Last week I went to a reading at the local poetry club for homeless people in Amsterdam. Although the quality of the presentations, essays, and poems varied a lot, every single story was authentic and moving. Every word came deep from the heart; every sentence had a clear reason for being. There could not have been a debate about whether or not these poems deserved to exist. None of the homeless poets aspired to be like some other, famous poet; they just had a desire to express themselves.
Such authenticity is often lacking in contemporary type design. That new sans serif is, well, the same as the other sans serifs. Repetition can kill creativity.
However. Marigny, by Tal Leming, is authentic to the bone. It’s hard to compare this family with any other typeface out there. Although Leming’s craftsmanship shines throughout the whole family, it’s still hard to categorize this handwritten-but-not-really-handwritten design. If you’re in doubt about what kind of font to use in your next project, why not try Marigny and explore your own creative borders? A font family like this never existed before — that’s the greatest compliment one can make, isn’t it? Perhaps you will create something you haven’t created before. Not a bad idea if you want to renew yourself every now and then.
Small kids wearing football shirts of their favorite football clubs often have the name of a star player on their back. Ronaldo, Messi, Robben. Almost as if they don’t believe in themselves, they never put their own name on their shirt. Football needs more kids with their own name on their back. Contemporary type design needs more typefaces that want to be like themselves — like Marigny.
