Chevin a British Tale
1
The challenge lies in choosing the best characters and making them work together — like a jigsaw, except you also have to make the pieces yourself. — Nick Cooke
Chevin — a British Tale Miami Ad School Type Journey Program Rita Sales Luis Winter 2014
Contrary to what you may think, there never was a Royal Mail project (...) Obviously some people think Chevin is a custom Royal Mail typeface, as it’s so closely associated with them. — Nick Cooke
Table of contents
The Creator
6
The History
7
Font Anatomy
8
Chevin Letters
10
Variations
11
Chevin Moods
12
Chevin & Design
14
5
The Creator
Nick Cooke is a lettering artist from London, who started in 1982 crafting type by hand for book covers. He didn’t miss the pre-digital age and put his “obsession, perseverance, thought and effort” to his work. He controls every aspect of the creative process, such as character shapes, positioning and kerning. Cooke has worked for different clients, from the “corporate-yet-friendly” logo for London’s Oyster card to “exuberant script lettering” and “powerful handwriting fonts”. Nick’s most famouse fonts are versatile sans-serifs such as Houschka and Chevin, being the latter UK’s Royal Mail corporate typeface. Since he likes so much the letter “G”, Cooke decided to call his own FontShop “G-Type”.
6
The History Chevin is named after the hill which overlooks Otley in West Yorkshire. Since 2007 the type family has been highly prominent in the UK as Royal Mail’s corporate font and the typeface that adorns every Post Office in the country. This font is available in two versions: The Chevin Pro fonts include additional Greek and Cyrillic layouts as well as more OpenType features than the more basic Chevin Std family.
7
Anatomy
Chevin’s tittle
cap height x-height
baseline
8
apperture
finial
spine
anatomy apex
terminal
shoulder
counter
tail
9
Chevin Letters
Hh
Aa
Bb
Ii
Ee Tt Ff Cc Dd Jj Zz Rr Ll Kk Gg Nn Uu Ww Mm Vv Ss Pq Oo Yy Qq Xx
10
Variations
I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. I was named after a hill in England. 11
Chevin Moods
R as in royal
12
Chevin Moods
M as in modern
13
Chevin & Design
movie poster 14
Chevin & Design
movie poster 15
Chevin & Design
movie poster 16
Chevin & Design
movie poster 17