Wordmark for Skylar Yoo’s Graphic Tees

Alice Yoo, the person behind the online store Skylar Yoo approached Laura with the offer to collaborate with a lettering piece. In this first collection, they asked hand letterers around the world to bring to life inspiring and empowering messages for women. They took those messages and created statement t-shirts, art prints, and accessories that women can proudly display on themselves or inside their homes.
The inspiration for this first collection came from witnessing a historical day, January 21, 2017. In the single largest protest march in human history, women and men came together to ask for governmental change. The Women’s March brought out five million people in 700 marches worldwide to advocate for women’s rights. Skylar Yoo was born to encourage women to be bold. It’s for the woman who aspires to shatter the glass ceiling, the ones who want to defy the odds.

Laura’s approach to the design was to balance the message with the letter shapes, creating something attractive but also strong, the shapes are based on bold modern typefaces, a standard for fashion, but stencil, that gives a fresh touch. The size and the color of the letters in the T-shirt are calling your attention, while the way they are placed gives some vigor and irreverence.

Wordmark design for the rebranding of Plan B music

The Plan B music project consisted of a brand strategy designed as a teamwork with the art director Eider Corral, and the Plan B music manager, Stephanie Serrano. This change of image is a meeting of different visions and creativities with shared ideas: telling the invisible, exploring the limits and developing the detail. The restyling of the visual identity of Plan B music is a collaborative project that goes beyond our screens and some bytes.
After many brainstormings and sketching we decided that the logotype had to be handwritten, not in a formal way, but showing some of the attributes of the brand itself, like a hybrid, modern, furious, expressive… so I took my calligraphic tools but also brushes and started writing and sketching, until I got this result.

Custom type and wordmark design for GREYHOURS

GREYHOURS was a European luxury watch brand. In their own words: “It’s the result of a meeting of young entrepreneurs with a dream: the perfect watch, financially accessible to all and not just to a chosen few. The creative director asked Laura to design a custom logo that would match the attributes of the brand but also meet the functional requirements. Her first approach was to learn more about the product and the technical limitations, and offer solutions based on this briefing: Combining sober elegance with modern solidity, masculine strength and feminine grace. By expressing all its design characteristics through black or white. By daring to innovate and surprise.

Attributes
Hype, moderate, modern, classy, mature (neutral & mysterious)

Functionality
—The logo will be UVI printed on the front and engraved on the watch back.
—Uppercase letters to work letter-spaced and generous in proportions, to give a contemporary approach.
—Readable on small sizes: Open counters, slightly condensed to enlarge the body size as much as possible.
—It will work along with the customization done by illustrators and artists with uncluttered illustrations that will also match the watch design.

Dimensions
Maximum width: 25 mm in the watch back and 7,5 -8 mm in the front. My proposal consisted of a geometric sans serif distinctive typeface, a little bit uncommon, simple, but very well designed, very readable, modern and sophisticated. Here you can see part of the process.

Custom wordmark and masthead for the redesign of the Dutch newspaper Het Parool

Het Parool is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on the 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). In English, its name means The Password or The Motto. Het Parool was restyled twice by Mario Garcia: in 2004 (when it became a tabloid) and in 2008.

The masthead design approach
The art directors John Koning and Floor Koop, asked Laura to work on some proposals for the masthead and logo for the redesigned newspaper commemorating the paper’s 75th birthday. The starting point was a clear briefing: ‘back to basics’ and design a logo with a strong and powerful identity. After some different ideas, exploring a vast range of possible typographic styles, and the final solution was based on the combination of the two typefaces that play a lead role in the new newspaper, Tiempos Headline Black and Quarto, also the typeface for the headlines (see the second image).
Laura’s approach to the design was to look very close to all the letters that compose the logo, and the two words, and see how they could become a distinctive logotype and masthead, and not just two words set with a given typeface. The new logo not only adorns the front page and the homepage, but is also visible in all expressions of Het Parool. If you want to read more about the redesign of the newspaper you can do it at the newspaper online or here (only in Dutch).

Het Parool was voted best-designed newspaper by the European Newspaper Award twice, in 2004 and again in 2016, after this redesign.

Custom typeface for the rebranding of MR.BOHO

The design studio Buenaventura, from Granada, and Laura Meseguer worked together to redesign MR. BOHO, a new identity with an inuit spirit.

