Valentype 2014 | The Winners

It came as quite a shock that we only managed to gather 40 valid entries this year. I am a little disappointed, but after careful consideration the other jury members and I decided to still go ahead and simply award only four entries instead of five.

Before we reveal the winners, allow me to remind everyone that strictly speaking Valentype is not so much a pure design contest. We asked for love declarations, and this was of primary concern for the five jury members. To be honest, personally I consider a simple "I love you because you're beautiful" a cop-out. So I asked the jury to favour wit and inventiveness. A well-designed image was a bonus, but whoever managed to cleverly use the typeface name, its concept or design, the general perception of the type style etc. received a good score. Also creatively playing with the general idea of a Valentine's note or love declaration was a clear plus.

Just like last year, I invited two external jury members. Interaction designer, letterer, illustrator and sketchnote artist Eva-Lotta Lamm was last year's undisputed winner. Dr. Shelley Gruendler – a typographer, designer, and educator who teaches, lectures, and publishes internationally on typography and design – is the founder of Type Camp. They joined FontFont marketing director Ivo Gabrowitsch, FontShop USA type expert David Sudweeks, and myself. This means I was joined by two men and two women, two FontShop people and two non-FontShop, one American, one Canadian and two Europeans. Each one of us compiled a Top 8, and the added scores resulted in four clear winners, with number five maddeningly close. Here they are, in no particular order (chronologically):

1 |Shiva Nallaperumal(Baltimore, MD, USA) loves FF Beowolf

9 |Johs Krejberg Haahr(Aarhus, Denmark) loves Brandon Grotesque

14 |Gerhard Großmann(Regensburg, Germany) loves FF Milo

38 |David Wolske(Salt Lake City, UT, USA) loves Turnip

Honorable mention goes to Jørgen Brynhildsvoll with his Stevie Wonder-inspired entry. Congratulations to the four winners; send us an e-mail detailing what four weights of the typeface you wish to receive, and we'll get back to you with instructions.

Thanks to everyone for participating. As the number of entries is gradually decreasing year after year, we'll have to see if we hold another Valentype contest next year. Until then, keep on loving type!