Ellie Prehn | Elliephant

Elliephant Typeface

Description:
For my typography class, our first project was to design our own typeface. There weren’t any strict parameters other than having every letter of the alphabet, numbers, punctuation, and a made-up character of our own design, as well as a grayscale version and color version.

Process:
Although I’d never designed my own typeface before, I think the way my professor laid out this project really helped me succeed. I spent a LOT of time sketching and experimenting with different ways of writing letters, and I settled on a color palette while sketching with my POSCA markers. What took me the longest was digitalizing my sketches since I had to make each individual shape for every letter (and then use the previous letter for size comparison).

Outcome:
My final typeface is inspired by origami and how paper looks folded over itself. By using predominantly triangles and rounding out the corners, I think I achieved a crisp and thoughtful design for each letter. This project gave me insight to the process of designing typefaces and everything that needs thought.