An original typeface created by Katie Brazell

An original typeface created by Katie Brazell

Concept 4

“I Have a Serif Issue!” 6 Wonky Curves 8

Majuscule Specimen 10

Minuscule Specimen 11

Numerals Set 12

Punctuation 13

Marina in use 14

After going to Charleston for spring break and taking careful note of the downtown area, I was inspired by the town and thought it would be interesting to create a typeface that could be used in the small, old downtown setting.

My original idea was to create a typeface that would be the signature of Charleston and used in signage, town literature, such as maps, as well as in logos, and street signs. I wanted to combine the historical essense of Charleston as well as the modern, chic feel. Because of this, I wanted to apply a high contrast between stroke weights within the letterforms to represent the two extremes, and I found inspiration from the existing typeface, Didot.

After examining my original ideas, and realizing that I drew a considerate amount of inspiration from the Cooper River Bridge, therefore, I thought that it would only make sense to allow the concept of my typeface to be derived from the bridge as well. I combined the idea of using the bridge, as well as the shift in stroke weights from Didot, resulting in my typeface, Marina.

Marina is a typeface inspired by the Cooper River Bridge and will be used in The Charleston City Marina’s logo, signage, boats, and other areas involved with the marina.

My majuscule “A” was directly inspired by the Cooper River Bridge. I used the squared top and condensed form from the brigde and applied that throughout Marina.

My letterforms lacked consistency, as I had two different serif options throughout. One option was the top serif of the minuscules either being on one side of the letter or on both. The other option was different serif lengths throughout the majuscule and minuscule letterforms. The letters needed consistency, especially within the minuscules’ and majuscules’ serifs, which would bring unity to the typeface. I decided on minuscule serifs to be the same length as majuscules, but the tops of them would only have half of the serif.

While hand-drawing my letterforms, I did not take into consideration the fact that each curve would have to be the exact same. Because of this, I had to do alot of re-pathing letters and working out the areas that were unresolved. I also found out that I could directly copy the curves of similar letters to make the typefacemore uniformed. Once I went digital with my letters, several of the issues were resolved.

My minuscule “a” was a stuggle in itself. I began with a letter similar to the one in Didot, but eventually gave in with the shape I was attempting. I then tried a completely different approach and went with the bottom right style, which fit in more cohesively with the rest the minuscules.

Marina typeface, used for the Charleston City Marina logo.

Marina typeface, used for boats, ships, and signage.

An original typeface inspired by the Cooper River BridgeCreated and produced by Katie Brazell