Biome — the making of a typeface

by Carl CrossgroveA biome in nature is essentially an ecosystem. It’s also the name for my new typeface family. The 14-weight Biome™ Wide family is now available on fonts.com. Now that the design is complete, I’m able to look back on the process.The drawings that led to Biome (previously known as Nebulon) were completed in 2006, but I discovered, when I uncovered the drawings recently, that I had been thinking for a long time about various unconnected concepts that eventually worked their way into the same typeface. I was surprised to realize how many different ingredients went into this design. Obviously, other type designs were considerations throughout the process, but things besides typefaces tended to make their way into the stew of ideas that eventually got synthesized into the new typeface. In 2002, I had been sketching a very rectangular, vaguely calligraphic sans design. Notes on the pages referred to something square, futuristic and mechanical. But like most of my type designs, some organic elements couldn’t help but creep in. I continued to consider this idea. Digital trials showed something square, blocky and with sharp, angular cuts at joins.Starting around 1990, I was interested in midcentury modern design, particularly furniture and architecture. I found I liked certain traits that were prevalent: minimalism and biomorphism. In contrast, I was just as strongly repelled by the barren and overly rational elements of the period. I still think that modern architecture and design could stand to be more human and biomorphic, even if it remains minimal. “Organic modernism” was a subset of the design movement that, at least in concept, I could appreciate. It crept into my drawings for houses, furniture, and eventually letterforms.For a number of years, I’ve tried to imagine letterforms with outside contours that follo

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