When choosing a font for the layout of his own book, «Hacer y Componer» («Making and Composing»), Francisco Gálvez decided that the best option would be to design a new typeface that would respond well to the requirements of the book, such as the coexistence of different scripts from around the world on the same page. The result of this design process, which ran parallel to the book’s gestation, is the Otta typeface that we present here. Otta is a versatile design that integrates a dynamic sense of writing (both calligraphic & typographic) with an essence that could be described as artisanal, like hand-drawn lettering. The latter is experienced as a personal reaction to the often unthinking acceptance of the advance of AI as a consumer good. Francisco shares valuable milestones in the self-taught journey he took to design Otta, a family that now includes extended versions of Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, and Latin panUnicode. He also reveals secrets of type design, in this case closely linked to book design, two crafts that the author practices with passion. Otta is undoubtedly Francisco Gálvez’s masterpiece to date. Here are the motivations & challenges that guided him in the design of this typeface.  Read

What enigmatic relations of convergence and divergence are woven between literature and cinema? What secret devices aesthetically connect a film, its script-book and the editorial design of that book? These and other questions arise and unfold their singular charm in the pen of Paule Palacios-Dalens, an inquisitive Parisian designer equally passionate about book design, typography, literature and cinema. Her detailed tour begins with “Hiroshima Mon amour”, the famous film by Alain Resnais and scripted by Marguerite Duras. Only for equally passionate and curious readers, here is the translation of a revealing essay by Paule, originally published as “Hiroshima dans la Blanche. Marguerite Duras’s introduction to cinema” by the independent label 202 éditions, then in the French online cinema magazine Débordements. A gourmet delight for lovers of cinema, literature and design.  Read

Carolinéale is a typeface family whose design I started at the end of 2014, when I integrated the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique, in Nancy (FR). I had then the project to work on a typographic version of Carolingian musical notations. The alphabetical typeface associated with this work has evolved since then. Thanks to the support of the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (FR) and the sharp eye of Alejandro Lo Celso, I was able to create a complete typeface family. On the occasion of its publication by PampaType, I would like to come back to the principles that guided the design of its forms.  Read