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New Release: Industry Inc

Industry Inc began as a simple idea: I’ll make a few fun styles based on the bold version of Industry. Little did I know how much of a beast it would become. I’ve always kept a folder of type treatments for inspiration. I thought it would be a good challenge to see if I could creatively execute some of those treatments without changing the overall background letter shape. The styles could change, but the letter shape would not.

Design in Mind

Going into it, I wanted to put my headspace into a graphic designer’s world. What kind of control would they want when laying out display type? What kind of options would they need for different projects? I wanted to give a handful of tools and possibilities to the designer in just one family of fonts. My friend, Laura Worthington, did something similar to this with the popular Charcuterie family. Whereas that one journeys across different letter shapes and styles that work together, this one focuses on the same letter shape implemented in different styles and layering techniques.

If one style doesn’t fit the design, maybe another one does. The hope is to make the designer's job a little simpler with a hint of fun. With so many combinations at your fingertips, it’s gotta be fun, right?

The Layering System

The layered type system got thrown into the mix about half way through the design process. It came out when I was messing around with shadows and effects in Photoshop on one of the styles. Once I saw 3D effect, I knew I had to create it as a layered style in the family. Because the letter shapes remained unchanged, the layered system can work with any of the styles (although the Stencil ad Cutline styles shouldn’t be used with it). Talking with a few friends about this, I realized how tricky a layered type system can be to understand and implement, especially for first-timers. I made a PDF Manual to go along with the family to help explain the system and give examples on how to layer. This quick and dirty video tutorial was also recorded to show how to layer in an actual design environment. And, that background song might or might not have been created on my iPad...

A Toolbox of Type

Styles can stand-alone when you need them, or you stack up those layers if you want. It’s up to you. Industry Inc is meant to be a toolbox of type at your disposal. I hope you have some fun with it. Enough of my rambling, head over here to check out the new release and see more.