Two fonts — one family

The name suggests it: the Chiq is inspired by a well-known system font from Apple’s classic Mac OS operating system.

By revamping and expanding good old “Chicago”, I want to make that 90s tech charm available for the future. The model consisted of just a single style and inspired me to create “Chiq Bold,” which later became the starting point for the entire font family.

Simple, simple, simple

The idea of creating a typeface whose vectors were constructed as simply as possible also played a role. The appearance of digital type is described using mathematical vectors that are defined by a series of corner and curve points — the anchor points. And some technical applications still require a font that is as simply defined as possible and has as few anchor points as possible.

The shapes of the Chiq are constructed according to a very simple principle. The contrast of stems and hairlines becomes more pronounced towards the bolder weights. A few basic shapes form the framework for all characters. The shapes are very regular and sometimes form somewhat unusual figures, which has a negative effect on readability and makes the font rather unsuitable for long passages of text, but results in a very even typeface. This is particularly true for the extra-wide “UltraExpanded,” which is so wide that you can no longer recognize word images but literally have to spell them out. In this way, words are turned into letter bands with a great decorative effect.

A complete family

With variants from “Light” to “Black”, from “Normal” to “Ultra Expanded” and the italics, Chiq reaches beyond its archetype. This opens up a wide range of uses. It is even clearer, even more sober, and to a certain extent speaks an even more modern formal language.

Chiq is also a variable font! 

This means that there are not only the usual individual styles — one font file for each variant, but when using the variable font you have all the variations available in a single font file. And any intermediate level can also be created and displayed with it — assuming the software supports this still young font format.

The Shad is the almost illegible cousin of the Chiq. As the name suggests — it consists of the shadows of the letters. 
And the bolder the font style, the deeper it is. The “Light” only has a thin shadow, while the “Black” casts a very deep, broad shadow.

Unlike Chiq, Shad is only available as “static” fonts (individual font files for each variant). Due to the different geometry of the shadows of different depths, a variable font is unfortunately not technically feasible.

Shad only consists of the letter shadows, the corresponding letter remains transparent, i.e. without filling. The metrics (spacing and character widths) correspond to those of Chiq, so that both fonts can be placed congruently on top of each other.

When you combine and play with the two fonts, very attractive effects quickly emerge. Shad brings a bit of 3D into typography.