Mochon

I released Mochon on November 11, 2015. The typeface was based on the hand lettering of Donald Mochon, a former dean of RPI’s School of Architecture whose work with a grease pencil had a distinctive mix of control and irregularity. A fan sent me scans of his lettering, and I was struck by the texture and rhythm of the forms. Since the samples were inconsistent in size and resolution, I decided to build my own system rather than trace them directly.

To capture the effect, I worked with Mitsubishi Dermatograph grease pencils, drawing each letter about twenty-five times until I found three variants that preserved the raw quality while still holding together as a typeface. I then used an OpenType contextual alternates feature to shuffle the variants, so repeated letters would not look identical. The result was intended as a display typeface, though I also imagined it working in comic book balloons where a loose, handmade quality was appropriate.

As a small nod to Donald Mochon, I included his bird mascot, which I traced and added as a decorative glyph. Mochon has not been used in notable projects, but for me it served as a tribute to a designer whose lettering made a strong impression. It remains a paid release.