What is it that makes letters elegant?

elementi — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 14:46:45 +0000

I always tried to achieve a certain elegance in my typeface creations. Which is an elegance to be confronted with youth, the female body, but at the same time a certain classicism. And yes, letters and alphabets suitable for luxury products. Things that are resembled in this photography. What do we see here? Sunlight. Wine. A beautiful young woman. The clearly visible structure of her legs’ bones. Difficult, ambiguous areas as in the zones around her knees. Where we see parts of bones that seem to fight for prominence. Subtle parts of her skin where the sunlight flows between her skin’s hair. But, as well, a certain hint at luxury, #allure, warmth and elegant Renaissance architecture in her background. We may think of Chanel’s logotype. The simplicity of those lines. Instinctively we search for products on this table to be marked with its appearance. We might as well imagine the scent of this young lady. ‘G’ and ‘A’ from Advanced typeface in the process of growth. What I like about this character, as an example, are the well pronounced horizontal lines. Which is a one of the tricks to add elegance to a sans serif font. And, even though it is much easier to balance a letter’s structure with elements that add stability (as it is the vertical foot line in Helvetica’s ‘G’, for an example), I tried to renounce them. Upper parts of this ‘G’ are still way before being perfect. It might take further months or years to elaborate this character’s lines. Just as long as I am inspired by images of beauty combined with personal dreams, personal artistic views on a world which is (we know that by reason) non existent. But, which we still admire and reach out to express.

Another Mirroring

elementi — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 06:58:42 +0000

Another view of Natalia in Dior masterly captured by Peter Lindbergh side by side with the minor letter ‘r’ during design process of Reflection Italic character which later evolved into Reflection Ecriture. The base of the stroke separation in the glyphs like ‘n’, ‘m’, ‘h’ and ‘r’ was pushed down to the bottom almost a little beyond baseline to enhance the flow of the letters and add more of a handwritten character to it. I also experimented with more evidenced calligraphic turning points obtained by inserted interim curves or straight lines into its curves. Reflection Ecriture is conceived as an exclusive font for perfume design and should reflect the classic luxurious elegance of Christian Dior fashion griffe. You may also view it on Instagram and comment on it if you like. Credits: Peter Lindbergh | Photography Natalia Vodianova | Model

Luxury – Fragments of Beauty

What is it that makes letters elegant?

Another Mirroring