Quintet

Today’s large font families allow graphic designers to easily create variation — using different weights, widths, or italics — while retaining stylistic consistency. Kunihiko Okano, who is also an experienced package designer, chose an unusual way of creating a useful palette of fonts.

How do you achieve typographic diversity in display use? The layered approach of Quintet gives the designer a toolbox that allows exploration of different shades within the same underlying model. Different weights are implemented in an unconventional way: instead of varying the main strokes, Quintet varies the weight of the outline. And this contour itself is maybe the most remarkable feature of the font: it is in fact broadnib-based double stroke drawn as a single, connected line. This technique itself has been practised by calligraphers for centuries, albeit in ornaments and illustrations, not the letterforms themselves. This way, Quintet gives us the pleasure to enjoy it not only once at first sight but again as we discover its clever loops and connections.

You could think of so many design possibilities with Quintet, as well as applications. It could be perfect for chocolate packaging or cosmetics — perhaps each layer printed in a different colour, or maybe one layer embossed, or even better foil blocked? It is not often in student projects that one could instantly see applications of the font so clearly.

Quintet was originally developed at the type]media type design course in The Hague. If we remember correctly, the first two of the unofficial rules of the program are “Make it extreme” and “Enough is enough”, and Quintet is a perfect example of this. It is remarkable in that it implements so many concepts without looking like a mash-up. Despite its richness, the typeface looks strangely simple and systematic. It must have taken a lot of self-discipline, trying and discarding of options. Hats off!

Sodachrome

Display type invites experimentation and creativity, and fortunately Dan Rhatigan and Ian Moore have poured a lot of that into Sodachrome. I find the concept very appealing and I believe it pushes the boundaries of conventional type design.

First, Sodachrome is a chromatic typeface. That in itself is nothing new, but one of its inherent qualities is the way the two layers depend on each other. Chromaticism here is not only a visual gadget, but a faculty without which the design would not function.

Sodachrome consists of two individual fonts — left and right. Set by themselves, those fonts are (to say the least) very odd looking. But when set on top of each other, the two halves produce a whole: a beefy, sturdy serif face.

This is the moment where color — and genius — come into play: overprinting the two fonts in different colors results in beautiful, three-colored words, and immediately the viewer experiences a bright, refreshing look — the look of Sodachrome!

As an added bonus, the letter-halves have been drawn in a way that the overprinted middle reveals a modern sans-serif design. This is awesome.

Use Sodachrome for all kinds of work. I imagine everything crazy going perfectly well with it. Especially when using manual techniques (e.g. screen printing, risography, etc.) in combination with bright colors, fabulous results are ensured.

Sodachrome was designed some years ago, but it was only in 2012 that it became part of House Industries’ Photo-Lettering service; and I think there is really no better place for it. Leveraging the power of Photo-Lettering, designers will not have to go out of their way to achieve dazzling, chromatic effects. The Sodachrome experience is clear from the beginning … and users rejoice.

Finally, the name is just perfect! Sodachrome! No other typeface could be named like that.