‘Dave Thomason’, Hand-lettered personal wordmark, Dave Thomason, c1975

We believe that this wordmark was created by Dave Thomason after he left Typsettra in 1975. It is a personal interpretation of the English roundhand script that manages to be both light and lyrical with the overall movement coming from the letterforms themselves – not the flourishes.

Notes

Dave Thomason was a highly respected Toronto lettering artist who was one of the few ‘on par’ with Al Elliott. They were roughly the same age and throughout the 1950s both had worked at Art & Design Studio. Elliott left ADS in 1963 to join Headliners, Thomason stayed and was soon joined by another talented letterer, Les Usherwood. In 1968 Thomason and Usherwood left to form the advertising typography shop Typsettra. Thomason sold his shares in Typsettra in 1975 and seemed to have semi-retired although we know he continued doing freelance lettering for Typsettra. Thomason died in 2001. We have many original pieces of lettering that we have identified as Thomason’s as well as many that we are uncertain about. At this time we do not have any information about his life, when and where he was born, or where he trained. Over time we hope to answer these questions, and hopefully a few more.

  • Category
    Designers, Typographers & Letter Artists

    Date
    c1975

    Title
    Dave Thomason

    Client
    Dave Thomason

    Credits
    Hand-Lettering: Dave Thomason

    Principal Typefaces
    Hand Lettering, Flourished Roundhand script

    Description
    Size: Unknown

    Region
    Ontario

    Language
    English

    Images
    1

    Holding
    Canadian Typography Archives

  • Artifact copyright: CTA was unable to clarify rights but welcomes contact from rightsholders to resolve permissions, if required, and will remove digitized works at the rightsholder’s request (rightsholders may contact CTA at copyright@canadiantypography.ca). CTA makes digitized works available for education and research. Responsibility for any use rests with the user.

    Notes copyright: Notes accompanying artifacts are licenced under Creative Commons licensing CCbyNC which allows for non-commercial use with attribute.

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‘The National Ballet of Canada’ logo – Hand-lettered script, Al Elliott, c1963

‘Typsettra’ – Hand-lettered script wordmark, Dave Thomason, c1975

'Al Elliott' personal wordmark – Hand-lettered script, Al Elliott, 1972

We will be posting other pieces by Dave Thomason. If you have any of his work, or insights into his life that you would be willing to share, we would like to hear from you.

Please contact us at: info@canadiantypography.ca

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