Meccanica

Obviously the hexagonal forms that define Meccanica are derived from the basic nuts and bolts of engineering, but I have also been inspired, in different ways, by other type designers’ work. I have browsed many angular, hexagonal and octagonal fonts over the years and have found them too severe for my tastes and perhaps aligned too rigidly to an angular grid. Even before starting my initial sketches, I knew that this was not the direction to go in.

I wanted a softness to my hexagonally-inspired typeface, which I achieved by chamfering the terminals, joints, bowls and shoulders of each letterform in this geometric sans style so that the end result was a hybrid typeface. While drawing Meccanica, I referred often to one of my favourite geometric sans, Adrian Frutiger’s Avenir. I must also admit that there may be an influence from Neville Brody’s recent custom typeface for Channel 4 in the UK, Horseferry. While I personally find its sheared characters a little harsh, I think that overall, it has subliminally influenced my sketches for Meccanica.

There are other reasons why Meccanica is the way it is. My father was a mechanic for the majority of his working life and my mother was/is an artist. It was hoped that I would take over my father’s business as a car mechanic, however, it was clear by my early teens that this wasn’t the career route for me. After leaving school at 15, I studied for 2 years at art college and qualified (with a distinction) in Technical Illustration. One could say this is the “art of mechanics”.

I stumbled across the style for Meccanica by accident while drawing Didonesque’s cap G. I had accidentally sheared its bowl and thought… hey… that’s pretty cool. I later sketched out a few characters in my notebook and put it to one side. In my mind’s eye I could see how the promotional images for this potential new font would be, showing the relation between mechanical engineering and the typeface. I’ve had to rekindle my old technical illustration skills to create all the posters you see here and elsewhere on font resellers’ websites. I hope you like them!

What will you engineer with Meccanica? Please let me know, I’d love to create a “fonts in use” gallery.

Thank you,

WAIT!

Before you go…

If this typeface is a little too adventurous for your personal taste, please take a look at Technica, which is a tamer version of Meccanica. Thank you!
 
Or… take a look at Modica, which has distilled the essence of both Meccanica and Technica down to their purest form to create an agile geometric sans capable of taking on any project.