BAKE SANS TYPE DESIGN AND SPECIMEN

Paul Robb

Interview about BAKE SANS TYPE DESIGN AND SPECIMEN, winner of the A' Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design Award 2024

About the Project

Bake Sans is a contemporary typeface that exudes style and personality. Inspired by the impartiality of Swiss-type design, this font is a meticulous fusion of contemporary shapes and curves. Crafted with modern and distinctive shapes, curves, and idiosyncrasies, this font offers the perfect visual consistency for branding and communication projects through the experiment forms.

Design Details
  • Designer:
    Paul Robb
  • Design Name:
    BAKE SANS TYPE DESIGN AND SPECIMEN
  • Designed For:
    S6 Foundry
  • Award Category:
    A' Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design Award
  • Award Year:
    2024
  • Last Updated:
    November 24, 2024
Learn More About This Design

View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.

View Design Details
Your innovative fusion of Swiss-type design principles with contemporary shapes in Bake Sans Type Design and Specimen has earned recognition with a Bronze A' Design Award - could you elaborate on how you balanced traditional geometric sans serif elements with experimental forms?

The origins of the typeface was initially a sans serif font, but as the final design process finished, an idea to develop something different, by pinching the side bars.

The specimen book for Bake Sans Type Design and Specimen showcases meticulous attention to detail in its limited-run offset digital printing - what inspired your choices in presenting the typeface's personality through this physical medium?

Each typeface we design has its original research, development, and final form. At that point, it's character starts to emerge and it starts to have its personality, allowing us to experiment with layout and form.

As a Professor of Graphic Design bringing 30 years of experience to Bake Sans Type Design and Specimen, how did your academic background influence your approach to creating distinctive letterforms that maintain visual consistency?

Mostly it's about experimenting with the simplist's written forms. We design fonts that answer specific design and branding projects, and the more we experience, the more we experiment. Those experiments allow us to create something new and visually appealing.

The development of Bake Sans Type Design and Specimen spanned from June to September 2023 - could you walk us through the key evolutionary stages that shaped its final character and experimental feel?

The proportions and shape of the typeface take a lot longer to develop. The period from June to September was for designing the stylistic forms and developing the engineering of the complete family.

In crafting Bake Sans Type Design and Specimen for S6 Foundry, how did you envision this typeface addressing specific needs in contemporary design while maintaining its connection to International Style principles?

We engineered the form to have a robust character and adapt for various branding projects. As it is a retail typeface, we are exceptionally proud when we see it used by designers for branding, editorial, and digital projects.

The curves and idiosyncrasies in Bake Sans Type Design and Specimen create a unique visual language - could you share specific examples of how these distinctive elements enhance its functionality in branding and communication projects?

Each typeface has its personality and persona. Today a brand requires the ability to be distinctive and have an authentic visual language, so hopefully all that use the font family enjoy individual forms.

Your research into the International Style clearly influenced Bake Sans Type Design and Specimen - how did you transform these historical references into forms that speak to modern design sensibilities?

The font family origins as a stylized San serif, so that base and historical reference create a solid structural base, allowing the shapes to pinch and move throughout the various glyphs. Without that historical reference point on which to develop the design, I don't believe the design would be as successful.

Working alongside Moira Bartoloni on Bake Sans Type Design and Specimen, how did your collaborative process contribute to pushing the boundaries of traditional sans serif typography?

We have been design partners for over 30 years so it is a natural process, where we reach separately and develop together. Working together means different points of view and a collaborative approach.

Looking at the commercial application of Bake Sans Type Design and Specimen, what unique challenges or opportunities do you see for designers who choose to incorporate this typeface into their work?

When we test the engineering of the designed fonts, we attempt to push their usage through various applications. "Should it be branding or packaging or editorial font?" are always our thoughts when we start the testing phase. We love to push an editorial font family in another direction to experiment with the forms.

Given your experience creating Bake Sans Type Design and Specimen, what insights could you share with emerging type designers about balancing creative experimentation with functional requirements in contemporary typeface design?

My advice is to research and experiment as much as possible because only with that experimentation new avenues of investigation are created. Not all experiments work, and sometimes is good to know the wrong direction for a project. But, sometimes the experiment is perfect for a future project. Have fun and don't be afraid to experiment!

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