Renegade
I am fascinated by Devanagari calligraphy. Since it is part of my culture and I have done a lot of traditional Devanagari calligraphy, I couldn’t help but notice the many similarities between blackletter and Devanagari calligraphy, such as the mirrored pen angle, verticality, calligraphic strokes, sharp angles, and much more. This inspired me to create a typeface based on blackletter.
Upon studying blackletter from various references and using calligraphy on both small and large scales to properly understand the ductus, form, and proportions, I found that there are various styles of blackletter, and I would need to choose one as my base to work on. I chose Textura.
My goal was to revive and modernize Gothic/Textura typography. Known for its intricate shapes and uniform proportions, Gothic typography is highly decorative but often hard to read, which led to its decline over time. I aimed to make this typeface more legible and readable by incorporating humanistic proportions while retaining its unique historical character. For reference, I used 16th-century calligraphic texts from Typofonderie. After creating some letters and making major design decisions, I developed a well-defined system for the typeface to come alive.
Introducing ‘Renegade,’ a humanist Textura typeface for all your rebellions. The type family hosts five weights and six styles, based on four masters: Regular, Black, Reverse Narrow Black, and Narrow Thin. The family aims to present blackletter from a fresh perspective where it can be used both as a traditional humanist blackletter and as a modern contemporary typeface. This is a variable font with multiple character variants and stylistic sets. So, have fun with it!
The 6-week type design programme that you’ve been waiting for starts on 4 June and ends 12 July 2024.
Our summer programme is in English and covers typeface design and calligraphy techniques, type history, and software practices. Every kind of design professional can learn about type design in a relatively short amount of time.
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