Swear Text Type Specimen
Type specimens have been around from the earliest day of movable type as a way to showcase a foundry's typefaces. Through time, specimens have developed into an art form unto themselves, becoming a fun and unique section of design, I decided to join this long history and create a quirky, poorly tempered specimen, capturing the eccentric and versatile nature of Swear Text by James Edmondson of OHNO Type.
Spreads
Description
Having researched many potential typefaces for this project, Swear Text immediately stood out to me. It is unique, eye-catching, yet workable and readable. The inspiration for its design comes directly from bush calligraphy, specifically the subtle brush twists calligraphers perform. Keeping this as the focus of the design, OHNO created a typeface with incredible stoke subtlety and engaging contrast.
To honor and showcase the design of the typeface, the specimen design uses black, white, and yellow in a bold and playful style. This project was incredibly entertaining to work on as the typeface begged to be presented in a carefree way. Bringing this attitude to the specimen allowed me to experiment with odd shapes, confrontational copy, playful page numbers, and many other details. Click on the spreads or flip through the book (above) to experience these double-page spreads.
Details
6x9in | 28 pages | 60 hours
Medium: layout and typesetting (ID), extra graphics (AI)
Mentor: Alessandro Segalini
