"I would listen with awe and think, 'That must have been a real challenge. It must be exquisitely crafted and probably a little bit groundbreaking too.' So it feels slightly absurd to admit that my last typeface, Nave, also took around ten years to complete. Not because I spent a decade polishing outlines or expanding the character set, but because I took so many wrong turns trying to chase a vision I hadn't properly defined."
"The style I was chasing demanded a level of finesse and subtlety that was well beyond my skill at the time. In hindsight, I probably should have begun with something simpler, but I would have missed out on the most useful part of the journey: the lessons that come from getting it wrong."
"In one class we experimented with mark making using different brushes. I was taken by the loose, fluid strokes and began wondering whether they could be shaped into a more formal structure that matched my taste in letterforms. At that stage I had no idea how it might be achieved, but naivety drove me on."
A type designer shares their experience developing Nave, a typeface that took approximately ten years to complete. Rather than spending a decade perfecting details, the extended timeline resulted from pursuing a poorly defined artistic vision through multiple failed approaches. The designer transitioned from web design to type design after attending an intensive summer course at the University of Reading, where they studied under renowned tutors including Gerry Leonidas, Gerard Unger, and Fiona Ross. During a mark-making exercise using various brushes, the designer became inspired by loose, fluid strokes and began exploring how to transform them into a more formal letterform structure aligned with their aesthetic preferences, despite lacking initial technical knowledge of how to achieve this goal.
Read at I Love Typography Ltd
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