Founded in 2013, MR. BOHO is now a renowned eyewear brand known for its cosmopolitan, adventurous, and natural character. With a presence in over 40 countries, the brand focuses on providing quality Spanish design at an affordable price through its two collections of sunglasses and optical glasses. They needed a redesign to update their visual narrative to the current moment of the company.

The proposal is based on creating a customized typeface, developed in collaboration, to establish a unique and exclusive visual language. The inspiration came from the roots of eye protection. Delving into the history of the first tools designed for this purpose, we discovered fascinating stories of ingenuity and creativity, such as those of the Inuit people. They devised clever ways to protect their eyes from the sun and its reflection on the snow. During our exploration of their culture, we immersed ourselves in the writing system used in Inuktitut, structured as an abugida.

This abugida system is used by Inuktitut speakers, who generally inhabit the northern regions of Canada, in the areas of Nunavik and Nunatsiavut, in the provinces of Quebec and Labrador, respectively. In an abugida, glyphs represent combinations of consonants and syllables. This type of writing differs from systems like the Latin script, where each symbol represents an indivisible sound unit. The most distinctive feature of Canadian syllabics is their rotation system. The characters’ anatomy is predominantly based on geometric constructions with circular and square shapes, which rotate to change the vowel of each syllabic unit. We have tried to reflect this in the new brand font, which also mirrors the design principles adopted by MR. BOHO for their creations.

This new typeface, inspired by the Inuktitut writing system, is the heart of the rebranding. It brings a contemporary feel while establishing a connection with the past and history. Comprising a single weight, MR.BOHO does not include lowercase letters. The capital letters are designed with two ranges of widths, providing distinctiveness and making it well suited for various applications, including both print and digital contexts such as interface and app design.

Prizes: Silver Laus Award 2024 in the category of Corporative Typeface

MR BOHO Case Study (link to Vimeo)

For more information about the Inuktitut writing system:
https://github.com/typotheque/syllabics-knowledge

 Wordmark redesign for Typeform

Typeform is a company that offers friendly forms and surveys online. The redesign assignment was focused on the idea that the wordmark could transfer the company’s values, with a subtle transformation.

The briefing
The goal was “To create a beautiful wordmark which works and is recognisable in a variety of different applications and fits the design-led company that we are”.

Wordmark’s Origin
The original was based on the direct use of the typeface Aperçu Regular, a geometric sans serif typeface with very good screen readability without any personalisation, chosen after its qualities for branding: Unobtrusive / Commonly accepted shapes / Fit-for-purpose / Inspiring confidence / Differentiation in the tech environment.

But it also had some weak point as it wasn’t scoring highly or that it was not recognisable enough, and this is what they mainly wanted to solve.

The Design approach

1. Adjusting spacing to perform well in big and small sizes

2. Looking for more recognition
·  Changing the shape of “y”, towards a hybrid between the roman and the italic shape by adding a “tail” (to add the feeling of “script”)
·  Changing the shape of “e” towards an italic shape (to add the feeling of “script”)
·  Enlarging the “f” (to make it more legible at smaller sizes)
·  Widening the “m” (to make it more legible at smaller sizes)
·  New construction for the arches in “p”, “r” and “m” (to allow the increasing of the contrast)
·  Increasing the contrast at the joints (to make it more legible at smaller sizes)
·  Slightly increase of the overall weight (to perform better at smaller sizes and on dark backgrounds)
With all these details the wordmark becomes more organic as it connects with the act of writing but without losing the initial attributes (strong, clear, recognisable).

Multi, rejuvenating the Sans Serif for editorial design

Multi, the first extensive typeface family created by Laura, was initially commissioned in 2011 for the redesign of Dutch regional newspapers. The project’s objective was to complement the serif typefaces used (Lexicon and Tiempos) for a comprehensive layout overhaul, under the supervision of editorial art director Luis Mendo. The client specified clear attributes for the typeface: warm, dynamic, optimistic, friendly, and human. The project resulted in the creation of two series: Multi Text (featuring two weights in roman & italic) and Multi Headline (comprising six weights in roman).
For the retail version, developed some years later, Laura expanded the character set and the family, alongside implementing several modifications. Multi Text includes three weights (in both roman & italic), and Multi Headline was rebranded as Multi Display, offering seven weights in both roman & italic.

