How can a typeface integrate uncommon letter components that are subtle enough to be conventionally readable?
During my summer internship, I applied my passion and knowledge in type design to a commercially viable typeface. Gilbert Street started as a small collection of uppercase letters developed by Studio J Lorne’s creative director, Jason Lorne Giles. We collaborated to finish this typeface’s first font to demonstrate the studio’s potential for conventional text typefaces.
The first collection of letters consisted of proportions that were vaguely old-style. To finish the rest of the uppercase characters, I gathered inspiration from my commute between home and this studio. These inspirations helped determine the proportions of other letters and the nature of the serifs throughout this typeface.
Dr. Gerard Unger’s Theory of Type Design was an important source of knowledge that supported the development of this typeface’s personality. The lessons in balancing legibility and expressiveness served in how I would explore the different letterforms.
It’s time to cook some hamburgers! The first sketches take a word like ‘hamburger’, helping the collaborator understand the decisions we still need to make, like the x-height, descenders and ascenders, and our selection of terminals.
These elements would be reworked and reconsidered throughout the digitization process, like the switch from teardrop terminals to a bracketed slab serif. To keep the consistency of form, some glyphs and elements were updated to reflect these changes, like the punctuation marks and swashes. These forms were unfamiliar to me, but they were an engaging challenge that supported my growth in skill.
