Evensong

I released Evensong on May 12, 2016. The design grew out of my fascination with a short period in Vogue magazine’s typography, particularly in the 1920s and 30s, when the masthead was set in bold geometric Art Deco forms. The April 13, 1927 issue caught my attention most. Working from only five letters, I built out a complete alphabet and extended it to include Greek and Cyrillic, keeping the same geometric Art Deco principles throughout. Because the design was all caps, Greek especially adapted well to the system of thick and thin strokes.

Evensong emphasizes extreme stroke contrast, but I wanted to push beyond common conventions. For example, I kept the “O” thick all the way around rather than thinning one side as in Broadway, and I gave the “G” a heavy left and bottom-left side. The “S” was tricky; its vertical, tilde-like form created an awkward gap when doubled, so I added a dedicated “SS” ligature. From the start, I built the font with layering in mind, separating hollow sections into a fill layer that allowed for colors, gradients, or patterns. I also experimented with thin strokes that cut through thicker ones to add depth.

The name came from testing; when I applied a gradient, it reminded me of a sunset, which in turn suggested the evening church service known as evensong. I released all the styles—Hollow, solid, and fill layers—at the same time. Evensong Hollow was available with a free commercial use desktop license, while the other styles were licensed normally. The font has not been updated since its release, nor has it seen much notable use, but for me it was an enjoyable exercise in extending a fragment of Art Deco history into a full, functional typeface.