TT Tsars: An Interview

The TT Tsars font family is a collection of serif display titling fonts that are stylized to resemble the fonts of the beginning, the middle and the end of the 18th century. Separated into groupings based on era, A — D stick to established historical ideals. E however, is a steampunk fantasy typeface, based on Russian Сivil type. We talked with Marina to learn more about this very unique design!

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?

We wanted to supplement our font catalog with something historical and take the first steps towards reviving old typefaces. In addition to historical sets, there was room for experimentation in the TT Tsars family. We imagined how the Latin could look if it were formed under the influence of Peter’s civil script. This set is a cherry on the cake of the whole project.

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?

The difficulty was that the creation of sets for each historical milestone went on simultaneously. It was necessary to keep in mind a large amount of visual and theoretical information, and think about each glyph within the framework of five sets to observe through time the evolution of signs.

Looking ahead, are there new projects you’re excited about? Anything you haven’t tried yet but are eager to explore?

Now we have another historic project in development. This is a revitalization with an original interpretation of several fonts of the late 19th century at one of the St. Petersburg printing houses. In the process of working on such projects, you begin to understand that working with historical samples requires a special approach and high responsibility.