I've been wondering how gang typography/ graffiti came to be such an identifiable style, when there are so many types of gangs in the world: why do they look so similar? Fat, bubble letters, angular shapes, and Gothic or Old English styles. It doesn't matter if you're on the East or West coast, they have the same characteristics. The style is too systematic and difficult to decipher to be purely artistic and intuitive. So I crawled some web forums, but didn't find any satisfactory answers about why they choose the font styles they do. Several sources did say that modern graffiti we all recognize today was informed by WWII, with the influence of old style fonts. I did find some other interesting quotes from former gang members or people familiar with the culture:
"It looks the same because it is shared info. It is like learning a second language. Graffiti styles also vary by region. However, common threads spread as the gangs spread. When a Los Angeles MS-13 member moves to Virginia and forms a clique here -- he shares the style he learned in LA. When a Chicago Gangster Disciple moves to New Jersey, he teaches how to be GD to the folks he gathers around him. They teach a kid who later moves to Virginia. So, we get very similar GD material in VA. Gangs move around a lot and the information gets shared.
There are 3 main types of graffiti. Tagger, Gang, and "Other." Taggers are marking territory to prove they can, as a loose rule. They're typically more artistic or stylistic. Gang graffiti is absolutely marking turf; it's showing who's here, and what's going on. It's going to be pretty straightforward as a general rule. "Other" includes lots of stuff, from "Billy Loves Susie" to hate graffiti (which can sometimes be gang graffiti), to druggie graffiti... and more.
Different styles spread through word of mouth, through travels of the so-called artists.
This particular site points out that Latino gangs particularly like Old Style English fonts, though does not explain why (and I could not find online!)
Blanche
http://eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=98&fid=485
http://www.streetgangs.com/graffiti/hispanic/ela13.html
http://www.arthistoryguide.com/Graffiti_Art.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti#Characteristics_of_common_graffiti
http://ilovetypography.com/img/grafitti.jpg
http://www.graffiti.org/
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