Jazmín: An Interview
Jazmín, a family of 32 fonts by Linotype has a classy, playful and contemporary look. The family comes in two versions: an elegant font set of 8 weights, ranging from Thin to Black with matching italics, and an alternate, more playful counterpart. Each font contains 566 characters which support over 200 Latin-based languages. Jazmín is ideal for magazines, short text, logos, branding design, packaging and advertising. We talked to Eli to learn more!
What inspired you to design this typeface? Were you designing for a specific use case or customer? Or were you more focused on a particular artistic vision? Or some combination of both?
The inspiration behind this typeface was born from a very personal search to find a design that would catch my attention and that had particular characteristics. I found one in the ATF catalog of classic typefaces, and moved forward with my reinterpretation.
Walk us through the process of designing this typeface. Was there anything different about it, compared to your usual process? Did it come along more easily than others, or were there unique challenges?
A unique challenge was the need to strike a baAs for the design process, what I think I did differently was the research. I looked at many different references to develop my version of the typeface, and I experimented with the width, height, terminals and so on until I found the design that pleased me the most. I accomplished this with the help and guidance from the Latinotype Team. I listen to my voice as well as their opinion and guidance, as I am a self -taught typographer who learned how to design under Daniel Hernández — cofounder of Latinotype and my brother. I don’t know if the project was developed more easily, but I can say that it went a lot more fluently. I took the necessary time for each process, which kept my anxiety in check and allowed me to develop each step in a calmer manner. The process left me with many learnings and satisfactions.
Looking ahead, are there new projects you’re excited about? Anything you haven’t tried yet but are eager to explore?
I am excited about my new project as it is also born from a very personal search. One could say that it is an evolution of Jazmín, a maturation both in drawing and my own approach. The challenge that this typeface presents me with is to design a real italic for the very first time.
