Type Life #3
Magazine title set in SangBleu Empire, number in SangBleu Courtesan, subtitle in TheW Clan ODB and fine print in Suisse Int’l.
In the third issue of Type Life, Swiss Typefaces take a look beyond their own work and celebrate contemporary type made by others. The Swiss design studio compiled a selection of their favorite typefaces, licensed the fonts and used them to design a magazine. The resulting specimen of “Non-Swiss Typefaces We Like 1569–2018” comes with a text by Florian Hardwig (Fonts In Use) and is visually enriched with works by lettering artist Julien Priez (boogypaper).
Type Life 3 showcases 19 fonts from 19 international foundries: 29Letters, Adobe Type, Commercial Type, CSTM Fonts, Dinamo Typefaces, DSType, Extrabrut.Shop, Future Fonts, Hoefler & Co., Letters From Sweden, Linotype, Milieu Grotesque, Or Type, Production Type, Sharp Type, Sportsfonts.com, The Enschedé Font Foundry, Typotheque, and Velvetyne Typefoundry. The selection is a representative sample for the diversity in type design and gives an illuminating overview of the current scene. While the majority of the fonts was released in the past few years, many draw inspiration from all kinds of sources from previous eras. There is blackletter, script, slab serif, sans serif, and more. This – a stress on newness, historical references, and a vast stylistic plurality – reflects three major trends in today’s typography, as Florian Hardwig points out in his introduction. Other recurring themes that he identifies as being symptomatic for 2018 include highly conceptual projects and a quest for extreme aesthetics. At the same time there are functional fonts designed to solve specific problems. Just like the fonts, the type designers who created them have diverse backgrounds, in terms of geography, or how they entered the field. The represented distribution models range from traditional licensing to subscriptions, free and open-sourced fonts, as well as experimental or even unfinished releases.
Each issue of Type Life features a guest contributor. This time it’s the up-and-coming French lettering artist Julien Priez. A graduate of École Estienne, Paris, he’s a member of the international collective High on Type, best known for organizing the annual festival All Eyes on Type. Priez gives workshops at various schools and is an instructor at the prestigious TypeParis program. His work oscillates between the analog and the digital. Alphabets are first calligraphed, then cut in wood, and eventually digitized. Priez is just as comfortable painting meter-high letters with a triple brush on a wood fence as he is animating ornate pixel letters with kaleidoscopic patterns. Type Life #3 shows a range of his repertoire, starting with a still from his animated Nightmare Alphabet and two of his in-progress fonts Boogyroma and Boogylink on the cover. Mandinor Gothic is used to render the word “KING” on top of a kinetic gesture. The next page answers with “KONG”, in letterforms that pay homage to Jean Midolle’s Alphabet Lapidaire Monstre from 1835. With such historical references and the stunning stylistic versatility, Priez’ work is a perfect fit for the content of this issue.
At a whopping 40 pages, Type Life 3 is the most substantial issue so far. It’s printed in three Pantone spot colors plus silver and black, on two different paper stocks including transparent paper.
“Dream” set in Boogyroma and “Chasers” set in Boogylink, two in-progress typefaces by Julien Priez. Foundry names set in TheW Clan GZA by Swiss Typefaces. The caption that mentions the typefaces is set in Suisse Int’l Condensed.
Essay, set in SangBleu Republic (body text) and Suisse Int’l Mono (streamers, side notes). The green type on the left and at the very top of the right page is KOPYME As Uzual.
Galapagos (Felix Salut, Dinamo) and Xprmntal 01 (CSTM Fonts) visiting each other’s page. Typeface names (top) are in KRSNA. In the margins left and right, the foundry names are set in stacked letters from KOPYME (Swiss Typefaces).
On the left, a page from the book Il perfetto Scrittore Di M. Gio. Francesco Cresci, Italy, 16th century. On the right, (raster) pattern tiles are mixed with Frank Adebiaye’s Montchauve (Velvetyne).
Perfil (DSType) and Cardinal (Production Type). Cameo: Magnificat.
Julien Priez’ Mandinor Gothic in combination with his lettering.
Pattern by Julien Priez, printed in fluorescent and metallic ink.
Times Europa (Linotype) vs. Line (Letters from Sweden), with interventions by Good Vibrations and Block Up (Letraset).
Thesaurus Display (Typotheque) × Respira Black (Sharp Type)
Feature page with Benoît Brun’s Shakotan (work in progress), printed in neon spot color.
On the left, a selection of A monograms (mostly dating back to the 15th and 16th century) shine through their overlying page with a big silver A set in Bram de Does’ Lexicon No. 2 (The Enschedé Font Foundry).
Pull quote in SangBleu Sunrise, printed in silver metallic ink.
Back cover with a sneak preview of the upcoming KOPYME and SuisseU.
2 Comments on “Type Life #3”
The typeface in the currently released Boogy Brut family renames Boogylink to BBWB (a.k.a. Boogy Brut Wild Black).
Thank you, Jay. We have updated the entry and added the members of the Boogy Brut series to the database.
For those looking for Boogyroma: There is no direct equivalent in Bureau Brut’s retail release. However, Boogy Brut Poster Black appears to be an evolution and extension.