by

Andrea Bianchi

HELVETICA
FUCKING
TIRED
SO
I’M

OF

A curated collection of new types

that have character. Weird and
unusual shapes for those who are
fucking tired of Helvetica.
I’m so fucking tired of Helvetica,
August 2018

━3
In the past painters, typographers and
then the first “graphic designers” used
typefaces as a form of art. Not only giant
drop caps but entire words or phrases
written using strong characters, most of
the times created from scratch.
Here are the main reasons:
To collect the unconventional typefaces I
like the most.
To fight the flattened use of typography.

Then came the Futurism and they also
tried to free typography, not to make art,
but to communicate in a more striking
ways ideas that a single serif font could
not express.
To show that also unconventional
typefaces can be used in commercial
projects.

What we see nowadays is a flattened use

of typography. Same sans or serifs are
used in fashion, food, erotic magazines
and music covers. Seems like we lost the
ability (or the courage) to use letters in an
unconventional way. At the same time,
never like before we see new typefaces
made by new foundries. As many of them
are childish or nonsense, there are some
that are excellent and unique.

Inspired by this controversial situation I

decided to assemble this little book.

4━ ━5
 Index

8
Digestive by Studio Triple

16 Brutal by Bb-bureau

24 bb-book A by Bb-bureau

32 Maelstrom by Klim Type Foundry

40 Clifton by 205TF

48
IKANSEEYOUALL by Swiss Typefaces

56 SAVATE by Velvetyne

64 Trickster by Velvetyne

72 Solide mirage by Velvetyne

80 Beatrice Display by Sharp Type

6━ ━7
 Foundry: Studio Triple
Digestive — by studio triple
Year: 2018

8━ ━9
Designer: Font: By:
Jérémy Landes Digestive Studio Triple Taking inspirations from outside the typo-
graphic world, Digestive borrows shapes
from the submarine universe (mainly se-
aweeds) and from anatomic parts, organs
and guts. While designing this typeface,
I tried to make a balance between so-
mething attractive and repulsive. This
made me add some food related inspira-
tions as I cook a lot. Call it long Italian pa-
stas with a sticky sauce for example. Hen-
ce the name, Digestive.

Considering its tall proportions, Gothic /

Art Nouveau inspirations, fluid shapes and
under construction process, Digestive
could be seen as the humble typographic
cousin to Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí’s
Sagrada Familia. We all hope that it will be
finished before its eldest.

At first, I thought that I couldn’t draw lower-

cases as strange and with a grey matching
the uppercases but they came to me
some months later. Now they seem essen-
tial.

10 ━ ━ 11
Alphabet and

Semi-bold
numbers

Extrabold
Ultralight

Medium
Regular

Italics
Black
Light

Light

Bold
Styles:

A B C
a b c
Uppercase:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
PQRSTUVWXYZ
Lowercase:

1 2 3
abcdefghijklmno
pqrstuvwxyz

Punctuation: Numbers:

. , : ; ( ) ! ? “ 1234567890
12 ━ ━ 13
In use

Beursschouwburg 2018 program

by: Atelier Brendal, Amélie Bakker

Thomas Kosmala Paris

by: Concrete

14 ━ ━ 15
Brutal — by bb-bureau

Foundry: Bb-bureau
Year: 2017

16 ━ ━ 17
Designer: Font: By:
Benoît Bodhuin Brutal Bb-bureau Brutal is a not stencil calligraphic typeface
designed in light, regular and bold.

18 ━ ━ 19
Alphabet and

Semi-bold
numbers

Extrabold
Ultralight

Medium
Regular
A B C

Italics
Black
Light

Light

Bold
Styles:

a b c
Uppercase:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
PQRSTUVWXYZ

1 2 3
Lowercase:

abcdefghijklmno
pqrstuvwxyz

Punctuation: Numbers:

. , : ; ( ) ! ? “ 1234567890

20 ━ ━ 21
In use

Activist 2.0
by: Max Rawlins

Snapshot
by: Joosung Kang

Adidas Originals Workshop × Blanc

by: Gerard Marin

22 ━ ━ 23
bb-book A — by bb-bureau

Foundry: Bb-bureau
Year: 2016

24 ━ ━ 25
Designer: Font: By:
Benoît Bodhuin bb-book A Bb-bureau bb-book A is an expressive book serif
(triangular and curved) kicking up weight,
width and contrast — in 4 styles: light, re-
gular, medium and bold.

