Ligature Type (Reuten & Wood)

Have you always had a fascination with letters? How did your vocation for type design come about?

A: It would be fun to say that I drew Metallica and Napalm Death logos on my pencil case in school, but I didn’t. At that age I probably wasn't really interested in letters. The first real encounter with letterforms happened completely by chance — it was an unusual graffiti piece on a factory building in my hometown that I saw from a train window. It was striking: Made entirely from straight lines, but incredibly dynamic and expressive. This contradiction sparked my curiosity. Later I climbed a fence to sketch it in a notebook. How could such energy emerge from such restraint?

One year later when I started studying, experimental typography from early techno flyers and magazines added another layer — fragmented, deconstructed, and unapologetically bold. Those influences eventually fed into my first typeface, designed during my studies.

O: I always loved books, loved everything about them. The illustrations, the stories, details like illuminated initials, the haptic qualities of books as an object. So yes, as a compulsive reader from an early age, I was fascinated with letters without quite knowing it.

One of my favourite illustrators, Maurice Sendak, had a special relationship to letter shapes and - I think - probably triggered my first interest for lettering. My absolute star by him was called „In the Night Kitchen“ and is essentially a kind of psychedelic dream story. Seventies-Style lettering features prominently in the illustrations, which I inspected carefully on repeat.

But I first became conscious of letter-forms through drawing and illustrating myself. When I moved from Canada to Germany, I was nine and spoke zero German. In my new home, I attended a German Steiner School. In our work books I was required to write in German and to decorate and illustrate the pages. As I understood nothing of the text I was copying into my book, the letter shapes seemed to develop a life of their own, more akin to my drawings. On top of not speaking German, I had Russian lessons and was learning to read and write Cyrillic letters, another case of total foreignness requiring me to concentrate on the letter-shapes.

At that point in time, I was just doing what needed to be done. My conscious interest for letter-shapes and modular forms didn’t emerge until I was in my studies.

Could you each tell us about your personal journey into type design, and in particular what led you to start working together (university, shared interests, early collaborations)?

A: Our collaboration began at the very, very beginning. Olivia and I met for the first time at the entrance exam to our design program. So our entire typographic journey unfolded in parallel. Typography classes quickly became a shared focus, helped by a Professor who encouraged curiosity and experimentation.

O: Our first type-design project in second year was really intense. We worked manually on graph paper until our professor was happy. Then we digitised our designs using a Wacom tablet and font design software called Ikarus – named for its constant crashes in its early days. Of course Ikarus was a far cry from the ease of Glyphs. Points had to be marked on to a large scale drawing in approximately 30 degree intervals and were digitised using a special lens-mouse with a little cross on it to target points precisely. 

Alex was especially in love with type design and basically just never stopped. At design school, he already had a reputation for being a „type-nerd“, spending hours in the typography classroom drawing curves.  Everyone loved designing their own alphabet, but very few had the patience.

At the beginning I was more of a passive participant in Alex’ process, until during Corona we ended up using our socially distanced time for a type project we had been thinking about for a while, Relais. In this phase of boredom, we started a number of projects, some finished and some still unpublished. One is „Copic“, a design inspired by hand drawn signs in our local construction market, one of the few places we could go to during lockdown. 

How did you meet Matthieu Salvaggio and Blaze Type?

A: We ran into Blaze Type while looking for the right foundry for our first collaborative project „Relais Display“. A friend sent me a list of his favourite foundries and Blazetype was on it. Matthieu liked our Specimen and we immediately liked his positive energy and enthusiasm. After earlier releases with larger distributors, my intention was to find a smaller, more focused place  — a place where our design wouldn’t quickly disappear among hundreds of others and where personal contact with designers is part of the business style.

How did the decision to publish your first typeface with Blaze Type come about? Were there editorial or strategic discussions before its release?

O: Blazetype was a good choice for "Relais" because the foundry has a strong focus on headline- and editorial typefaces and our design is primarily intended for use in titles and introductory texts.

With hindsight, how do you view that first joint publication today? Did it mark a turning point in your practice?

