Most artists only dream of getting their work showcased on a global scale, but for master calligrapher and type designer Seb Lester, this dream has been a reality for the last decade.

A graphic-design graduate from London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins, Lester has developed logos and type illustrations for some of the world’s biggest companies, publications and events ranging from NASA to Nike to The New York Times. It’s more than likely you’ve seen his work without even knowing it.

“I gravitated towards letterforms really quickly,” says the U.K.-born Lester. “But I never thought I would have been able to make a living out of typefaces.”

From custom fonts to international logos

Following an early career stint at Rolling Stone Magazine, Lester was hired by font and technology specialists Monotype, where he was instrumental in designing the fonts Neo Sans and Neo Tech, which have both been widely used as fonts for brands around the world. Neo Sans was the official typeface used for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and has been used in branding for British organizations such as the Labour political party, Virgin Trains and optical retail chain Specsavers plus U.S. technology company Intel.

Additionally, he has been pivotal in developing custom typefaces for a raft of familiar brands including British Airways, U.K. grocery chain Waitrose, The Daily Telegraph, H&M and Barclays Bank. In fact, there are few major brands that haven’t been at the receiving end of Lester’s artistry.

“Working at Monotype laid the foundations for everything I do now,” says Lester who, after nine years at the company, now works as a freelance artist and calligrapher. “It was the beginning of my journey as a full-time letterform designer. When you design popular typefaces, a little bit of you goes up into the world and seeing your typeface used by companies around the world is really incredible.”

And while Lester’s work has stretched its tentacles across the globe, it’s his most recent endeavour – calligraphy – that has seen the artist’s profile soar, putting a name to the breadth of his work.

“I got some calligraphy pens and it went from there,” says Lester modestly, whose short videos of his work have now earned him more than 1.2 million followers on social media. “Now, I’m basically a nerd with a lot of pens.”

The wider public may be familiar with videos of Lester hand-drawing well known logos, which have gone viral since being reported in publications such as Huffington Post, Buzzfeed and the U.K.’s Daily Mirror.

“It is unchartered territory, this idea of calligraphy in terms of mass entertainment,” he says. “It’s been driven by the Internet, Facebook and Instagram and it’s really been a bizarre but wonderful experience. I think it’s a great time to be a calligrapher or creative designer because of this incredible crossover of people from all over the world who follow me. One of my biggest achievements in my career so far is having been able to cross over from studying graphics into the mainstream.”

Finding inspiration in calligraphy

While Lester says he draws inspiration from his work from a broad spectrum of sources, he makes sure he doesn’t look at the work of other contemporary practitioners.

“You have to look further afield for sources of inspiration,” he says. “It could even be amazing calligraphy work from the 14th century, but what’s important is trying to tap into your ability to communicate things in your own voice.”

When watching Lester at work on one of his 15-second Instagram videos, he makes it look so effortless, which makes it easy to assume it comes naturally to him, but he professes it’s hard work that requires a lot of discipline and practice.

“You have to find your own voice and work hard at it,” he says. “There aren’t really any shortcuts and if you commit to something whether it’s calligraphy or pottery, you have to absolutely pursue it with everything you do. I can’t emphasise that enough.”

Today, Lester is putting more focus on selling his original art and tends to focus on two or three big client jobs per year. Last year, for instance, he designed the logo for the Surface Water & Ocean Topography mission for NASA.

“Calligraphy has made me a much more versatile designer,” he says. “There is a real appetite for hand-drawn work; calligraphy seems to be enjoying a renaissance. There is certainly a trend for it on the Internet but I hope it becomes more than that in the long run.”

Register for PromaxBDA Europe to see Seb Lester in Barcelona March 14-15. And check out a video below of his custom calligraphy for the conference.

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