26 ━ ━ 27
Alphabet and

Semi-bold
numbers

Extrabold
Ultralight

Medium
Regular

Italics
Black
Light

Light

Bold
Styles:

AB C
a b c
Uppercase:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
P Q R S T U VW X Y Z

Lowercase:

1 2 3
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o
p q r s t u v w x y z

Punctuation: Numbers:

. , : ; ( ) ! ? “ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

28 ━ ━ 29
In use

This is the Same Ocean issue 6

by: Marijn Degenaar

Big BBQ by Bite Club

by: Marijn Degenaar

30 ━ ━ 31
Maelstrom — by Klim Type

Foundry: Klim Type Foundry

Year: 2014

32 ━ ━ 33
Designer: Font: By:
Kris Sowersby Maelstrom Klim Type Foundry

Maelstrom is a reversed-stress typeface. It’s

a “perverse” typeface, to be sure, but that is
exactly its charm. It belongs to a genre that
seems destined to be perpetually a typo-
graphic outsider—never really fashionable
yet never fully abandoned.

34 ━ ━ 35
Alphabet and

Semi-bold
numbers

Extrabold
Ultralight

Medium
Regular

Italics
Black
Light

Light

Bold
A B C
Styles:

a b c
Uppercase:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
PQRSTUVWXYZ

Lowercase:

1 2 3
abcdefghijklmno
pqrstuvwxyz

Punctuation: Numbers:

. , : ; ( ) ! ? “ 1234567890

36 ━ ━ 37
In use

Enso magazine: Architects’ Own Houses

by: Anton Herasymenko

Blank Books — EP1 redesign

by: Bethany Heck

38 ━ ━ 39
Clifton — by 205tf

Foundry: 205tf
Year: 2014/2017

40 ━ ━ 41
Designer: Font: By:
Yoann Minet Clifton Klim Type Foundry rence, its name pays tribute to musician
Clifton Chenier, father of Zydeco, the style
The Clifton is a reinterpretation of the of black music from French Louisiana of
Athenian typeface that was distributed the nineteen thirties.
around 1896 by the British Type Foundry.
It is also close to the Fantail typeface pro-
posed by the American Type Founders.
This typeface, with its inverted contrast
compensates for the finesse of its stems
through its imposing serifs that draw a
black dot in the letter, thus providing a par-
ticular sparkle to a composition. Less con-
trasted than the drawing of reference and
with its very important x-height, the Clifton
has been designed as a body text typefa-
ce.
The italic is not a simple slanting of the ro-
man but has its own design, very slender
and mobile. It has nonetheless been desi-
gned as a duo, marking the difference and
allowing for a strong contrast with the ro-
man within a text.
Its style, located somewhere between Ita-
lians and Westerns, gives this typeface the
American flavour of the latter but with a
rawer touch, as if it had come straight from
the Bayou. As a tip of the hat to this refe-
42 ━ ━ 43
Alphabet and

Semi-bold
numbers

Extrabold
Ultralight

Medium
Regular

Italics
Black
Light

Light
AB C

Bold
Styles:
+

ab c
Uppercase:

A B CDEFGHIJKLMNO
P Q RSTUVWXYZ

1 2 3
Lowercase:

a b c defghijklmno
p q rstuvwxyz

Punctuation: Numbers:

. , ! ? 1 2 3 4567890

44 ━ ━ 45
In use

Laraaji – Vision Songs Live!

