Basgar
Basgar started with exploring the connections between the sister cities Bristol and Bordeaux, which I am both familiar with. Town twinning – the modern concept born out of WWII to maintain and promote international peaceful relationships – materialises through trading and socio-cultural exchanges. My investigations led me to devise the idea of a typeface that would celebrate the common history and culture the two cities share.
The creation of the typeface is grounded in research about Garamond and Baskerville, from a historical angle to the more technical and structural specificities of the two character sets. After identifying the similarities and differences, I went on to design a kind of hybrid text face.
Basgar is therefore commemorative, referencing historical and cultural shared heritage; it takes on features from both Baskerville (UK) and Garamond (FR) with generous proportions, wide counters, diagonal axis and visually strong diacritics.
The 6-week type design programme that you’ve been waiting for starts on 3 June and ends 11 July 2025
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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