Design Approach

So if all type is destined to be derivative, how is it possible to create something new?

Another excellent question, dear user. Our philosophy is to do as deep a dive as possible on typography movements that pique our interest, and then work forwards in time from their genesis. We look at individual characters, search for commonality, and then see if we can find a font family that aligns with what we see as a potential gap. Appalachia is an excellent example of this; there aren’t a whole lot of low-contrast fonts to begin with, and even fewer that could be classified as geometric sans-serifs. This reads to us as a gap in the history of type, and therefore necessitates someone to fill it.

We can’t say for sure that this will be our forever approach. We have a tendency to “follow the dopamine,” to use the common expression. What we can say for sure is that we’re going to continue to look at gaps in the history of type and attempt to fill them; starting by attempting to create what we believe will be the first “geometric serif” font-family, hopefully making its debut within the next year.

Don’t we have enough fonts?

Nope.

In all seriousness, this is a question we’ve puzzled over extensively, and the answer we continually arrive at is a comfortable “No.”

Typography, much like art, will never be finished. Like art, each new movement spawns new works, made by new designers, who seek to advance upon the works that came before them. Each discipline branches outwards in the same way that trees do. Just as most art is derivative, so too is most type. The only real difference is that type is essentially based around the same 155 (or so, this is of course the subject of much debate) characters.

Brands will always need new ways of making products look unique. Users will always crave an experience that feels fresh. Typography is by no means a new discipline, even before the invention of the printing press and movable type, there were still individuals who were sought after for their ability to transcribe tomes in their own particular style.