It is always wonderful when you come across a graphic project that has been inspired by something original and unique. There is a surge of excitement as your eyes take in a concept you have never seen before, or perhaps would have never thought of yourself. It is inspiring, which is the perfect word to use for illustrator Linzie Hunter.

Born in Scotland, Hunter now works out of South London where she does a multitude of work for everyone from the BBC to Scholastic. Her resume is varied and impressive, and it couldn’t be more obvious that she is one of the more accomplished illustrators in the industry.

But perhaps her most interesting work is not her illustrations, but her Spam Project. It is a series of 30 different sets of typographic lettering, each one inspired by the subject line of a spam email she found in her inbox.

You can find all of them here, but let’s take a moment to look at a few of them individually, to appreciate the craftsmanship and creativity that went into making each one.

Ordinary Spam

While most spam filters do well at keeping sexual enhancement product emails from our inbox, occasionally you will still find a “get Viagra cheap” one amongst the litter. This one held the tagline “Ordinary Men Have Ordinary Sex,” a rather depressing and patronizing way of attempting to play on male insecurity. She used a cool collection of colors with both forward and backward facing lettering to depict the statement.

Realize All Your Dreams Spam

Rather ambiguously, this email designer directory is promising to help you to “Realize All Of Your Dreams With Our Help For A Short Time.” What that could possibly mean, and how long “a short time” qualifies as will have to remain a mystery. But given the whimsical nature of the statement, Hunter managers to perfectly capture it with this loopy, brightly colored typography.

I Had To Spam

While the subject line in the original email is innocuous enough, the lettering Hunter chose here is fairly creepy. The colors, as well as the way much of it looks like it was made up of letters cut from other sources bring to mind a ransom note. This gives the words “I Had To Tell Someone” a much more disturbing implication than it would have originally seemed upon seeing the email in her inbox.

Local Chicks Spam

Every other website that runs on a blog system seems to have ads promising to help find local women who want no strings attached sex. This shows the priority of many web searches, or at least the assumption of most marketing firms. This spam presents the issue in a more amusing way with the tagline, “Local Chicks Who Need Lovin’ On The Side.” On the side of what? Are they seeing someone already? Do they mean on the side of the road? Maybe they exclusively want on side of their body loved? We will never know. But Hunter’s interpretation reminds me of those Valentine cards you make with lace and construction paper in the second grade.

Tooth Fairy Spam

Without a doubt the weirdest of all of her typographic sets, this one was made from the subject line, “One Day The Tooth Fairy Could Save Your Child’s Life.” No amount of thinking this through could lead to a satisfying explanation as to how this might be. Not only does it make no sense, but it is somewhat creepy. This was conveyed well in Hunter’s font, which is a hodge podge mix of different styles and colors that make as little sense together as the collection of words themselves.

Conclusion

Linzie Hunter is an amazing illustrator and designer who has come up with a brilliant shtick for a fun and interesting series. Be sure to check out the rest of her work, as well as the sets on sale on her official site.

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Inspired by Spam: Showcase of Beautiful Typography Works by Linzie Hunter