36 Days of Type

A compelling online project inspired Type Network to dig through its extensive catalogue and look at letterforms from different angles.

By Type Network Staff

Now in its fourth edition, 36 Days of Type “aims to be a space for creation around typography and its endless graphic possibilities.” What started out as a private challenge between Barcelona designers Nina Sans and Rafa Goicoechea invites people from around the world to design an image featuring a letter or a numeral (from A through Z and 0 through 9), and to post it on Instagram every day for thirty-six days.

Here they are, in all their glory: our contributions to 36 Days of Type.

We wanted to join in the fun. Because we already had a collection of potential candidates on hand, we took the opportunity to select one or a few characters daily and to interpret them in unusual ways. We included examples from all of our foundry partners to reflect how diverse Type Network’s catalog is.

Making patterns from letters: p, H, and M — Making patterns out of letters. Top row: Miles Newlyn’s New Farm. Middle row: Mark Simonson’s Coquette. Bottom row: Type-Ø-Tones’ Multi.

Q using CJ Type’s Dunbar — CJ Type’s Dunbar.

It was a stimulating exercise for the team, and we immediately got enthusiastic feedback from colleagues, friends, and viewers. We created the graphics across a span of several days, in no particular order. An idea for S came way before F, for instance. W spontaneously resulted from weighing our various options. We selected glyphs based on their characters—and they, in turn, naturally suggested possible solutions.

Some N sketches using Mark Simonson’s Bookman — Sketches for an N using Mark Simonson’s Bookman.

In an effort to represent all foundries together, and to reinforce the network aspect of Type Network, we also played around with collages from multiple foundries. The collages quickly became some of our—and our viewers’—favorites! We’re already eagerly looking forward to next year, and we hope you’ll participate, too. Which ones do you like? Let us know on Instagram (@typenetwork), where you can find more details on each image. Or email us! We’re always happy to hear from you. All Type Network fonts are available for print, web, applications, and ePub licensing. Webfonts may be tested free for thirty days. To keep up with what we’re doing, subscribe to Type Network News, our occasional email newsletter featuring font releases, foundry happenings, type and design events, and more.