For some people, it's the happy tune of Green Sleeves as the ice cream truck comes hurtling down the street which reminds them of their childhood. For others, it's roller skating up and down the driveway for hours on end in the afternoon, and refusing to remove said skates at dinnertime. For me, it's the smell of fresh ink, climbing on dusty piles of paper in storage rooms, and the loud CLUNK - CLUNK of the letterpress machines which takes me back to the good ol' days.
I don't know about the whole nature/ nurture debate, but I believe I was quite possibly destined to be a graphic designer. It's in my blood. Back in the days before 'graphic design' was even a career option (and one could change a font with the quick click of a button), my grandfather, Alf Pausey, was a typesetter and printer. He ran his own print business, and donned his blue overalls every day to head to "Poppa's work", where he'd carefully set letter by letter, line by line using copper and zinc printer's blocks. I remember his hands were always covered in ink. When the pages needed to be collated, it was done by hand in the back room – overseen by Margaret (who always had an Arnott's biscuit for me).
When Poppa wanted a new typeface, it wasn't quite as simple as downloading what he wanted from myfonts or dafont. He had to invest in a few new timber drawers full of letters – in all the different point sizes he thought he'd use. And I get the feeling that when a client made a change, it was never as simple as opening an Indesign file and re-typing.
Thanks, Poppa – for the precious heritage you've passed on to me.
Today I'm wondering if Jessica Hische is actually one person. She's so prolific I'm not sure how she could be. Or perhaps she really truly loves her craft so much that she can't help but come home on a Saturday night and get to work creating more beautiful, timeless typography and amazing illustrations. 
Giuseppe Salerno is an Italian Graphic Designer whose beautiful hand-made letters and numbers have me smiling. They're drawn with chinese ink on smooth paper, and each character has been made with confidence and care. You can buy and download both collections on the Behance Network.
Emma Leonard is a very clever person indeed. She's based in Melbourne and you can buy her intriguing illustrations printed on heavy-weight cotton rag paper here.
Another clever typographer. Sebastian Lester is based in the UK and specialises in creating fancy type for a range of different companies and their projects and promotions. His website is worth a look at, because he not only has a great portfolio, he uploads images of 'found type' he collected along the way.
Gotta love some extreme depth of field, and photographs taken with a macro lens. Here's one shot by Aaron Anderson – and it's not any of the fancy tilt-shift stuff making something look miniature when it's not (or the Photoshop cheat's method of doing the same thing)... this is the real deal.
Canadian-born Brooklyn illustrator and artist Jillian Tamaki has just finished this adorable suite of book cover designs for three of my favourite Penguin Classics. Long live craft.
