Elisabeth Bolzon

Basgar

TypeParis17 diploma

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.

Specimen

The printed specimen designed for this typeface.