A: Looking back, Relais marked several shifts at once. It was our first full on collaborative font, and also a technical transition — new tools and workflows became relevant. My last type-design project lay a few years back and I had worked only with Fontlab so far, and I wanted to switch to Glyphs. Our design-process involved a lot of back-and-forth, testing ideas, discarding them, refining them again. This back-and-forth, probing dynamic continued beyond the release, leading up to further projects. Since then we have published another 4 fonts, 3 with Blazetype (Kyle, Kyle Mono and Bloyd) and one with the Typemates (Easy Grotesk) and have added compressed and condensed to Relais. This year we expect one or two releases as well. In that sense, yes, it was a bit of a turning point.

Designing as a team can often be a sensitive matter. How is your creative collaboration organised in concrete terms? Are tasks clearly divided? Do you work separately before bringing everything together? How does the final synthesis take shape?

O: Yes. For Alex, it was the second collaborative font-project. His first was „Tuna“, designed with Felix Braden and published with Adobe. He really enjoyed collaborating on „Tuna“, although of course there are sensitive moments in most cooperations. We know them from our graphic practise as well. And of course I was new to type-design.

A: For Olivia, it was the first real font project. She had been my main sparring partner in designing my other solo fonts, so on one hand she had an eye for detail and was able to give constructive and challenging feedback, on the other hand, her technical abilities and her project overview were not fully developed. So yes, there were a few sensitive moments. 

Our work mode is that we kind of take turns after the initial design phase. When we roughly know where we are going, one of us might take on specific groups of glyphs like currency signs or numbers or alt glyphs, then we bring everything together again. As we work in the same room, obviously there are a lot of instant reactions and decisions, that helps. Later on we alternate, going through specific tasks in sweeps.

What are the most delicate moments in a typographic collaboration: drawing, editing, stylistic decisions, technical compromises?

A: The most delicate moments often arise when compromise is unavoidable. Technical constraints can lead to decisions that neither side is fully happy with. Another recurring situation is if each of us have drawn a glyph version, and one of the drawings has to „win“, either kicking out the other design or demoting it to an alt glyph position.

Conversely, what does working as a duo allow you to achieve that working alone would not?

O: Typedesign requires stamina. Working together we can motivate each other and share our enthusiasm. It is also easier not to completely disappear down the rabbit hole - the other person will help you regain perspective.

A: Aside from the practical aspect that one complements the other's skills and four eyes see more than two and two brains have more ideas than one, there is a simple psychological benefit. If I feel overwhelmed or stuck in a problem, it simply feels good to face this difficulty as a team.

About Relais: how did you approach the tension between historical references (Didones, 1970s–80s editorial culture) and contemporary demands?

A: A tricky question. The project started with a typeface created by a former colleague as his diploma project at design school. We liked its elegance and wanted to dust off and develop the design. It was pretty much influenced by the Art Deco style of the 1920s and the character was too rooted in that era for our taste. During our design process, a number of typefaces were published that were inspired by magazine titles of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when typefaces like "Trooper" or "Optima" were popular. I liked the warm and optimistic charm of the era, as well as the elegance created by high-contrast and fancy details. Looking carefully at this era brought a new flavour into our design.

During the design process we made sure that the stroke contrast remained balanced so that the typeface works well at smaller sizes and on screens, without any of the finer parts disappearing. We wanted to offer headline quality as well as legibility for longer text passages on screen.

About Kyle & Kyle Mono: you began with an imaginary world linked to the typewriter, yet the first version does not adopt traditional slab serifs nor the monospaced constraint historically associated with the genre. What attracted you to this reference if you intended to move away from it formally? Was it more of a conceptual starting point than a strict stylistic framework? And how did the reverse movement happen with Kyle Mono, which embraces more of the conventions and aesthetic codes of typewriter design?

O: When we began on Kyle, it was supposed to be a rebrush of Alexanders design Aidos, published on MyFonts. It is a kind of a typewriter font with triangular serifs. Aidos is an unusual font. It is multi-spaced with 3 spacing groups – a faux-mono. The concept was supposed to offer the feel of a mono-space with easier reading. Aidos had its drawbacks though. In reworking it, we decided the idea of a faux-mono was kind of passé. Why go part way towards good spacing and stop? We opted for more versatile proportional spacing and raised the x-height for a generous vibe and fluid reading. The triangular serifs were refined, and the styles moved through more subtle triangular serifs in Light to brutalist pyramids in black. When we were finally finished, it was actually Matthieu’s idea to add a mono-space - so in the end we came full circle.

