Ode, a Fresh Start for a Broken Script

By Martin WenzelWhen designing a typeface, I prefer to explore a construction principle rather than revive an existing typeface idea. These principles or writing models are based on the tools and techniques originally used. Understanding these workings are often a great source of inspiration for me.The starting point for my latest typeface Ode was the Textualis, one of the various broken script writing models. It has a strong modular build suggesting that it’s easily constructed. Albrecht Dürer further reduced it in his Underweysung der Messung, mit dem Zirckel und Richtscheyt, in Linien, Ebenen unnd gantzen corporen.Albrecht Dürer’s visualisation of the contemporary broken-script construction (Nuremberg, 1525).This brings us to the first disadvantage of this model regarding its legibility. Because of its simple construction and repetitive pattern, the letters lack individuality, thereby making it more difficult for the reader to tell them apart. Similarly problematic of the Textura model are certain archaic letter forms which are unfamiliar to us because today we predominantly read texts that use the humanist model or its derived forms.Another readability issue of many classic interpretations of the Textura model is the high contrast between the foreground (letters) and the background (paper or screen). Imagine, for example, a whole page set in a bold typeface.Left: Typical example of a printed publication from the 1920s in Germany (German translation of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels). Right: The same text set in Ode.All in all, it’s a writing model which seems unsuitable as a basis for a good text typeface design, which explains why it’s rarely used today for that purpose. So, this triggered an interesting question for me: can one design a good text typeface based on a writing model that doesn’t really lend itself as one?Another issue that I am especially aware of (being German born), is the association of broken scr

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