level of care given that the response she received was much higher than that of the previous years, when she sent the same design to everyone. Continuing her tradition of creating beautiful valentines, she has continued to create new and intricate designs each year for valentine’s day. These cards are one of her most popular art endeavors because people have become infatuated with the heart-felt designs she has come to be recognized for. Bantjes has many books written about her and has written a few herself. The one she put her heart and soul into is I Wonder, she says, “This book is my masterpiece. I spent 15 months between 2009–2010 writing, illustrating and designing it” (Bantjes, 2015). Filled with love, this book has the text surrounded by her ornate creations like a thick border. It is eclectic and every page is unmatched. Alissa Walker from Fast Company says, “It’s a readable collection of smart, visuallyintense short stories, and a design book that will likely never leave your coffee table” (Walker, 2018). I Wonder contains her history, a compilation of various ideas
second font, Restraint. With this font, a series of curls and twist combinations create the letters within the text. The design for this font began as a thought experiment in connected lettering. It is beautifully constructed but takes time to understand. She has to include a guide on how to use her font with the purchase of it.
attributes. This allows her to display her individuality, whilst setting the perfect design out for her client. Bantjes is a typographer, illustrator, graphic designer, and writer whose artworks and ideas will forever be filled and fill others with wonder. Her work is well known all over, prized, and
Marian Bantjes’ art goes way beyond the digital world. She enjoys finding things around her that spark imagination and using them creatively to make something entirely new. Bantjes travels often and collects sand or dirt from the places she has been in hopes to design something
recognized by many art critics and will continue to be. As long as she continues to pursue herself and dive into her most wild conceptual ideas, she will be a success. Her inspiration, projects, books, fonts, sarcasm and Valentine’s day cards are iconic and have changed the way people see the world
BANTJES and of course, her witty sense of humor, making this a project that is very personal to her. Bantjes has two fonts that she has created including Bernice and Restraint. Both of these fonts are intricate and completely out of the ordinary. With her Bernice font, it may take some prior knowledge to be able to understand what you are seeing, but it comes together to create beautiful patterning. This font is more of a patterned design creation than a readable text. Although she never enters for awards, she has still won awards for her
with it in the future. She used the sand and dirt to carefully craft a poster on coexistence. The poster contained many components that made up the design. Bantjes said, “It works on two levels because it speaks to the international element of it, that all of the dirt and sand is from different regions from around the world but also our relationship with the planet and with nature” (Bantjes, 00:02:17-00:02:32). In this way Bantjes has used substances that represent the unity of the world and pulls together her own
of typography. Marian Bantjes has been on a long and difficult journey leading her to become a legend whose endeavors in the art world will stand the test of time; authenticity and excellence will always be relevant.
Typographise // Spring 2021 // 5
