BOGUE Typeface
DESCRIPTION
BOGUE is an ultra-bold serif typeface inspired by the more than hundred-year-old classic Cooper Black! Bogue features hefty characters with bulbous serifs and a soft yet sturdy appearance. The typeface is intended for small point sizes (14-24pt) and for on-screen use.
This project was a milestone for me as a designer. Learning RoboFont, getting a grip on the fundamental principles of type design – from consistency in weight to harmonious spacing – and drawing and refining each of the 87 characters were tasks that were as challenging and tedious as they were fulfilling. I can certainly say this process taught me to embrace iterative thinking and have patience with my designs. The process of developing BOGUE unfolded over five distinct phases: research, brief, draft 1, draft 2, and draft 3. Keep scrolling to get to the deets!
ABOUT
Spring 2022, 10 Weeks
RoboFont, Indesign
Overseen by Ben Kiel
Anyone is welcome to use my font – just shoot me an email for the OTF file!
RESEARCH
Cooper Black, designed by Ozwald Cooper in 1921 for BB&S type foundry in Chicago, is a display typeface with rounded letter forms, chunky serifs, thick strokes, and oversized lowercase letters. Inspired by the Art Nouveau movement, it deviates from traditional serif fonts with a distinctive hand-drawn look. It quickly gained popularity in the 1920s in advertising and promotional materials, as its bold appearance made it ideal for headlines and titles. Cooper Black's popularity transcended industries, being adopted by fashion and music. In the counterculture movement of the 1960s, it experienced a resurgence, becoming a rebellious symbol in psychedelic posters, album covers, and associated materials.
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BRIEF
In my revival of Cooper Black, my main goal was to create a typeface that would be optically adjusted for smaller point sizes. I wanted to cater to the needs of graphic designers and musicians, particularly for album covers in the R&B/Soul, Alternative/Indie, and Jazz genres. With the rise of digital music streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify, it’s become increasingly important to have a typeface that stands out even at smaller sizes. My redesigned Cooper Black is ideal for album cover designs with text ranging from 14pt to 24pt, ensuring legibility and impact for both digital and print mediums.
DRAFT 1
In the first draft, my aim was to closely imitate the original Cooper Black characters to better understand the design before considering changes. I wasn't yet certain about any specific modifications to the typeface. However, I did decide to widen the spacing between letters, as this was one improvement I knew would increase legibility when the typeface was used at smaller sizes.
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DRAFT 2
In my second draft, I focused on increasing contrast as I noticed that the font became difficult to read at small sizes. My eye couldn’t see the counters to make out the letters, so I began to carve out weight. At this point, I also made decisions about how rounded/goopy I wanted the serifs to be. I decided to make them a little more firm than Cooper Black, which helped to establish more contrast and improve legibility.
Filling out the character set
Up-ing that contrast
DRAFT 3
After getting feedback from guest critic Dan Rhatigan from Bijou Type on my third draft, I started addressing the issue of inconsistent strokes and terminals. He noted that even though Cooper Black isn't standardized due to its nature as a display typeface, my version, which is designed for small sizes, needed more consistency for an even rhythm. To tackle this, I created a very non-scientific diagram of each kind of stroke and shape in the character set. This diagram specified the widths, heights, angles, and curves.
FINAL PROOFS
