TIGHTYPE’s Macan and Macan Stencil are an eclectic and playfully unexpected pair of typefaces

German foundry TIGHTYPE have crafted a neo-grotesk type family in both solid and stencil versions, taking inspiration from 20th-century grotesks such as Gothic No. 124, Times Gothic and Modern Gothic, as well as the industrial aesthetics of stencil fonts and the lettering found on 90s rave posters. Reflecting on the project, the team explains that the basic glyph set and overall characteristics of the solid version were designed first to achieve the character shapes and proportions that they had in mind. “This first part of the process was similar to other typefaces.” they tell us. “Once we added the Stencil version things got more complex as we had to do quite a lot of back-and-forth to make sure that a) the rhythm of the typeface is still harmonious (which turned out to be tricky to evaluate using the Stencil styles), and b) the ‘solid’ character shapes would be compatible with the Stencil character shapes.” They highlight the horizontal bar in the capital ‘G’ and the diagonal stroke in the capital ‘Q’ as two elements that were originally designed to be shorter. “So to make them work as a stencil, we had to extend them,” he reveals. Most ‘classic’ stencil stroke ends are square and don’t need too much fine-tuning. However, Macan brings something new to the table with its smooth rounded ends. This idea was partially inspired by Keedy Sans – a typeface by Jeffery Keedy that appeared on rave flyers in the 90s. “The typeface (which is included in the permanent architecture and design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York) has both rounded and straight stroke ends, which creates this exciting dynamic and unexpected rhythm. It’s basically a rounded typeface, but only partially. The letterforms almost feel like they’re not quite finished.” The team was drawn to this as it felt so authentically human. “A computer or AI wouldn’t have been able to come up with this design (or at least not yet), because it does not follow a system that a computer could replicate or come up with,” they reflect. “It’s unexpected – quite ‘handmade’ actually.”