Grifo Introduction The typeface Grifo was designed by Rui Abreu in 2016. The distinct look and feel of Grifo relates to the Portuguese translation of “grifo” which means the word “griffin”. A griffin is a mythological creature that is half-eagle (the head, the talons, and the wings) and half-lion (the body). These characteristics directly correlate with the look and feel of this typeface. These talon-like shapes are especially visible in the characters c, e, and t when looking at the bottom terminal of the characters. This typeface was a redesign of a typeface named Catacumba designed by Rui in 2008. Catacumba was a Victorian style typeface that was inspired by inscriptions in church catacombs located in Porto, Portugal. During Rui’s process of the redesign he states, “Eventually, letters transitioned from being hand-drawn, to being cut with a scalpel” (Abreu, ilovetypography.com). This use of scalpellike cuts promoted a more geometric, sleek font-family in comparison to the more hand-drawn and loose feeling that Catacumba possessed.
30 FOR THE LOVE OF TYPE
