Next to F37 Cap1’s dazzling palette of colours any monochromatic typography will feel dull.
Harnessing both Variable and Color Font technology, F37 Cap1 pushes the boundary of modern typesetting. This vast 74 colour palette may sound overwhelming, but it is easily digested given the simple, modular shape of the characters. Working on a grid of only 4 units tall, Dr John Rooney has devised truly innovative solutions within the restrictive design space. F37 Cap1 is available as a twinkling variable font and in 5 distinct colour ways.
F37® × John Rooney
• F37 Cap1
• Styles 5
• 2023
The Designer
John Rooney is a Designer, Researcher, and Design Educator. John is a Senior Lecturer on the BA(Hons) Graphic Design course at Manchester School of Art.
Before moving into education, John worked in his own studio on a range of national and international Graphic Design Projects in the creative arts sector. This included a 15 year commission with Tate Gallery, working on Catalogues, Posters and Exhibition publicity for artists including Peter Blake, The Andy Warhol Foundation and Roy Liechtenstein, plus commissioned work for Adidas Europe, The University of Cambridge Steve Bell, Contact Theatre Manchester, The University of Liverpool, Manchester City Art Gallery, People’s History Museum, Play It Again Sam Records, Belgium, Reebok UK, Umbro Europe, USA and Japan.
F37 Cap1
Interview
Tell us about the inspiration behind your collaboration with F37®×. If it was an unused concept, what was the potential use case for it.
I spend a lot of my spare time thinking and sketching potential letterforms, sometimes they go someplace, sometimes they don’t, the fun is playing with the shape of letters and seeing what happens when you do it. The origin of “Cap1” came from a cover page for an online portfolio I made a few years ago. I left it on file for a while, and when I completed my PhD it felt like it fitted with my current thinking about representing creative communities, so I developed a full single case alphabet to see if it would work, which I think it did.
When starting the process of creating your font, what typographic conventions did you look to break or experiment with? Or were there conventions of functionality you championed?
I try to work instinctively. This is in part a reaction to working a lot of the time on projects with grids and systems. “Cap1” is clearly set on a grid, but the colours which make up the letters were chosen at random. “Cap1” is a display font, so works best with a few words or a short sentence for impact. I like to see type which challenges legibility a little bit, which is fun to explore and challenge the modernist approach for clarity and lack of personality.
Now that your typeface has launched, what would be your dream project to use your F37® typeface on?
The font was used on a Secret 7 sleeve for this year’s exhibition. I was delighted my design was chosen, especially as it was used on a sleeve for The Specials, one of my favourite bands. I think the type would work well on music packaging, and I am intrigued to see how other designers use it, and mess it up too (which is a good thing!)
What have you learnt through developing and creating your own typeface(s) with our F37® type designers?
I worked with Rick and Rodrigo on developing the font beyond the initial vector drawings. Rodrigo came up with the brilliant idea of making colours in the font variable, so there were multiple options of the same font. This is such great idea, it was a pleasure working with F37® in the process. For me collaboration is everything, have an open mind! It is always exciting to see how work changes and evolves, Rick and Rodrigo really added to the development of the font with the variable versions.
How would you describe your typeface in three words?
Bold. As. Possible.
F37 Cap1 Font Sampler
