Santina Busalacchi - swamp monster

a color font for expressing the most monstrous of attitudes.

swamp monster
color display font

colors in use:
#000000
#687331
#949d4d

fonts in use:
custom display
adorn roman

skills:
design, type design

This project involves creating the capital letters and numbers for a new color display font. The exploration of color will be central to the execution of the project and the font should be created from scratch and not based on an existing typeface. The new typeface should also work well in a variety of applications both by itself as a headline and when it is accompanied by a secondary font. The final design solution takes the form of Swamp Monster, an eerie, decaying typeface that features letterforms being suffocated and strangled by a mysterious black substance. The movement of these shapes allows the font to come to life, giving it the personality for which it is named. A bright, but sickly green color was selected for the base of the font to establish a strong contrast with the black. Another characteristic of Swamp Monster is the cracked areas in the letters and numbers that appear to actively be decaying and eaten away. This detail provides another area of depth to the design and suggests that the green areas of the characters are not flat, but rather full, dimensional shapes. Although Swamp Monster is a highly organic font, rules for the design of the typeface have been established to create some order amongst the (intended) chaos. A library of black curls was created so that there is a subtle sense of uniformity, assigning specific shapes for, stems, angled strokes, loops, and terminals. This allows for the appearance of the black substance to look consistent, while also avoiding being repetitive. Swamp Monster, although heavily organic and detailed, balances clearly communicating a headline with its distinct sense of life and personality, making it perfect for expressing the most monstrous of attitudes.