PCMag is a magazine with a rich history that gives uniqueness to the editorial industry. PCMag’s brand identity has not evolved simultaneously with organizational growth. As the brand is entering new horizons in terms of editorial substance, it is the correct time to introduce a font/typeface to the market to create a smashable component and leave an everlasting mark.

To ideate concepts for the typeface, Sri Lankan newspaper name fonts were studied. With sufficient research in hand, I set to draw up a few letters and to play around with some of the inspiration I received from Sri Lankan newspapers.

After the initial sketches, I set out to draw some of the letters on illustrator. Here, I first set up the guidelines as required and felt quite confident in the graphical outputs. The outputs were not up to mark as there were many inconsistencies. So, I thought of redoing the process from scratch to start with a different approach.

In the second set of letters, I found a pattern to the typeface and pursued making a template for the letters. After the template was complete I started on the typeface letter by letter until I ended up with a full set of uppercase characters. After which, I set off to create a set of small caps characters. I considered the finalized letter legible and understandable after much discussion with some colleagues of mine.

The legibility was very important as the font was created for PCMag and its consumers needed to be conveyed the correct idea for the consumer to take necessary decisions and actions about the brand in terms of safety in its use.

After a few days of learning, I started working on FontForge and it seemed a daunting task at first. I had to learn from scratch within a limited time frame and had to calibrate letter by letter until I felt the spacing and kerning refined to a point where the font would match the purpose and also look anatomically correct.

The outcome was a font with retro-looking font with encapsulated the transition from the old target audience to the new. The created font attracts consumers through its uniqueness and ability to stand out from other digital magazines in the same space.