Meccanica

NOT ANOTHER GEOMETRIC SANS

Actually, it is another geometric sans typeface, but this one really does have a unique personality.

Its defining features include soft, chamfered edges, angular bowls and shoulders, angled/hexagonal terminals, and semi-hexagonal ink traps (in a nutshell).

Inspired by the mechanics of engineering – the humble nut and bolt in particular – Meccanica is a versatile typeface that will give your own typography a distinctive voice. Initially designed as a display typeface (perfect for headlines, logotype, branding and short runs of text), Meccanica also reads well as body copy – particularly at smaller point sizes.

So why describe it as “not another geometric sans”? Certainly Meccanica behaves like a geometric sans and sits in the same footprint as many popular sans-serifs out there, yet its modified DNA flattens out opposing bowls and shoulders. Its stems, crossbars, arms and legs retract to form chamfered, hexagonal terminals, and straight, acute-angled joints expand into semi-hexagonal ink traps that all help to give Meccanica a very distinctive aesthetic.

SPECIFICATIONS

Release Date March 2017
Classification Geometric Sans
No. of Fonts 18
Weights & Styles
  • Thin
  • Thin Oblique
  • Extra Light
  • Extra Light Oblique
  • Light
  • Light Oblique
  • Regular
  • Oblique
  • Medium
  • Medium Oblique
  • Semibold
  • Semibold Oblique
  • Bold
  • Bold Oblique
  • Black
  • Black Oblique
  • Ultra
  • Ultra Oblique
Alternates 12
Small Caps Yes
No. of Glyphs 640+
European Language Support Yes, Latin only
Please try the fonts here for yourself using the Type Tester. If you like what you see, you can purchase Meccanica from my reseller partners. Be sure to check all the links as promotions are available occasionally.

Influences

 

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.

 
Meccanica - Not Another Geometric Sans Meccanica - Not Another Geometric Sans Meccanica - Not Another Geometric Sans Meccanica - Not Another Geometric Sans Meccanica - Not Another Geometric Sans

The Nuts & Bolts

 

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,

 

 

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