Lessons From 36 Days of Type (and 3 Tips for Getting Started!)

Unfortunately in 2024 after ten years of running 36 Days of Type, the monthly challenge hit pause. Due to updates in Instagram’s algorithms, it made the community aspect of 36 Days of Type difficult to achieve with restricted ability to track and share participant entries. 

However, it is still worthwhile to reflect upon the lessons learnt during the year I participated and share some advice on how to get started on undertaking a daily challenge. 

For full disclosure, it took me longer than 36 days to complete my letters, however all entries were genuinely inspired during the period with no pre-planning (as you may notice from the haphazard style of the letters!)

1. You’re only as good as what you notice

As designers, we notice details that might bypass others. However, in our world of devices and the internet, it’s easy to fall into the traps of finding inspiration online from other designers. The opportunity to walk around and actively look for inspiration in signs, architecture, hobbies or from reading books inspired a lot of the letters in unexpected ways. It will also often be those insights where you’ve paused to stop and really consider something that lead to surprising ideas. 

Images: Bloody B was inspired by my recent calligraphy class and Agatha Christie novel-reading, O from an ornate pattern found in a building, X for hot chips after a hot chip run  

2. Learn when to push and when to pull 

With daily challenges, it can be difficult to continue the momentum after a few days. While it may start off with good intentions, motivation is notoriously unreliable for consistency. Doing 36 Days of Type taught me to know when to push (get a letter out, regardless of how “bad” it might be) so that it proves I can hold myself to this daily commitment to when to pull (it’s ok to not create one for today, it will come tomorrow). The letter ‘F’ was a key turning point - I had an idea to create a beautifully elaborate ‘F’ based on a floral design but by that evening, I had run out of time. I had to make the choice to stay up late and get this letter out because I knew if I skipped that day, the daily challenge would soon unravel. 

Images: The infamous ‘floral’ F, pulling back for a ‘loopy L’ (not my favourite but it had to be done), pushing again for ‘N’ (involved experimenting with shapes, line thickness and even dashed lines) which ended up better than expected

3. You ‘win’ some and you ‘lose’ some 

Like many of the pieces we design, we don’t love it all. Nothing seemed more obvious than with a daily challenge. There were plenty of letters that I didn’t love and cringe at but also many wins where I surprised myself with how it turned out. Especially for perfectionists, it’s a constant reminder that win or lose, tomorrow is another day.

Images: 'Kaleidoscope K' became a surprise favourite, 'Radical R' did not turn as expected and eventually had to let it go, 8 ball I was quite pleased with the concept when I had thought of it and then came out as hoped

4. There’s no substitute for doing

As a self-confessed overthinker, the process of creating work everyday was invaluable. Looking back at the letters, I could see how much my letters had improved and even the way of thinking about the alliteration for the letters. For many years, I had watched others participate but not myself and through this experience, I was able to become more confident and try a lot more techniques than I would have through my regular work. 

Images: 'Deconstructed D' was the first go at playing around with 3D tools in Illustrator, 'Electric E' creating a glitch effect in Illustrator and '5 Stars' done following a tutorial on Illustrator

some unsolicited ADVICE FOR STARTING

Regardless if it’s 36 Days of Type or another daily challenge, here’s some simple advice that could be worth thinking about before getting started:

1. Find your motivation: from adopting a beginner mindset to 1 minute a day

A quick Google of 36 Days of Type and you will see a lot of beautifully constructed alphabet and number sets. Many designers love to use the daily challenge to build a cohesive style but it’s better to set your own goal for what you want to get out of it. Feeling stuck creatively? See what you can do in 1 minute. Learning the ropes of the software? Adopt a beginner mindset where you can experiment with different tools and techniques. Want to get offline? Only use inspiration from the outside world and hand draw all your letters. 

2. Be realistic about what will help keep you accountable

Ever since I read about the ‘Four Tendencies’ by Gretchen Rubin, I felt as if the model explained a lot about my behaviour. In short, the ‘Four Tendencies’ describes how we meet internal and external motivators. As an Obliger (someone who is good at meeting external but not good at internal expectations), I need to manufacture a structure that keeps me accountable. In this case, my Design Director also was participating in the challenge and was following me on Instagram. In society, we value and desire to be ‘Upholders’ (able to meet both internal and external expectations) but the reality is that, most of us aren’t designed that way. I’ve learnt that it’s better to make the system work for you than pretend you will fit the system. 

3. Make it easy

At the end of the day, we all have a lot on our plates and fitting in one more daily exercise should be as burden-free as possible. So like any habit, make it easy! It sounds like obvious advice (and it is!) but once initial motivation drops off at Day 15, we’re tempted to throw the towel in because it’s all too hard.

My version of ‘making it easy’ was choosing alliteration and expressions with numbers in them - so uncreative! But it made it easy for me to know exactly what was coming the next day. My Design Director did the theme of ‘first idea that pops into my head’. There’s a gamut of ways to give yourself a restriction (one colour only, maximum 5 minutes spent, first word of that letter you see that day, an internet-generated list of A-Z words) that can kickstart your process to leave you free to design as you wish!