Studio Albin Holmqvist builds Taipan’s identity on tape-drawn constraints

Taipan draws its name from two sources. The first is the genus of Australian snakes known for being large, fast-moving and extremely venomous. The second is a lesser-known snowboard trick where the front hand grabs the toe edge between the bindings while reaching between the legs. For Taipan’s founders, who’ve spent decades immersed in board-sports culture, the latter etymology matters more. Stockholm-based Studio Albin Holmqvist developed the identity for this creative practice that operates across film, photography, design and special projects. Taipan’s founders bring authentic experience from helping shape snowboard and skateboard culture from the inside, working with clients like Aston Martin, Porsche and Nike Snowboarding. The identity centres on a heavyweight bespoke wordmark, custom-drawn with deliberate constraints that generate unexpected character. Holmqvist built the letterforms from rectangles of identical width, creating what he describes as a tape-drawn quality. “The basic construction of the wordmark consists of rectangles with the same width, like it was drawn using tape. No optical adjustments were made, a cardinal sin some would say,” he explains. The same curve and rounding method applies to every corner regardless of angle, producing peculiar results. “This weirdly made the countershape in the ‘A’ perfectly circular while the counter in the ‘P’ takes on this elongated strange shape.” Rather than smoothing these imperfections, Holmqvist embraced them. “The constraints and imperfections caused by methods and tools are very interesting to me, if everything is sanded down and perfected it loses its intangible originality in my opinion,” he notes. The short, four-letter name provided freedom to push the graphic execution further since the word maintains inherent legibility. The typographic system pairs ABC Walter from Dinamo with ITC Century Book Condensed, creating deliberate contrast. ABC Walter originates from a tool designed by type educator Walter Käch in the mid-twentieth century for teaching students to draw letterforms. Its high contrast and clarity handles headlines and shorter messaging. ITC Century Book Condensed, dating from 1975, references classic film poster billing blocks, connecting to the cinematic quality of Taipan’s work. “The work of the founders excels in the fact that their work is both very cinematic and grand and more scrappy and human,” Holmqvist shares. “This is something I wanted to reference in the typographic palette.” The combination covers expression and practicality across varied applications, from treatments and pitches to production documents.