The concept of NOM(E)

For a long time Rita, Paulo, and I wanted to organize an exhibition together, one where we could put together our passion, care, and claim about the urgent need to preserve the typographic patrimony of our cities.
“NOM” represents the Catalan word for “NAME” while “NOME” signifies its Portuguese counterpart. This convergence forms the foundation of this typographic exhibition, merging Barcelona and Lisbon within a shared space. The installation features three beautiful and unique signs sourced from Letreiro Galeria. One proudly displays the Catalan name “Telma”, selected by Laura Meseguer, “Carlos” bears the Portuguese name, chosen by Rita Múrias, while “Joaquim Luis” contains both languages in one sign, and was selected together.
These distinct representations communicate in their native languages, each possessing its unique style and historical context. Yet, like the authors, they also share significant commonalities: a commitment to preserving the typographic heritage of our cities that also have a strong sense of identity, all encapsulated within a word or a name.

The signs

Telma, Hairdresser, n. d.
Av. de Roma, 98. Freguesia Parish de Alvalade, Lisboa, Portugal
204 x 68 cm / Date of recovery: 2020
Script lettering in sheet metal with a colorless glass tube, green fluorescent powder, and neon gas. Rescued without glass tubes and restored for this exhibition.

Carlos, Fashion, 1970
Rua 25 de Abril, 15. Lagoa. Algarve, Portugal
265 x 65 cm / Date of recovery: 2022
Script Lettering in sheet metal with a colorless glass tube with argon gas + mercury.

Joaquim Luís, Butcher, n.d.
Rua dos Heróis da Grande Guerra, 67. Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
197 x 20 cm / Date of recovery: 2019
Geometric sans serif iron lettering with chrome-plated metal inline.

A custom typeface typeface family for the branding of KENT, an American brand of cigarrettes.

Kent is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in the United States and British American Tobacco elsewhere. The brand is named after Herbert Kent, a former executive at Lorillard Tobacco Company.

The concept

Tinker Sans is a contemporary sans-serif typeface family inspired by the KENT logo’s four letters. It artfully merges the timeless aesthetics of a classic geometric sans-serif with a twist that embraces beauty in evolution. This meticulously crafted typeface family embodies the intersection of design and technology, where beauty thrives. These complementary aspects synergize, blurring the lines between aesthetics and purpose. Featuring three weights and two sets of alternate characters, Tinker Sans adds layers to packaging and will serve for the brand communication at a global level, enhancing their visual appeal and giving more layers to the packaging and communication campaigns.

A custom typeface for the rebranding of TOUS, one of the most prominent jewelry, accessories, and fashion firm from Spain, and well-established worldwide.

TOUS is a contemporary sans serif typeface, with a single style in bold weight, slightly condensed, and without lowercase letters. It is based on the four letters logo designed by Ruiz Company in collaboration with Mirinda Company Studio. On a formal level, it is made up of geometric stems and arches. These characteristics give sturdiness, clarity, and identity to the TOUS brand, serving both in the redesign of the identity and for brand communication at a global level.

With a custom typeface, TOUS can have a unique, memorable, and aesthetic point of view, expressing itself in its own voice and in any media: in ads, packaging, social media platforms… etc.

The initial assignment was expected to cover the most used languages based on the Latin alphabet, and the final outcome comprised a character set that covers all languages ​​that are based on the Latin alphabet, including all those used in Western Europe, Central Europe, and Southeastern Europe, as well as Vietnamese. TOUS typeface has no lower case, but a complete set of numerals (aligned, superior, inferiors, numerators and denominators) plus fractions. It also has ordinals and alternate punctuation (smaller size for extra big headlines).

As a second phase of the project we worked in the consultancy for pairing typefaces at two levels:

1. Selecting a complementary Latin serif typeface as a secondary option. Laura customized Nimbus (an open-source typeface) for this purpose.

2. Pairing TOUS and Nimbus with available typefaces for other scripts: Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese.

You can read more about the rebranding here (In Spanish):

¿Por qué Tous elimina el histórico osito de su logo?

Playpen Sans typeface family, where digital excellence meets casual handwriting.

Playpen Sans is part of a bigger research and design project, Primarium and Playwrite, that was funded by Google Fonts. Playpen Sans is one of the font families produced by TypeTogether after more than two years of primary research into handwriting education for Latin-based languages.

To create the Playpen Sans font for the educational project, TypeTogether teamed up with Laura Meseguer. Laura used a digital pen and tablet to draw letters, trying out different styles, tools, and speeds. Her drawings were natural and imperfect, just like casual handwriting. The team chose up to seven different designs for each letter and number. They kept the designs looking fresh and natural by not over-correcting them. This way, the spacing between words looked more like real handwriting than the spacing of typesetting.

Playpen Sans is a variable font with a weight range from Thin to ExtraBold, including support for over 150 Latin-based languages and a set of reward emoji stickers for breezy and encouraging uses. Its straight and curved endings for ‘i, l, y’, the two-storey ‘a’, and optional shapes for ‘f, G, I, M’ are clarifying features. The family was made for non-designers and to shine within short, informal settings: greeting cards and invitations, casual signs and documents, and of course children’s books and educational materials, comic books, and graphic novels. It also comes in a variable font version for developers and designers who value ultimate control, data savings, and design superiority.

Prizes: ED-Awards Gold Prize 2024
ISTD International Typographic Awards 2024
Hiiibrand Awards 2023

To read more about the design process:
EXPANSIVE TYPOGRAPHIC SYSTEM: MAKING PLAYPEN SANS