# Finger-Painted Fonts Tien-Min Liao's Handmade Type Uses Subtle Gestures to Form Letters By Meghan Young | Published 2012-03-21 | Art & Design Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/handmade-type References: [fubiz.net](http://www.fubiz.net/2012/03/19/hand-painted-type/) & [behance.net](http://www.behance.net/TienMinLiao) Mimicking alphabet letters with hands has been done time and time again, but the Handmade Type is a beast of its own. It takes a simple, common concept and tweaks it ever so slightly for a result that is pure genius. The Handmade Type is comprised of painted fingers that form realistic [uppercase, lowercase and even italicized fonts](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/adobe-acrobat). Conceived and created by New York-based illustrator and graphic designer Tien-Min Liao, the Handmade Type is impressive because the same shape that formed the capitalized version of a letter was manipulated to then form the lowercase version. Through basic changes in gestures, Liao has managed to recreate the alphabet in multiple ways, using only her hands. Through [animated illustrations](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/type-8-daniel-engelberg), Liao even shows the transitions between each letter in her clever Handmade Type project. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 2.4/10 - Popularity: 30% | Activity: 35% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: North America, Europe, Asia ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Art & Design](https://www.trendhunter.com/artdesign) ## Key Themes ### What's Driving This Trend - **Handmade Type:** Disruptive innovation opportunity: Explore the use of handmade type to create unique and personalized lettering in branding and advertising. - **Gesture-based Typography:** Disruptive innovation opportunity: Develop interactive digital platforms that allow users to create typography using hand gestures, opening up new possibilities for communication and design. - **Animated Typography:** Disruptive innovation opportunity: Combine animated illustrations with typography to create visually captivating and engaging content for digital platforms and advertising campaigns. ### Who This Affects Most - **Branding and Advertising:** Disruptive innovation opportunity: Incorporate handmade type in branding and advertising strategies to differentiate and personalize communication with consumers. - **Digital Design:** Disruptive innovation opportunity: Integrate gesture-based typography in user interfaces and digital design tools, revolutionizing the way designers create and interact with typography. - **Animation and Motion Graphics:** Disruptive innovation opportunity: Combine animated illustrations with typography to elevate storytelling and visual communication in animation and motion graphics projects. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Toddler-Focused Typography Books](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/my-first-book-of-fancy-letters.md) - [Instant Noodle-Crafted Fonts](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/times-new-ramen.md) - [Modular Typography Stamp Kits](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/modular-typography-stamp-set.md) - [Modular Typography Stamp Sets](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/blockface.md) - [Typography-Inspired Lifestyle Collections](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/house-industries.md) - [Typography Food Campaigns](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/pumpui.md) - [Digital Handwriting Tools](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/handtextai.md) - [Functional Block Brick Typewriters](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/lego-typewriter.md) - [Dynamic Typeface-Like Chairs](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/orma-chair.md)