Seagulls

A seagull on a canal wall in The Hague

This typeface was created during an enjoyable and inspiring workshop called Ornamental Type Research Day 1, hosted by Benjamin McMillan and Céline Hurka. The workshop provided a creative environment for exploring and experimenting with ornamental type design, and this typeface is a direct result of that collaborative experience.

Ornamental Type Research Day One

We were introduced to a truly impressive piece of machinery by Benjamin. It is a typeface-making machine equipped with a built-in scanner and processing chips that work together to automatically convert a scanned images of letters into a fully formed typeface, then upload it directly to his type foundry, Full Auto.

The Full Auto typeface-making machine in its flight case

Then we had about an hour and a half to browse the library collection and pick out some ornamental inspiration, with the goal of drawing two typeface layers on top of one another. It was such devastatingly difficult work to attempt in such a short amount of time. We need to absorb reference material, find the right pieces, and then translate that inspiration into a layered typographic composition all at once.

A page of decorated initials, A to Z, in a specimen book
A red initial L surrounded by two birds, next to a plain black L

I discovered a fun medium to work with, combining lettering and illustration. With the limited time I had, I decided to go with the very first idea that came to mind: designing a typeface built around seagulls stealing food.

I've been living in The Hague for a while now, and the city is absolutely full of these birds. They're everywhere bold, loud, and completely unbothered by people. I've always had a bit of a fear of being attacked by them.

Animated specimen: Wings over the North Sea, set in Seagulls

Seagulls Typeface

SEAGULLS

150px

Click the sheet and type. Move the cursor to the left and the birds fly off; move it to the right and the letters go instead. All caps, A to Z only.

The initials version can be found via Full Auto. I also made a color font version that you can try out and download here. I kept most of the defining traits of the typeface intact — all caps, 26 characters only. This was originally intended to be a one-and-a-half-hour project from a workshop, so I didn't want to overdo it or stray too far from the original brief. Now I'll get back to my studies. Have fun!

Free and Open Source

Download

The zip holds all three files. Seagulls is a COLR colour font; Letters and Birds are single-colour fonts that line up when layered. Free and open source, use it however you like.