A new typeface continues to take form.

Above: Riley Farrell’s Belmont Gothic typeface. What began in Spring, 2010 as a final part of his BFA studies now continues, and I can’t wait to see further iterations as they become available. Please see more specimens, and Riley’s own insight into this project, below. Note the exquisite lowercase G!

Above: Riley Farrell, Belmont Gothic. Riley offers his own insight here:

“Belmont Gothic is a condensed, medium-weight sans-serif typeface that I developed for my senior thesis project at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. Having no prior experience in type design, my goal was to become closely familiar with the typographic minutia that distinguishes one typeface from another. My approach to design up to this project could best be described as very modular and methodical. The process of designing Belmont Gothic began in the same way, but ended much differently after making countless optical adjustments. I was driven by the responsibility I felt as a graphic designer (and a novice type designer) to make it all ‘look right’.”

Above: Riley Farrell, Belmont Gothic. There is a lovely hidden message in this. Appropriately, Riley also found the words of Adrian Frutiger to be an inspiration: “If you remember the shape of your spoon at lunch, it has to be the wrong shape. The spoon and the letter are tools; one to take food from the bowl, the other to take information off the page… When it is a good design, the reader has to feel comfortable because the letter is both banal and beautiful.”

Above: Riley Farrell, Belmont Gothic. Let’s hope for more updates soon.