Germanico 99 Typeface
Inspired by the simplicity of handwriting, Jim Rimmer’s (super) intricate typeface design process, and a love for hand done typography, I give you Germanico 99. As the first alphabet I’ve ever created in full, this project sits close to my heart. Germanico 99 was named for the culture I observed during a beautiful and somewhat magical study abroad semester in Italy. Visually she doesn’t look very Italian, but the process to create her and her final lighthearted and wonky shape reflect the feeling that Italy left in me. Each letterform began its life as a grid on a piece of paper. I wanted to explore tall and even letterforms as most of the hand done type I create is more free flowing; built on extending lines rather than making shapes. A Sharpie highlighter made it’s first move, then a pencil went in to straighten out some of the kinks. The grids then made their way into Glyphs and voila! Is she a little wonky? Yes. Most definitely. But is that a part of her charm? I guess I’ll leave that one up to you.
The Making of Germanico 99
Inspiration + Exploration
The first semester of my senior year I took a Typeface Design class, and this lovely lady was the result of 16 week long labor. We began the class with small exercises focused on discovery, design, and the mechanics of building and designing letters. Pictured above are some images of type “found in the wild” (as the assignment was titled) that I personally enjoyed and was influenced by in the creation of Germanico 99. As a class we ventured to the Free Library in Philadelphia and spent hours pouring over type specimen books, type design how to books, and magazines from the 1920’s to now. I was especially influenced by a documentary style video we watched in class detailing the intricate and expansive design process of Jim Rimmer, a typographer who still creates letterpress typefaces in the basement of his New Westminster home.
Initial Forms
Pulling inspiration from some modular type exercises, I began this process by creating a grid that would be the structure for each of my letters. I worked over a light table with an orange sharpie highlighter and let myself explore how I would naturally write these letters. I wanted to challenge myself to create a standard thickness on each stroke and found a system developing as I worked. In the
Jim Rimmer video, he began with a thick marker and used a thinner pen to perfect his lines and curves. I did the same but with a pencil (an eraser was necessary). I really enjoy lettering by hand- it’s a prominent part of most of my design projects- and I tried to push myself to make a more rigid, controlled set of letters as most of the type I draw buy hand
is loose, flowing, and varies in stroke width.
Into the Computer She Goes
After I was satisfied with the shapes on paper, I photographed them and imported them into Photoshop. I cleaned up the scans, resized the photos to be the same size, and into Glyphs they went. Weeks were spent tracing, tweaking, perfecting, and critiquing the letters until their final forms were reached. While the letters are a bit more playful and wonky than what I originally had aimed for, I enjoy the hand-done quality they possess. When I search for a font I treasure and fall in love with it is largely due to small imperfections that give personality to my projects. I often find myself geeking out about type and having the opportunity to learn the nuances of designing a typeface of my own is something I will always be grateful for. Plus, I can actually type on my computer with letters I created- that’s kind of cool :)
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Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Design and Illustration Program
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SPECIAL TOPICS: Typeface Design
3015 – 701 - 50510 -
Dermot MacCormack