«Style means adapting functional forms and forms of representation to the spirit [...] of the time.» Starting from this quote by Karl Gerstner, I questioned the relevance of the excessive use of Helvetica and other Swiss sans fonts in our contemporary world. Indeed, these characters carry with them the hopes and unlimited growth of a post-war world where progress and technology reigned. In this former world, attention was focused on economic growth, which also widened social inequalities, whereas today humans have a much more important place. Therefore, it is no longer efficacy that prevails but efficiency. This is the transition that I wanted to reflect with Proxima.

Proxima is a typeface living within its time, representing the transition to a new societal model, a model more attentive to humans. Drawing inspiration from early century grotesque fonts through the prism of neo-grotesques, Proxima is at the bounds between neutral and expressive, cold and warm. It is composed of one style, with 572 glyphs covering the basic Latin languages. This is a first draft, the font is still in progress, see you in five years.

Download specimen here.

«Style means adapting functional forms and forms of representation to the spirit [...] of the time.» Starting from this quote by Karl Gerstner, I questioned the relevance of the excessive use of Helvetica and other Swiss sans fonts in our contemporary world. Indeed, these characters carry with them the hopes and unlimited growth of a post-war world where progress and technology reigned. In this former world, attention was focused on economic growth, which also widened social inequalities, whereas today humans have a much more important place. Therefore, it is no longer efficacy that prevails but efficiency. This is the transition that I wanted to reflect with Proxima. See more…