My brother is an architect, and I have always loved his lettering, you know, the style of writing that can be found on architectural drawings. There is a common thread to it, yet each architect or engineer brings their own personality to it. I have seen a similar style being used by some hand-letterers for invitations, place cards and signage. Inspired, I set out to create my own, and the result is my new typeface, Robard! I wanted something compact, somewhat modular, done quickly but with control, and sourced from hand-lettering. Starting out with a handful of pigment ink pens, I settled on a 0.1mm Copic Multi-Liner, and using a light table with a grid underneath the paper, I cranked out grouping after grouping, letter after letter, numbers, punctuation, accents, just trying to zero in on the feeling and the look I was after. There were some ideas that didn't work, like unicase (there would be no regular lowercase), or swash alternates. Ultimately, I ended up with a decent array of glyphs to choose from, and alternates like oldstyle numbers, and an alternate set of caps for the lowercase slots, and even alternative figures so doubles like 88 would be different. In the font, the OpenType ligature code automatically alternates the cap and lowercase (alternate cap) letters, and numbers as you type, lending Robard that hand-lettered look in a digital typeface that I was hoping for. There are also oldstyle figures, and unlimited fractions, ordinals, and a few alternate letters. I hope you like Robard!

Rather than confining itself to a single style, Ricardo combines the best of two worlds: the conceptual clarity of a geometric design with the legibility and warmth of a humanist design. Its open counters, crisp joints, and even texture allow for effective use in long-form text settings, while its simple geometric shapes combined with some unexpected details make it highly suitable for display settings such as branding and marketing. Ricardo contains seven carefully chosen weights, ranging from ExtraLight to ExtraBold. The Medium weight functions as a slightly darker alternative to the Regular. Ricardo’s 812 glyphs per style support over a hundred languages, and also include arrows and case-sensitive punctuation. The Ricardo family consists of three subfamilies: Ricardo, Ricardo ALT, and Ricardo ITA. Ricardo contains the most conventional forms, and is the most suitable option for long-form text. Ricardo ALT contains simplified shapes for the a, j, u, and t, which are also accessible through Stylistic Set 2 within Ricardo (in opentype-savvy applications). The cursive-like italics of Ricardo ITA provide a slightly more eccentric alternative to the standard italics. Furthermore, all styles contain stylistic alternates that swap the blunt apexes in A, M, N, V, W, v, w, y, and 1 for pointier ones. These are also accessible through Stylistic Set 1. Other opentype goodness includes: (discretionary) ligatures, smallcaps, case-sensitive forms, fractions, nine sets of numerals, and more. David Ricardo (1772-1823) is considered the first of the classical economists, and combined ground-breaking mathematical abstractions with an understandable down-to-earth way of explaining his ideas.

LaFarge is a typeface primarily inspired by the historic mosaic titling capitals found in the New York City Subway, designed by architect Squire J. Vickers and his staff between 1915-1927. These elegant but industrial signs are characteristic of early-20th century American architectural lettering, and show an evolution of the classical Roman capitals to lower contrast, bolder serifs, and more regular character widths. The majority of this lettering still remains in subway stations today, and though elements of the style vary from sign to sign, many carry the unique features that are reflected in LaFarge: high-waisted crossbars with angled serifs, elegantly curved “R” leg, and distinctive trapezoidal serifs. LaFarge expands this style into a lower case, taking cues from contemporary typefaces like Bookman, Cheltenham, and Della Robbia. A number of typographic features are included, such as small caps, ordinal indicators / superscript letters, arrows, and a set of borders inspired by early subway tile. The result is a fashionable, architecturally-minded typeface that is just as at home on the façade of a grand public building as it is on packaging, magazines, or the web. LaFarge works well in both text and display settings, remaining readable at small sizes but showing off its elegant details in larger uses. LaFarge has received the Communication Arts Typography Award, the ADC Annual Merit Award, is included in the 2020 STA 100, and was part of designer Greg Shutters’ winning portfolio in the 2019 Type Directors Club Ascender Awards. You can download a PDF specimen of LaFarge, and also view a video of LaFarge in action.

TurvyTopsy offers all the fun of delightful hand-drawn irregularity, captured in a typeface. Designing this was a wonderful exercise in ignoring all the rules of precise geometric construction to which we normally work. These irregular forms somehow achieve a delightful character & legibility all of their own.