The latest addition to our type library is a typeface conceived and developed in Mexico that delves into a style little explored in contemporary type design. With both a historical and innovative approach, Gorgias seeks to revitalize the blackletter tradition through a sophisticated and functional interpretation that, made with great passion for detail, results in a renewed and versatile version of the Fraktur style, and in turn in one of the most complete proposals of the genre in today’s type scene. This text traces the foundations and motivations in the design process of Gorgias, explores its formal and functional aspects and highlights its potential to enrich projects with an evocative and dynamic visual aesthetic.  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

Second and final installment of Tere Schultz’s text on Tuscan letters. Those decorative objects, delicate or extravagant, that inhabit the streets and typographic catalogues of all times, without losing an iota of expressive force. The product of ornamental ingenuity, Tuscan vernaculars dress the street signs of Mexico as much as the stained glass windows of Paris, the ‘fileteados porteños’ of Buenos Aires or the hulls of fishing boats in the Amazon waters. Against this notorious and implausible decorative ubiquity, which alarms many, in the first part of this article Schultz unfolded, like a healing balm, his hypothesis of how the Tuscan style would have been born of a mischievous interpretation of the inscriptions on stone. In this second chapter, it only remains to delight us with some examples of Tuscan vernaculars from some corners of the world.  Read

Tere Schultz delivers a new literary and typographic divertimento for passionate readers. This time she follows one of her personal fixations: the Tuscan letters. Those ornamental objects, delicate or extravagant, that inhabit streets and typographic catalogs of all times, without losing an iota of expressive force. The product of decorative ingenuity, Tuscan vernaculars dress the street signs of Mexico as much as the stained glass windows of Paris, the ‘fileteado porteño’ of Buenos Aires signs or the hulls of fishing boats in the Amazon waters. However, this decorative ubiquity, notorious and implausible, alarms many. Fortunately, like a healing balm, Schultz will deploy here her original hypothesis, suspiciously unexplored, of how the Tuscan style would have been born from a mischievous interpretation of the stone inscriptions (wrongly) called lapidary. Although perhaps here the term ‘lapidary’ is appropriate, since the idea caught the author strolling through a cemetery. (Warning: sensitive material. Agnostic typographers and designers of little faith, please refrain).  Read

Printed or filmed, Jean-Luc Godard’s graphic production surprises by its frequency and formal audacity. Whether inserts or credits, trailers or commercials, press kits or special issues, all of his work bears his trademark, even if his signature does not always formally attest to it. A particular facet of his graphic work here concerns his use of typefaces.  Read

Francis Ramel, member of Nouvelle étiquette, French graphic design bureau based in Metz and in Strasbourg, portrays the challenges and unfolds the design process of this singular project: the design of a bespoke typeface family to be used for the identity and signage system of the cathedral Saint-Étienne de Metz (FR), which turns 800 years old in 2020. This challenging type design task was undertaken jointly by Nouvelle étiquette and the PampaType foundry, which has been a privileged partner of the studio for years.  Read

Francisco Gálvez presents to us his daring reattempt at a type categorization, a much broader and versatile one, more suitable to our times. The author rethinks the values of preceding classifications and reinterprets them in a new model, one that does not seek to be a classification in itself but an original instrument to situate and study the diversity of today’s typefaces.  Read

We are proud of this project: The design of a typeface for the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina, an educational institution of more than 400 years, the first in the country and one of the earliest in the continent. As part of the celebration for the hundred years of the University Reform, which occurred in this house in 1918, the UNC commissioned PampaType the design of a typeface to address their multiple communication needs. The resulting design, ‘Reforma’, is a multi-form family with diverse styles. In this article we share a bit of context, all the design process, some of our drawings and production details, and a few insights harvested throughout this 3-year fruitful experience.  Read

El universo de la tipografía está lleno de sutilezas y detalles, de formas que transmiten ideologías a través de sus trazos. El espécimen tipográfico es el mundo que antecede a la puesta en página y donde sobran pretextos para observar el color de la trama, el contraste, el espacio entre las líneas y las letras; es el lugar donde se originan las combinaciones infinitas de los signos que esperan inertes y que aún no toman sentido en un discurso, pero que son para disfrutarse. Esta reflexión pretende esbozar el vasto mundo de una herramienta tan importante, poco recurrida y bastante desaprovechada en nuestros días. Para entenderla, es preciso conocer sus orígenes y el desarrollo que tuvo en las distintas épocas. (Tercera y última entrega del texto.)  Read

El universo de la tipografía está lleno de sutilezas y detalles, de formas que transmiten ideologías a través de sus trazos. El espécimen tipográfico es el mundo que antecede a la puesta en página y donde sobran pretextos para observar el color de la trama, el contraste, el espacio entre las líneas y las letras; es el lugar donde se originan las combinaciones infinitas de los signos que esperan inertes y que aún no toman sentido en un discurso, pero que son para disfrutarse. Esta reflexión pretende esbozar el vasto mundo de una herramienta tan importante, poco recurrida y bastante desaprovechada en nuestros días. Para entenderla, es preciso conocer sus orígenes y el desarrollo que tuvo en las distintas épocas. (Esta es la segunda de tres entregas del texto.)  Read

