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AMCʼs vampiric new typeface
In 2022, television network and streaming service AMC released a new series based on Anne Rice's iconic novel Interview with the Vampire. Tasked with the revitalization's graphic design, loyalkaspar enlisted Type Network to infuse a geometric typeface with some new blood. With that at stake, Famira Fonts hammered it home.
by Abigayle White
AMC debuted in 1984 as a premium channel offering classic movies from before the 1970s in a commercial-free, uncut, and uncolorized format. Since then, the channel has produced several highly successful shows, including Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and The Walking Dead. Their latest hit: a series based on Anne Rice’s gothic horror novel Interview with the Vampire. This adaptation captures the source material’s mood while pushing it into modernity. After examining the available options, AMC’s creative agency loyalkaspar knew they needed a new typeface to match.
Enter Type Network: When loyalkaspar came to us with the project, they had a collection of sketches and requirements for the typeface, but they needed a type designer’s expertise to bring the idea to life.
Service: Custom typeface development
Partners: Famira Fonts in collaboration with loyalkaspar and AMC
Date: 2022
To draw the five required weights and infuse a unique mix of geometry and personality, director of custom type Dyana Weissman tapped foundry partner Hannes Famira of Famira Fonts. She managed the project and acted as Hannes’s collaborative partner, making sure we delivered on all of AMC and loyalkaspar’s needs.
The main design challenge posed by the typeface was to bend the common idea of a geometric sans. For the first part of his solution, Famira drew inspiration from the sharpness inherent to vampires—from their fangs to the wooden stakes used against them. He started by steering each letterform terminal to extreme angles:
Knowing this is for a vampire show informed how pointy each terminal has to be, right? If it’s a 45-degree angle, that doesn’t look dangerous! It must be something you really don’t want in your chest or neck.
With a unique personal background in Dutch as well as in Swiss design, Famira Fonts focuses on the sweet spot between legibility and recognizable style.
The second part: For the typeface to function well in all weights, Famira relied not on simple geometric shapes but on a process of drawing and fine-tuning by hand. This approach ensures both that each weight is balanced and unique, and that the detail doesn’t blur with changes in size.
After the final font files were delivered, Famira commented, “When you work on something for a long time, you start going blind, and you don’t see the obvious things. Dyana was great at pointing those out to me. It was great to have a second pair of eyes on your designs. It was a really lovely collaboration.”
The result is Immortal Gothic: A new-age geometric typeface with a vampire's bite. As described by Famira:
This is the rebirth of the geometric typeface. If you look at the original geometric typefaces that evolved after the turn of the century, people were just disgusted with any expression. Everything earlier was ornamented, and they didn’t want it. Now we’re sort of circling back to that but In a different context. It’s interesting to see a really contemporary TV show going for a typeface that has that early 19th-century style. The two tastes come together, creating a really strong aesthetic.
In vein with the Rice-based series, AMC has produced more new shows incorporating the typeface. Watch Interview with the Vampire, Mayfair Witches, and All of Them Witches now streaming on AMC+ to see Immortal Gothic in action.
Type Network’s foundry partners can satisfy even the most challenging design briefs. Enhance your brand with custom type; contact us to learn how.