UPPERCASE { Janine Vangool }

Hello Reader, Just a friendly reminder that Bonnie Christine's free Print & Pattern Revival is available—there's still time to binge the first three sessions and join her live on Monday! The replays will be up until February 24. If you're planning to take Immersion this year, use my affiliate link, and you'll get an UPPERCASE group pattern & portfolio review session with me! Immersion registration opens on February 17. p.s. Marie Forleo's B-School is now open for registration; you can learn...

Hello Reader, B-School is open for enrollment! If you've been thinking about B-School for a few years and haven't enrolled yet, just know that this is quite common! It's a big investment of time and money (though the price is reduced by $500 this year). But if there's something that has drawn you to B-School, why not make this your year? B-School will teach you how to build and market a profitable, fulfilling business. It's not going to happen overnight, but over 6 weeks of the course, you...

Dear Reader, For now, this is all I can show you of my progress on the next UPPERCASE. I'm busy designing, editing and finessing. I'm within the final stretch! Issue #69 (April-May-June) goes to the printer on Friday. This issue marks 17 years of UPPERCASE magazine!!! Speaking of upcoming birthdays, my son Finley has one coming up next month. I have an idea for a present: it's old-fashioned and experiential, and I think it could be surprising and fun! Among Finley's many interests is train...

Hello Reader, I'm happy to share that Marie Forleo's B-School will be open for registration from February 12 to 20, 2026, and classes will start on Monday, March 2nd. Since becoming a B-School affiliate in 2018, I’ve welcomed more than 200 creatives into B-School. First and foremost, being an affiliate is a position of trust, and I take it very seriously. If you don't know my B-School story yet—and how it got my business out of debt and onto the path to profitability—read and watch it here....

Becca Franks Hello Reader, Love these bendy pencils submitted by Becca Franks! (Share your pattern work for next month's edition of The Pattern Journal.) If you'd like to stretch your creative muscles or try a new direction in your artwork, check out Bonnie Christine's Print & Pattern Revival—it's a free event starting next week. ps If you're not already, please become an UPPERCASE magazine subscriber. Subscriptions keep all of this going! Use the code keepgoing for a discount at checkout....

Dear Reader, I became a graphic designer because I love looking at letterforms and playing with words. It is still a delight (and a lot of work) to design my own books and magazines—I'm designing the next issue right now. (50 pages done so far, yay!) But with an established template, page design, aesthetic, and font choices already selected for the quarterly magazine and my Encyclopedia of Inspiration series, there isn't much room to experiment. The designs for these publications have served...

Dear Reader, These are difficult times. Sometimes, I don't really know how to show up here in your inbox. But I will, anyway. Because I promised to send out this newsletter every Tuesday. And staying true to my word and my values is important to me. I stamped these messages on Sunday, pressing them so hard onto the paper that my hands hurt—imagining that if I had a letterpress, these words would be indented into the surface. Everything we do, each small act, leaves an impression. Make it one...

view in browser Dear Reader, If you're craving hands-on creativity—something that is fully immersive, tactile and satisfying—may I suggest block print carving? It is a very accessible craft that requires minimal supplies, space and time to get started—but offers immense creative potential for surface pattern designers, fabric printers and printmakers. Ali Baecker's course, called Deep Dive, promises to be as its name suggests: an in-depth exploration of block printing and creating repeat...

Dear Reader, In the best ways, subscribing to a print magazine is a romantic, old-fashioned thing to do. Funds are pledged to something you haven't seen, to be released over the course of a year. You invest in putting ink on paper. You spend time anticipating the arrival of each new issue, to be delivered by a human being who walks around your neighbourhood dropping off printed paper materials. You receive a 132-page publication filled with content curated by an editor months earlier....