Brutal Beauties

 

Brutalism is a thing in almost every other art form, why shouldn’t type design have a go at it? The hallmarks of brutalism are a rawness or honesty in the materials used to create the object. Kris Sowersby quotes Peter Smithson to define it: "Brutalism is not concerned with the material as such but rather the quality of the material, that is with the question: what can it do?" And Nick Sherman attributes his Marionette design to W.A Dwiggins' ‘M-formula’ technique of using flat planes and sharp edges for features meant to be seen at small sizes. Either way you get there, Brutalism is about leaning into an inherent potential of digital type — something we're just starting to see bubble up. 

 

Marionette

Details:

Foundry: HEX Projects
Designed by: Nick Sherman, Available on Future Fonts
Release Date: Week 04, 2021

Family: 1 Font with more planned.
Price: 45 USD per font

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Principia

Details:

Foundry: Letterror
Designed by: Jordi Embodas
Release Date: 2022

Family: 15 Fonts — 7 widths of roman and italic styles, 1 variable font
Price: 90 EUR per 7 font bundle, 150 EUR for the variable font

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Signifier

Details:

Foundry: Klim Type Foundry
Designed by: Kris Sowersby
Engineering by: Noe Blanco
Additional Contributions by: Bethany Heck, Dave Foster, Dean Poole, & Kelvin Soh
Release Date: August 25, 2020

Family: 40 Fonts — 20 weights of roman and italic styles
Price: 35 EUR per font, 198 EUR for the full collection.

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Dark Matter

Details:

Foundry: Altiplano Type Foundry
Designed by: ?
Release Date: Week 05, 2022

Family: 1 Font
Price: 90 CHF per font

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Ella

Details:

Foundry: Type-O-Tones
Designed by: Laura Meseguer
Release Date: Week 43, 2022

Family: 8 Fonts in 4 styles — 2 weights in each style
Price: 44 EUR per font, 330 EUR for the family

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Know of any other fonts or typefaces that are popping up in this bubble?
Send your suggestion our way on Twitter!

 

Kyle ReadBrutalism