SVA TypeLab:
Seastead

Typeface Design, 2018, SVA [IN-PROGRESS]

Seastead is a retro decorative typeface inspired by beach towns and boardwalk culture. 

Designed at the TypeLab summer residency at the School of Visual Arts, this typeface was imagined for the environment with an intended goal of producing large-scale stencils for outdoor signage. 

The visual language of Seastead was inspired originally by a TypeLab walking tour of Coney Island led by Dan Rhatigan. One hot morning in July, we met Dan by the boardwalk before the beach crowds assembled and spent the day pointing at, and talking about, the intermingling of hand-painted letters of longtime local businesspeople and today's typography that attempts to mimic that style.

While most of our typeface design briefs days before stated a desire to make a contemporary, grotesk face, seeing these amazing artifacts of human-made lettering soon began to shake up our creative processes.