I released Braeside on May 17, 1998. The typeface was named after a former township in the Ottawa Valley where I had worked one summer at a lumber mill. It was meant as a personal tribute, but the design itself followed the logic of industrial stencil lettering rather than referencing anything I had seen on site. I drew both the solid and outline versions directly in Fontographer, constructing the forms from scratch rather than adapting existing stencils.

The design carried the utilitarian qualities typical of machine-cut lettering—rectilinear shapes, functional breaks, and a blunt geometry suited for crates or signage. My intention was that it could be used in industrial or other practical contexts where that directness was appropriate.

I released Braeside with a free commercial use license, consistent with my practice at the time. Over the years I made small fixes, but the typeface was never significantly altered. In November 2022, I placed it into the public domain. Although it occasionally surfaced in use, I never encountered it in a notable project.