Is there a typographic territory you would like to explore together that you have not yet addressed?

A: Yes. Something grid-based would be neat. It would be fun to work with more restriction to force letter forms away from convention. I like this kind of take it or leave it situation and I already have something in mind. I just need a little bit of time …

Is there a particular glyph you especially enjoy drawing when designing a typeface?

O: Like many designers we love the double story a and g. These not only have interesting forms, but also give a lot of character to the text. Also ampersand and sterling symbol are fun and can be very catchy.

Do you have future projects planned with Blaze Type? What kind of family (slab, stencil, etc.) would you like to develop next?

O: None of the designs in our pipeline is assigned to Blazetype yet. There are two very different calligraphic designs, a seventies Frankenfont idea and a few others waiting for attention. We are eager for the moment where a stencil makes sense. And maybe there are some extensions coming up as well.

Among the typefaces in the Blaze Type catalogue that you did not design yourselves, are there any you secretly admire? If so, why?

A: We like "Indecisive Sans" and "Indecisive Mono" from Fred Wiltshire, both look amazing – especially when set in caps. Also "Balete" designed by Jad Maza has a really unique flavour. And last but not least "Nuances" by Ethan Nakache is a splendid design; it has such a nice rhythm and creates an interesting texture especially when set in light.

This typeface seems to explore a very different territory compared with Relais or Kyle. How did the project originate? Designing a modernist revival is never a trivial decision—what drew you to this direction? What stylistic choices—whether in weight, proportions, or width—allowed Bloyd to move away from its original model, Placard?

A: Over ten years ago, a designer friend asked me if I could revise and expand a typeface for his client, the "Kronen Zeitung" newspaper from Vienna. The newspaper used "Placard" as its headline font, a poster typeface published in 1937 by Monotype. That initial encounter with Placard showed me an interesting hybrid — a typeface caught somewhere between different modernist traditions and with a clear influence coming from Futura.

Although the idea to design a revival emerged quickly, it took a few years before the project could be revisited. When I finally was ready for the design, I was more aware of recent interpretations of the same source material. In 2017, I wanted to begin, but a heavy workload prevented me from pursuing it. In 2018, Monotype released "Placard Next". However, in 2024, we finally decided to follow up on my ideas for a redesign, taking "Placard Next" into account. 

O: During development, the design gradually shifted toward a more humanist tone. Details like flared terminals introduced a softer, more organic quality, distinguishing it from its origin "Placard" and give it a pinch of elegance.

Bloyd is an extremely extensive family in terms of styles: roman and italic, ranging from Light to Black, and from Compressed to Normal. Was the intention from the beginning to develop a superfamily? If so, could you imagine further developments in the future—such as non-latin writing systems or perhaps an Extended style?

A: Yes, Bloyd was going to be a large family from the outset. And yes, considering that the typeface is selling well, we would absolutely like to expand it. An extended version could be cool. So far, we have not designed a Cyrillic letter system, but of course it’s an exciting task. New letterforms - I imagine that to be very refreshing. I think Olivia would be eager to start right away. So we will see.

Bloyd appears to balance between expressive display qualities and a certain structural rigor. How did you approach this balance between personality and usability?

A: That's a good observation and gets right to the point. The character definitely changes. In the compressed styles, there's a clear note of wood type – ever since our student days we have liked the slightly uneven, carved curves of wooden letters. In contrast, the typeface in the regular width weights is neutral and more functional. The idea behind this was that display applications would require more character. We also appreciate that along the interpolation axis, not only the weight but also the overall appearance shifts slightly.

Looking at the three families you designed together (Relais, Kyle, Kyle Mono, and now Bloyd), do you see a common thread in your work, or do you prefer to explore very different typographic territories with each project? 

Across all projects, there is both continuity and variety. Each design explores a different territory, often deliberately avoiding repetition. At the same time, a consistent theme runs through the work: the space between readability and expression. Typefaces that are neither purely text nor purely display, but operate somewhere in between. That balance remains the central thread — even as the forms themselves continue to change.

A: I hope that some aspects of our personality and character found their way into our work. So there must be a common thread. Does that sound logical?