pratibharaman616@gmail.com

kirby Typeface | Typography

Adobe Illustrator, InDesign

BACKGROUND: For this project, we built a lowercase typeface from scratch.

DESIGN PROBLEM: Create a typeface with strong and cohesive structure that is also organic, flowy, and could be used for modern brands to capture Millennial and Gen Z consumers.

DESIGN PROCESS: I started by experimenting with found objects around my home, working with materials ranging from blueberries and makeup to jewelry and ginger peels, eventually landing on bobby pins. To begin, I placed bobby pins on my desk and built out four initial characters (a, h, s, i), eventually expanding into a full word (‘adhesion’).

The letters were then brought in Photoshop where I removed the background and turned the images black and white. Using Image Trace in Illustrator, an individual bobby pin was turned into a vector and I constructed specific shapes for bowls, counters, stems, terminals, and spines that would repeat across characters. From this, I was able to create an entire set of lowercase letters that were further refined using the pen tool to achieve consistency between all the type aspects.

1. Built letters from bobby pins and photographed to spell ‘adhesion’

2. Uploaded pin images to AI and Image Traced, rearranging to modular forms

3. Expanded pins to have more weight and moved from squares to hexagons. Didn’t feel this was ultimately cohesive.

4. Switched back to modular and focused on making all elements cohesive.

5. Final form of first six letters

DESIGN SOLUTION: My typeface ended up being a display font which I named ‘kirby’ after the original name for ‘bobby pin’. While the typeface initially seemed to be modular and rigid during the creation phase, it ended up becoming more organic, with wobbly counters and wavy stems, in the editing phase.

WINE BAR

I imagined the typeface used for the logo of a modern wine bar, so I experimented with one that already exists in Copenhagen called Pompette. The typeface looks liquidy, like it’s dripping down the skeleton of each character, so it feels appropriate for a bar specializing in organic wine and chic snacks.

Sign mockup

JAZZ FESTIVAL

I also experimented using this typeface for a jazz festival. The characters are energized, almost like they’re in motion. Inspired by this, I created a design system with different instruments and color stories for each poster, either utilizing the characters to be dancing or as notes coming from the instruments.