporary Greek tragedy.

Jyni Ong — 15 August 2019

Work / Illustration Sebastian Curi's recent work for Venmo celebrates friendship in all its diverse forms

The Argentinian illustrator has had a huge year. Having recently relocated to Barcelona, he tells us about one particularly big commission in which he was asked to create 50 bold, colourful illustrations embodying the spirit of Venmo’s brand.

Ruby Boddington — 15 August 2019
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Alice Mann on making photographs that the people she shoots want to see

In a joyful talk which focussed on her much-loved body of work, Drummies, the South African photographer invited us into her empathetic and “people-oriented” approach to image-making.

It's Nice That — 15 August 2019
Work / Photography In his new series, photographer Josh Edgoose captures a world ruled by birds

From everyday moments to those that make history, street photography has the ability to capture the true essence of human nature. For this British photographer, however, people aren’t his main focus.

Ayla Angelos — 15 August 2019
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays “At the end of the day it’s just about people and stories”: Deepa Keshvala on her approach to filmmaking

In her moving Nicer Tuesdays talk, the London-based DOP and filmmaker tells the story behind her recent release Kara and always creating human-centred work grounded in emotion and truth.

It's Nice That — 14 August 2019
Work / Digital This is not the Amazon is an eerie and uncanny film that questions our relationship to nature

In their first collaborative project, Jean-Baptiste Castel and Astrid Feringa take a critical look at our growing alienation from the rest of the natural world.

Lorna Pittaway — 14 August 2019
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Kellenberger-White joins the line-up for Nicer Tuesdays August!

We weren’t lying when we said there was an exciting name still to be announced for August’s Nicer Tuesdays!

It's Nice That — 14 August 2019

Work / Digital Bob Bicknell-Knight tackles data hacking, Mark Zuckerberg and dystopic digitalisations

The London-based creative is a lot of things: artist, curator, writer, editor. Currently exhibiting his first solo show in Copenhagen, Bob discusses his investigation into the psyche and moral compass of Mark Zuckerberg and depicts dystopic realities using in-game photography techniques.

Jyni Ong — 14 August 2019
Work / Photography Jake Green's latest series encourages us to carefully consider our coffee consumption

Looking into the coffee industry over the past seven years, the photographer has recently completed his latest exploration of the product travelling to Kenya.

Lucy Bourton — 14 August 2019
Work / Graphic Design Gender equality platform notamuse discusses five female graphic designers we should all know about

Lea Sievertsen, Silva Baum and Claudia Scheer started notamuse during their Master’s degree as a way to explore the gender imbalance within graphic design. Going onto establish an international network of female designers, their work has recently been made into a book.

Jyni Ong — 14 August 2019
Work / Publication Taschen’s recent release celebrates “the greatest cat photographer of the 20th Century”

Walter Chandoha, the iconic photographer who dedicated his life to photographing feline’s work is now part of a monograph released by Taschen. We chat to one of the book’s editors about what makes Walter’s work so impactful today and what it was like to work with the famous photographer who passed about during the production of the book.

Ruby Boddington — 14 August 2019
Work / Animation Emily Ann Hoffman’s stop motion short Blackheads depicts a break-up through popping zits

The animators latest film depicts the fallout of a breakup through intense feelings of loss, vulnerability and self-destructive cycles of grief.

Laura Snoad — 14 August 2019
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Lovers' Nicer Tuesdays talk encouraged us all to make things we care about

In a joyful and reassuring talk, Lovers’ founder Alex Ostrowski spoke about the value of being excited by a project as he delved into the collective’s recent body of work including an ocean plastics campaign for Greenpeace and a magical pyjama side project.

It's Nice That — 13 August 2019

Work / Photography Juan Ortiz-Arenas documents the communities that gather at London's basketball courts

In his latest series, Buckets and The Ducketts, the London-based photographer turns his curious and attentive eye to the basketball courts in Ducketts Common, capturing the importance of these spaces in fostering community.

Lorna Pittaway — 13 August 2019
Work / Graphic Design Post-Medium captures the ins and outs of this year’s Chaumont Graphic Design Biennale

The Biennale International de design graphique in Chaumont, one of the industry’s most prestigious and historic events, took place earlier this year. Post-Medium’s book captures the hubbub of activity taking place over four months of design celebration.

Jyni Ong — 13 August 2019
Work / Photography Teresa Eng's ten-year project documents the regeneration of Elephant and Castle and its impact on communities

The Vancouver-born photographer is now six years into a decade-long project documenting the regeneration of Elephant and Castle and the impact it’s having on local communities. Costing over £4 billion and with 21 projects currently underway or in the pipeline, it’s one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe.

Ruby Boddington — 13 August 2019
Work / Art Michaela Younge on her surreal and incredibly intricate felt tapestries

The Cape Town-based artist does some magical things with felt. Painstakingly detailed, the artworks are filled with multiple layers of narrative, but if you look more closely, you’ll see a few strange things that you certainly didn’t expect.

Jyni Ong — 13 August 2019
Work / Illustration No Planet No Fun: using illustration, positivity and a little irony to help save the planet

Filled with “eco-anxiety” a group of illustrators and designers from Barcelona have formed No Planet No Fun, an inclusive collective which harnesses "illustration as a powerful tool to create a disruption point in people’s lives.”

Lucy Bourton — 13 August 2019
Features / In Conversation How do you cater to 6 million art lovers a year? Tate Modern’s director Frances Morris shares a few lessons

Having first joined Tate in 1987, Frances Morris has since risen through ranks to become director of Tate Modern. She was part of the team that cut the ribbon on the UK’s first museum for modern art and in the subsequent years, has pioneered unconventional curatorial styles while championing the world’s most exciting artists, including Yayoi Kusama, Louise Bourgeois and Olafur Eliasson.

Ruby Boddington — 13 August 2019