El universo de la tipografía está lleno de sutilezas y detalles, de formas que transmiten ideologías a través de sus trazos. El espécimen tipográfico es el mundo que antecede a la puesta en página y donde sobran pretextos para observar el color de la trama, el contraste, el espacio entre las líneas y las letras; es el lugar donde se originan las combinaciones infinitas de los signos que esperan inertes y que aún no toman sentido en un discurso, pero que son para disfrutarse. Esta reflexión pretende esbozar el vasto mundo de una herramienta tan importante, poco recurrida y bastante desaprovechada en nuestros días. Para entenderla, es preciso conocer sus orígenes y el desarrollo que tuvo en las distintas épocas. (Esta es la primera de tres entregas del texto.)  Read

This essay was the original dissertation I wrote for the MA in Typeface Design at the University of Reading, UK, 2000. Since then it has met some popularity. It was slightly adjusted years later for its publication under TypeCulture.com and also under lpdme.org. Of course some references may feel out of date by now. However I believe its ideas and insights are mostly perennial.  Read

Segunda y última entrega del 1er capítulo del libro “Tipografía en Latinoamérica. Orígenes e identidad”, editado por Cecilia Consolo y publicado por Blucher en Brasil, 2013. Sus editores han aceptado amablemente publicarlo aquí. Es una mirada retrospectiva y muy personal de la historia de la tipografía europea desde Gutenberg a la era digital. Pretender abarcar semejante lapso de tiempo en tan poco espacio habilita a posibles exageraciones y reduccionismos. El objetivo ha sido intentar provocar al lector a continuar su propia búsqueda. La primera parte toca en los episodios significativos desde el tipo móvil alemán de fines del s. XV, la escuela humanista italiana, Jenson, Manucio y Griffo, la Edad de Oro francesa del s. XVI, de Tory a Garamond y Robert Granjon. La 2da parte retoma en el barroco neerlandés del s. XVII e intenta referir los hitos fundamentales de la producción británica, ibérica, alemana, y holandesa, incluido el empuje en tipo digital de La Haya. A modo didáctico, imágenes comparativas de anatomía y evolución de las formas tipográficas se han sumado al final de esta 2da parte. (Escrito en Ciudad de México, 10 de enero de 2010.)  Read

Primera de dos entregas del 1er capítulo del libro “Tipografía en Latinoamérica. Orígenes e identidad”, editado por Cecilia Consolo y publicado por Blucher en Brasil, 2013. Sus editores han aceptado amablemente publicarlo aquí. Es una mirada retrospectiva y muy personal de la historia de la tipografía europea desde Gutenberg a la era digital. Pretender abarcar semejante lapso de tiempo en tan poco espacio habilita a posibles exageraciones y reduccionismos. El objetivo ha sido intentar provocar al lector a continuar su propia búsqueda. La primera parte toca en los episodios significativos desde el tipo móvil alemán de fines del s. XV, la escuela humanista italiana, Jenson, Manucio y Griffo, hasta la Edad de Oro francesa del s. XVI, de Tory a Garamond y Robert Granjon. La 2da parte retoma en el barroco neerlandés del s. XVII e intenta referir los hitos fundamentales de la producción británica, ibérica, alemana, y holandesa, incluido el empuje en tipo digital de La Haya. A modo didáctico, imágenes comparativas de anatomía y evolución de las formas tipográficas en Occidente se han sumado al final de la 2da parte. (Escrito en Ciudad de México, 10 de enero de 2010.)  Read

This detectivesque chronicle written by journalist Feike de Jong reopened the chests of the mysterious case of an early 17th century punch cutter from The Netherlands named Nicolaes Briot. Originally published by the Czech magazine TYPO, in their issue of Spring 2011, the editors have kindly allowed us to reproduce it here. Stay tuned, the second part of this story is under editing. (The Briot project is part of a wider revival program on historical sources carried out by PampaType since 2004. In the case of Briot, it has been so far the result of a collaboration between John Lane and Alejandro Lo Celso.)  Read

This short article touches on the issue of typeface revivalism. It describes the early enthusiasm of recovering type classics in the beginning of 20th century; then it states a revival case study under its multiple attempts; and finally discusses some polemic matters around the subject. This text was part of the output as a student of the MA in Typeface Design, at the University of Reading, in May 2000. The good parts shall be credited to my tutor at the time, Dr. Christopher Burke. On the contrary all the mistakes are mine. In further texts we shall come back to this extremely important subject.  Read

Since its release Margarita have met much sympathy. No doubt it is a passionate type. One can easily relate its anatomy to Romanticism, Neoclassicism, or for that matter to the deeply emotional character everyone ascribe to Italians! a bit of a cliché…  Read

I wrote this essay in 2000 when I was a student at the MA in Type Design at the University of Reading. I intended to explore the history and development of multi-style type families across the 20th century. Nowadays the idea of 'series' is much present in current type industry, almost every new family comes in different styles. Fluid digital technology on one side, the constant push of the font industry on the other, have all made type design to challenge traditional classification approaches. In that sense I think this text has still some contribution to make.  Read