by: Atelier Brenda, Nana Esi, Sophie Keij

Météorites. Entre ciel et terre

by: Fanette Mellier

46 ━ ━ 47
— by Swiss Typefaces
IKANSEEYOUALL

Foundry: Swiss Typefaces

Year: 2018

48 ━ ━ 49
Designer: Font: By:
Swiss Typefaces IKANSEEYOUALL Swiss Typefaces
In this posh display typeface, the stroke
contrast is turned up to the max: thicks are
ultrabold, while thins are mere hairlines.
IKANSEEYOUALL is brawny and delicate at
the same time. Get closer so that you can
see all the details: Arches in ‘m’ are sharp
as raptor talons. Serifs in ‘N’ or the top
arm in ‘k’ resemble rose thorns. Bowl and
leg of ‘R’ dramatically taper to meet in a
point – if this shape looks familiar, you may
be thinking of related approaches seen in
Tiffany Heavy or the Prada logo. The con-
trast axis is markedly inclined, see the ‘o’
or compare ‘p’ to ‘q’. Swiss Typefaces has
explored similar terrain for the Black styles
of SangBleu Empire. In IKANSEEYOUALL,
there are less edges and straight
lines, and more flowing and bul-
ging shapes, with bulbous ter-
minals. Stems have flared en-
dings instead of lineal serifs. In
letters like ‘n’ or ‘d’, they are an-
gled and slightly concave. Dots
are as big and round as can be.
50 ━
The typeface obviously takes cues from
the fat display Caslons drawn by designers
like Tom Carnase or Ed Benguiat half a
century ago. Additionally, Swiss Typefaces
sampled a couple of their favorite mo-
ments from the history of lettering art, like
the curvaceous ampersand, the flowery
asterisk, or the spiraling ‘@’. The design
is the opposite of retro, though. IKANSE-
EYOUALL is made for the present time. Its
freshness is epitomized in the needle-like
bars in ‘E’, ‘f’, or ‘t’ – it’s a safe bet you ha-
ven’t seen a ‘G’ or ‘M’ like these before. To
the designers, these letterforms are the
typographic equivalent of Koudlam’s “See
You All”, a song that not only sparked the
name, but has provided inspiration throu-
ghout the creative process.
━ 51
Alphabet and

Semi-bold
numbers

Extrabold
Ultralight

Medium
Regular

Italics
Black
Light

Light

Bold
Styles:

A B C
a b c
Uppercase:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
PQ RSTUVWXYZ
Lowercase:

1 2 3
abcdefghijklmno
p q rst uvwxyz

Punctuation: Numbers:

. , : ; ( ) ! ? “ 1234567890
52 ━ ━ 53
In use

Demo
by: Florian Hardwig

54 ━ ━ 55
Savate — by velvetyne

Foundry: Velvetyne
Year: 2016

56 ━ ━ 57
Designer: Font: By:
Max Esnée Savate Velvetyne Savate is a typeface freely inspired by
a hand-lettering found in the streets of
Ivry-sur-Seine in the suburbs of Paris. Its
name refers to the savate, a typically fren-
ch fighting sport. Its character set is quite
complete, with an italic and a wide langua-
ge support.

58 ━ ━ 59
Alphabet and

Semi-bold
numbers

Extrabold
Ultralight

Medium
Regular

Italics
Black
A B C

Light

Light

Bold
Styles:
+

a b c
Uppercase:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
PQRSTUVWXYZ

1 2 3
Lowercase:

abcdefghijklmno
pqrstuvwxyz

Punctuation: Numbers:

. , : ; ( ) ! ? “ 1234567890

60 ━ ━ 61
In use

SPRINT – The Portfolio Issue

by: Lennart Klein

set now
by: Eric Fritsch, Vanessa Kiefert

62 ━ ━ 63
 Foundry: Velvetyne
Year: 2017
Trickster — by velvetyne

64 ━ ━ 65
Designers: Font: By:
Jean-Baptiste Morizot trickster Velvetyne

In mythology, and in the study of folklore

and religion, a trickster is a character in a
story (god, goddess, spirit, man, woman,
or anthropomorphisation), which exhibits
a great degree of intellect or secret know-
ledge, and uses it to play tricks or otherwi-
se disobey normal rules and conventional
behaviour. (Wikipedia) So does the font na-
med so.

