Bastard

Bastard

Bastard is a modern interpretation of Blackletter typefaces designed by Jonathan Barnbrook in 1995. It uses modular shapes do build the letterforms that chair the same fractured make up of original blacklister typefaces whilst appearing modern.

Taken from Barnbrooks education website:

Q — You seem to put a lot of emphasis on the name of a typeface, why is this?

A — It is very important, in the past a typeface would take years so it was almost a life’s work. Therefore people would often use their surname. There was also the ‘Letraset’ school of naming which was to name after a visual pun to do with the typeface. Technology has changed the time taken and access for producing typefaces so it can be done be individuals on a much quicker timescale. I suppose I see it as a cross between naming a pop song and a painting. The name can be throwaway; last for a moment, but it can also have many different layers. The name ‘Bastard’ for instance I thought about a lot. The typeface is a blackletter (or gothic) font. It has strong associations with Fascism. It would have been silly to ignore this, even though blackletter has a large place in the history of typography, most people would associate it with the Nazis so it was a chance to almost ‘laugh’ at that. But if you bother to look further into the name, you will know that there is a 14–15th Century form of blackletter called ‘Bastarda’ or that putting the ‘wrong font’ in a piece of letterpress setting is called ‘bastard type’. All I am trying to say is that naming a font is incredibly important. There is a tension there, which can be played with.

Description:

Bastard is a blackletter font drawn with a contemporary eye. Historic forms have been reinterpreted using a set of modular parts and a new aesthetic appropriate to the contemporary technology it was produced on. In recent history these kinds of letterforms have been identified with the Nazis but blackletter type has been central to the development of typography for over five hundred years. The name 'Bastard' confronts these fascist associations but also refers to its historic basis.

Note: 8/5/2012
The main thing I have taken from this typeface is the modular way it is composed, reusing shapes to create each letter. I have done this to a lesser extent but it has enabled me to create my own typeface quicker, recycling parts and sort of creating in the spirit of Austerity!