LOVE LETTERS

21 April 2026

More than a message, letterform in a piece of graphic art can have heroic properties all of its own and while creating his iconic body of (often cinematic) artworks, Matt Taylor realised that, quite organically, type has become a leading figure in his recent compositions.

"While I was collating some of my work from the last five years for a website refresh it began to dawn on me that typography has been slowly becoming a main character in my work in a way that it hadn’t before. Specifically what I like to refer to as BIG UGLY TYPE - gratuitously placed in the middle of the frame so you have no way to avoid looking at it.

I try and use it in a way as negative space amongst details - solid slabs of color that break up a detailed composition but with scant regard to subtlety. I try and use it to break the frame of the illustration, like it’s bursting off the page. It’s a great too to highlight areas of the drawing by overlapping and cropping to draw the eye (like the characters in my Sinners poster) or to separate and highlight a narrative division (as on Wicked). For my Ghibli

In the same way that ten years ago I started throwing colors that didn’t feel right at my artwork in an attempt to push me forwards, type that doesn’t feel right has become my not-especially-secret weapon to take a good poster illustration and make it great.”