66 ━ ━ 67
Alphabet and

Semi-bold
numbers

Extrabold
Ultralight

Medium
Regular

Italics
Black
Light

Light

Bold
A B C
Styles:

a b c
Uppercase:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
PQRSTUVWXYZ

1 2 3
Lowercase:

abcdefghijklmno
pqrstuvwxyz

Punctuation: Numbers:

. , : ; ( ) ! ? “ 1234567890
68 ━ ━ 69
In use

Rome Fortune – “FREAKS”

by: Soimadou Ibrahim-Aliamane

Gig posters
by: Félicité Landrivon

70 ━ ━ 71
Solide Mirage — by velvetyne

Foundry: Velvetyne
Year: 2017

72 ━ ━ 73
Designers: Font: By:
Jérémy Landes trickster Velvetyne Solide Mirage is a display face inspired by
both the Didone genre and the music of
Frànçois And The Atlas Mountains. Unica-
se, it encourages the user to stir lowerca-
ses and uppercases together. If the caps
remains quite classical, the lowercases
show a stronger temperament. All the
lowercases that should have ascenders
or descenders, as the b, d, p or q are the
most surprising, with their compressed
shapes and long serifs. Solide Mirage be-
gan as a squared monospaced typeface,
for practical layout reasons, was quickly
followed by a proportional companion,
a narrower design allowing subtler text
layouts. Both typefaces have ornamental
alternates A, O and V inheriting the zig-zag
spirit of the album cover created by the
visual artist Tatiana Defraine. A small set
of ornaments completes the letter shapes
for flourishing layouts.

74 ━ ━ 75
Alphabet and

Semi-bold
numbers

Extrabold
Ultralight

Medium
Regular

Italics

Mono
Black

Etroit
Light

Light

Bold
A B C
Styles:

a b c
Uppercase:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Lowercase:

1 2 3
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o
p q r s t u v w x y z

Punctuation: Numbers:

. , : ; ( ) ! ? “ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

76 ━ ━ 77
In use

Yvette Borup Andrews: Photographing Central Asia

by: Pavel Kedich

Demo
by: Jérémy Landes

78 ━ ━ 79
Beatrice Display — by sharp

Foundry: Bb-bureau
Year: 2016

80 ━ ━ 81
Designers: Font: By:
Connor Davenport
Lucas Sharp
Beatrice Display Sharp Type tifully in a wide range of optical sizes.
Beatrice is a new kind of Instead of utilizing contrast purely for the
typeface. The family is an purpose of mitigating the darkening ef-
exploration of contrast fects of stroke intersections, or based
methodologies, combining on an implied stroke ductus, the contrast
various aspects from the methodology of Beatrice–the system for
canon expansionist sy- determining how the thicks and thins are
stems, inverted contrast, applied to the skeleton–is done by ap-
and the contrast behavior plying a new rationale, a system we are re-
of standard sans-serif gro- ferring to as “internal con- trast.”
tesks. These methodolo-
gies were dissected and
used as cornerstones in
building our own system,
with the final result landing
largely in unexplored terri-
tory. Built on the foundation
of a traditional American
Gothic but with tight-as-
can-be spacing, the super-
family spans a robust set
of weights and includes 2
optical sizes: a super hi-
gh-contrast, tightly packed
Display cut, as well as a
standard low-contrast cut,
82 ━
designed to function beau- ━ 83
Alphabet and

Semi-bold
numbers

Extrabold
Ultralight

Medium
Regular

Italics
Black
Light

Light

Bold
A B C
Styles:

a b c
Uppercase:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
PQRSTUVWXYZ

1 2 3
Lowercase:

abcdefghijklmno
pqrstuvwxyz

Punctuation: Numbers:

1234567890
84 ━ ━ 85
In use

Type release t shirt

by:Justin Sloane

Dwell in Other Futures

by: Noah Baker

86 ━ ━ 87
 Written in:
Suisse Int’l
by Swiss Typefaces

The number on the front

cover is written in:
Freight Display Pro
by GarageFonts

88 ━ ━ 89
HELVETICA
FUCKING
TIRED

by
SO
I’M

OF

Andrea Bianchi
whites.andrew@gmail.com August 2018