free of personality. This of course can be what is desired for your design, however, there is always an opportunity to use something more specific rather than generic. Grotesques are typically more geometric in their proportions but nowhere near the extremes of Geometric Sans Serifs like Futura. Basic Sans shows its more humanist side in its slightly looser letterforms that don’t conform as strictly to their geometric origins. A very subtle touch of the artists hand is present in these letterforms. Another detail about this typeface is its breath of language support with almost every accent character under the sun. Although designer Daniel Hernández does not speak of it directly, I believe this may be the result of his proud Latino heritage and cultural awareness. As an English only speaker, it could be easy to disregard accent characters as English does not have any of its own. Basic Sans supports over 200 languages with copious different accent characters to be used.
The Designer.
Born in Chile, Daniel Hernández began his type design career rather early in his career when he left for Buenos Aires, Argentina. Before he was even out of school he won a 2006 award from Argentinian magazine tipoGráfica for his first typeface Stgotic, a stylish 8-bit (eight pixels tall) blackletter design. After graduating, desiring freedom in his work, Daniel partnered with Miguel Hernández and Luciano Vergara to start the Latinotype foundry. They desired to professionalize their discipline in Chile, a place not well known at the time for its type design, and as a means to distribute Latin American type to the world. Daniel believes it important that Chile does not have the same typographic tradition that stands in the United States and in Europe as it allows him to try new things “without fear, without prejudices, without a past and with a lot of future” -Daniel
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