Selecting a font is a retail shopping experience. It’s either like going to the Gap to by a pair of pants or T-shirt that looks like something you’ve worn for the past five years, but might be old enough that a small new styling or color makes it current. Or it can seem like shopping at a more upscale brand boutique, where the goal is to change the fashion from one year to the next and where you purchase the hottest new items.
I subscribe to both marketing strategies, maybe not in the clothes “space” (I prefer the Gap), but definitely with typefaces where I like to mix and match styles — sometimes I prefer a variation on a vintage favorite, while at other times, as the mood strikes, I desire newness. Not just new tweaks within classic families, but totally novel and not necessarily elegant or beautiful, either.
It is December 1 as I write this, therefore I decided to celebrate a typeface to reflect how happy I feel when I see the kitschy trappings of the Christmas season. It is the one month out of the year when aesthetic formal judgements are irrelevant. Good taste takes a holiday.
So, the current font of the month is Basati, designed by Juan Luis Blanco (2023). The title means “wild” in the Basque language, and it is aptly named. Yet the face is by no means rabid or undisciplined and follows the conventions expected of all good letter design. However, it does have a host of absurd quirks in every weight from Black to Regular. At first glance Blanco’s design seemed cartoony, but after looking at it with the same scrutiny I would view an eye-chart, rather than a cacophony of intended linear mistakes, the face is purposely toying with a curious form harmony.
Most enjoyable is the way the heavy weight of the face is at the top and becomes incrementally thinner as each letter’s line moves to the bottom, like a wave, or sorts. Basati isn’t all that wild at all – it misbehaves in a very respectful way. It is easily used for long lines of display type without wreaking havoc on the eye. In fact, it is a very soothing face — it exudes a feeling like on Christmas day after all the merriment comes slowly to an end — Basati is the perfect feel-good face.
| Font of the Month: Basati | |
|---|---|
| Designer: Juan Luis Blanco | Foundry: Blancoletters |
Steven Heller is nothing short of a legend in the design community. Award-winning graphic designer, author and editor of hundreds of books (yes, 100s!) and one of the world’s foremost authorities on graphic design history; and arguably its best design commentator. Follow Steven on the must-read The Daily Heller and read his latest book, Growing Up Underground: A Memoir of Counterculture New York.
