The W Type Foundry is on a self-professed mission to bring uncials back.
To resurrect the scripts—which were popular from the fourth to eighth centuries AD—the Chilean studio is brewing up some typographic alchemy.
As they write, “What comes to your mind if I say Architype, Geometric, Gaelic and Uncial? An impossible combination of features? An unrealistic setup of tastes as weird as your music list? Or some part of a joke told by your favorite comedian? Just chill and stick to the idea that [it’s] possible.”
On paper, the resulting typeface, Gallos, doesn’t seem like it should work. But then you get drawn in by Diego Aravena Silo and Salvador Rodríguez’s distinct ‘a,’ and you realize it does.
The typeface takes the form of two subfamilies: Gallos Uncial and Gallos Architype. Pops of quirk and personality find their way to the fore of the fonts, thanks to an ‘M,’ ’N,’ “W,’ ‘a,’ ‘m,’ ’n,’ ‘r,’ and ‘w’ unique to each.
“The Uncial script aspect [displays] the leaned ‘a’ with a closed bowl, and the classical geometric style [depicts] more conventional uppercase and lowercase letters ‘m’ and ‘n.’ The Architype [subfamily] is inspired by Paul Renner’s Architype model, thus the leaned ‘a’ has an open counter, the ‘r’ is composed by a stem and a dot, and the rest of the mentioned letters were built using square rational features. Both models are connected by classical Uncial features such as the curved stroke ‘e’ and curved shaft ‘t,’ and with Gaelic vibes which can be seen in uppercase and lowercase letters ‘K’ and ‘X.’”
Will it bring uncials back?
… Doubtful.
Still, we’re happy to see the results of the designers’ typographic time travels. Pick up a copy here.
