Better Letters - BLAG Magazine: Adventures in Sign Painting Craft, Community & Culture

Field Notes

Field Notes from BLAG: October 2025

Lettering the weather, Hong Kong ghost signs, the New York Sign Museum, and more from the field.

Books

Mobile Masterpieces: South Asia's Dazzling ‘Trucks and Tuks’

A new book documents the diverse decorations found on working vehicles from Bangladesh to Sri Lanka.

Series of five illustrations showing hand-position and technique for working with a mahl stick while painting lettering and lines.

Learning

The Mike Stevens Journal, Volume 1, Number 5

Mastering Layout's Mike Stevens riffing on brush technique, letter formation, and mahl sticks.

Woman standing in front of a hand-drawn and lettered blackboard advertising a variety of colourful cocktails.

Learning

Watch Cheryl McLean's Blackboard Art Seminar from LH50

Blackboard art tips, tricks, and techniques shared in a pre-recorded session for Letterheads 50.

Events

The Letterheads Go Large at the 1982 Oklahoma Bash

43 years later, host Mike Jackson reflects on a meet that redefined what a Letterheads could be.

View from the side of a woman working with a mahl stick and fine brush to paint lettering on the back of a piece of glass.

People

The Pre-Vinylettes Podcast and More Burds on the Brush

Bonus content from Meredith Kasabian's BLAG 07 feature on women, trans, and nonbinary sign painters.

Books

Bonus Books and Links from BLAG 07

The first instalment of the digital companion to BLAG 07, the Letterheads special.

Two magazines with masthead IOAFS placed on top of a folded poster which has been removed to reveal the cover on one copy of the magazine.

BLAG

What's Inside Issue 07 of BLAG, the Letterheads Special?

BLAG's first special issue applies an IOAFS twist to its worldwide adventures in sign painting.

View from the side of a woman painting a man's face on a mural with reference to a picture of him taped to the wall beside her.

Events

Letterheads 50: 28 Days Later

A historic event at the American Sign Museum through the lens of photographer Natalie Grilli.

A painted sign for a DTP shop called “ArtLife”. The name is painted in white on a green background, and a list of their services is painted in red on white.

Projects

Indian Sign Painting: A Typeface Designer’s Take on the Craft

Through her India Street Lettering project, Pooja Saxena re-examines the craft and its clichés.

Films

Watch the Recordings from BLAG Meet Inside Issue 06

Five hours of talks, interviews, studio visits, and demonstrations from contributors to BLAG 06.

Diverse letters with yellow illumination of different forms arranged on support stands to spell 'Buchstaben'.

Places

A Final Resting Place for Letters at the Buchstabenmuseum

As the Berlin museum celebrates its 20th anniversary, the Letterforms remain the stars of the show.

Books

Bringing Back the the Coast Manual of Lettering and Designs

A Kickstarter to publish a new edition of this extremely rare antique sign painting book.

Man painting an Arby's sign on a ballpark fence adorned with other painted advertisements.

Field Notes

Field Notes from BLAG: June 2025

Signs painters in the news, a prismatic ghost sign, dodgy letter spacing, and more from the field.

Events

Letterheads Per L'Horta: An Intimate International Meet

The masses amass in Almàssera for an inspiring four days painting in the Valencian sun.

Places

Hand-Painted Shopfronts in Rural Uganda

Olivia Krawczyk introduces the hand-painted signs for businesses large and small in Kumi, Uganda.

BLAG

Thoughts on the 2025 BLAG Reader Survey

"An absurdly cool niche publication" and more feedback from the third annual BLAG reader survey.

Portrait of a man posing in front of a sign he is painting on a window. He is holidng his sign painting materials in his hands.

Films

When Better Letters Met Brian Walker

A new short film celebrating Hackney signwriter Brian Walker's life on the brush.