Multi exudes vitality. It possesses a distinctive ‘phrasing’ in the musical sense, residing in a unique space between humanist and glyphic styles, exploring uncharted design territories. The overall design is pragmatic yet not overly rigid, featuring subtle incised touches that add a touch of flair. This distinctive character is particularly evident in Multi Display, where the roman lowercase letters exhibit softly tapered, asymmetric stems with bevelled, sharp upstrokes. Notably, these idiosyncrasies are consistently shared across all weights, ranging from Thin to Poster. In Multi Text, deliberate adjustments were made, including lower contrast, wider proportions, and shorter ascenders and descenders, to cater to the legibility requirements for both paper and screen. Additionally, Multi Text introduces new features such as the outstrokes of the roman ‘l’ and the italic ‘a,’ which contribute a subtle calligraphic touch to the flow of text.

You can see Multi Text in use in this site as the “navigating” typeface. Probably one of the most iconic is Leer Madrid. A project developed by Applied Wayfinding and Avanti-Aavanti as local team.

Custom typefaces for Productos Baixens

The custom type project consisted of the design of two typefaces based on the original logo, composed of two different styles:

Productos

“Productos” is a calligraphic typeface that draws inspiration from the copperplate calligraphic style, which likely influenced the original designer of the logo. This typeface includes a comprehensive set of basic characters for the Latin alphabet, encompassing uppercase and lowercase letters, numerals, basic fractions, punctuation, mathematical signs, and additional ligatures that enhance the text’s flow.

The standout feature of “Productos” lies in its decorative and prominently sized capital letters, creating a distinctive visual appeal, one of the most striking peculiarities of the original logo.

Baixens

“Baixens” is a condensed sans-serif typeface, available in both contrast and regular weights, crafted from the original letter design of the logotype. It encompasses a comprehensive set of basic characters for the Latin alphabet, comprising uppercase letters, numerals, basic fractions, punctuation, and mathematical signs. Notably, Baixens does not include lowercase letters.

The key feature that sets “Baixens” apart is the high contrast in its capital letters. Certain characters, such as S or N, retain the distinctive traits of the original logo, establishing a direct and recognizable link with the brand.

EneKantak Display is a custom display typeface designed for the branding of Ene Kantak, a dancing and singing company for kids and in ‘Euskara’ (the language of the Basque Country in Spain).

The EneKantak typeface is a bold typeface with non-rigid strokes that expand slightly, reminiscent of the letter engraved in stone that can be found in the Basque Country and in the Basque-speaking area of Navarra, but adapted to the communication needs of the company, matching personality and function.

EneKantak incorporates a full set of capitals as “Contextual Alternatives”. The internal programming determines the combinations so that they do not have to be selected manually. It also features “Discretionary Ligatures”. Those shapes help give it the informal touch that best connects with the audience.

The concepts and branding needs
The assignment was to design a typeface for titles in order to replace those used in the video covers (Grilled Cheese and sometimes Comic Sans). The goal was to improve readability when using only capital letters and when creating outlines from it, but also which smaller sizes.
This typeface should cover a series of functional needs and identity purposes:
1. To be recognized as the typeface of Ene Kantak through matching the brand attributes:
— Dynamic (not rigid, with a certain “movement”)
— Fun and satisfactory (nice, aesthetically attractive and accessible)
— Close (recognizable style, adopting certain features of the Basque letter and the logo)
2. To have a good coexistence with the auxiliary font (DINosaur)
3. To eliminate the use of fonts other than “corporate”
4. To design some ligatures or special characters to distinguish it from other typefaces.
5. Casual but not childish, to extend its use to other branding elements

Solis is a sans serif typeface family used for the AccuWeather rebrand in 2019.

With 12 fonts in 6 weights—from Thin to Black—plus italics, Solis covers the entire range of needs demanded by a major rebranding effort.
The creative branding agency loyalkaspar created a flexible design system to enhance global trust in AccuWeather, providing clarity and focus through consistent and accessible design. Solis’s unique design was key to the new brand’s DNA. It was, as loyalkaspar put it, “Informed by the sun, engineered for clarity and truly considered for use on vertical screens and information-heavy environments.”

The design features
To start, loyalkaspar provided sketches of several letters and numbers in Regular and Bold weights (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), along with their rationale behind their sketches’ construction. The functional needs and aesthetic desires included:
— Upward and sharp shapes
— Reminiscent of geometric signage typefaces
— Wide-open apertures and curves for an optimal reading experience on any support
— Condensed structure, on mobiles and small devices with vertical screens and dense information
— Versatile family to provide a good hierarchy for larger contents or large sizes
— Accurate design of numbers.

For extra descriptions, you can read the cases studies at AccuWeather, loyalkaspar, and TypeNetwork