The weathered, vintage typography of LAND is as old as new

Inspired by art and design that existed long before they did, LAND is a duet that normally would be referred to as “graphic designers” but this is a term they despise. “We’re just two dudes trying to create art and design that will last and try to blur the line between the two. We’re just two kids that grew up in small towns in Texas and stumbled across design through skateboarding, BMX, art and music” say Caleb Owen Everitt and Ryan Rhodes. Heavily inspired by more spiritual subjects such as life and death and the symbolism that comes from thinking about it all, they love creating because they like to feel naive. 

Based in Austin, Texas, LAND work in an old brick warehouse shop on the east side of town near the tracks and from there they enter their “journey through experimentation”, a notion that is evident throughout their portfolio. The two met years ago while working for the same agency in their city and since sharing a lot of enthusiasm for similar things they decided to push each other with encouragement and positive distractions. Fortunate enough to work on projects that they can personally identify, LAND like to blend the lines between art and design.

“Most of the type we create is hand done or inspired by historical typography”

With an impressive list of clients (Hufnagel Cycles, Patagonia, and Deus Ex Machina to name a few) Everitt and Rhodes need no longer draw naked ladies for a buck or make zines or “obsessively draw and redraw skateboarding and BMX logos on desks and trapper keepers”. “Most of the type we create is hand done or inspired by historical typography” they told to Juxtapoz’s Brent Gentile. “From old books and signs to hobo scribbles, type that was created by a hand or a machine just feels better than a more modern, digital font. It’s more fun to create something custom, or that feels like it came from a real place before you and I were born and will be here after we’re dead.”

“From old books and signs to hobo scribbles, type that was created by a hand or a machine just feels better than a more modern, digital font”

With the pen and the paper being the most used medium at their studio, LAND prefer to use their hands whenever they can. Drawing inspiration from things created in decades and centuries that are a long time gone, for the last couple of years they have been referencing “Francis Picabia, Salvador Dali’s preliminary sketches, cave painting, religious art, early American Type Founders work, outsider art, cattle brands, concrete stamps, old makers marks, masonic art and nature.” Simple, honest and unforced LAND want to keep themselves inspired and get better everyday. All in the palm of their hands.