The Glif

A minimal gadget accessory adorned only with four glyphs of Estilo Script.

Contributed by Stephen Coles on Jan 5th, 2011. Artwork published in

2011

The Glif is a tripod mount and stand for the iPhone 4. The brilliantly simple design by Tom Gerhardt and Dan Provost made headlines for raising a whopping $137,417 on Kickstarter and legitimizing the platform as a way for small startups to realize product ideas. What won’t make headlines is the Glif’s logo, but I think it deserves at least one small mention, so here we are.

The Glif logo is Estilo Script with a modified ‘l’ and ‘f’ for better spacing. The ‘gl’ pair is a tiny bit tight.

The product design is minimal: a single piece of hard rubber, quietly serving its multiple purposes without flair. Its only decoration is the logo, set in Estilo Script, an art deco inspired typeface by Portugal’s Dino dos Santos. Such a short word offers opportunity for a little flourish and Estilo’s tailed ‘f’ provides it without going over the top. The designers only needed to tighten the font’s spacing, remove the ‘l’ tail, trim the ‘f’ crossbar, and — voilà — a balanced logotype right out of the box.

The Estilo Family (DSType): Estilo Script, Estilo, Estilo Text, Estilo Pro

The Estilo family has gained in popularity with each year since its debut in 2006, and was recently expanded with a Pro version featuring sharp edges (in lieu of the original’s rounded ones) and all the ligatures and swashes built in.

By the way, typographers are probably wondering if the Glif’s name is intentionally similar to one of their favorite words. Yes, it is. From the FAQs:

Somewhere along the design process we realized that our product was taking on a unique form, almost like a typographical glyph.

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2 Comments on “The Glif”

Dave A says:
Jan 6th, 2011 4:39 am

It's probably more than coincidence that the 'f' in the logo bears a striking resemblance to the actual product's silhouette.
Stephen Coles says:
Jan 6th, 2011 11:23 am

Ahem … after over 200 words I'm ashamed I didn't mention that. Thanks, Dave!