I recently had the pleasure of working with David Jonathan Ross (of DJR) to create a microsite for his type family Megazoid. Megazoid is a big, blocky exploration of raw geometry. It’s such a fun typeface! The font itself draws inspiration from stark geometric forms and shares some DNA with works like Milton Glaser’s Baby Teeth or RadioShack’s previous logo, but also leans into some of that quirkiness with depth layers and offsets like the best of Photo-lettering.

The brief for these kinds of projects is almost always the same: Showcase what the font can do and examples for what it feels like in use. Beyond that, have fun with it. Since it’s a playful typeface, the site should be playful too.

I had a blast making the site and iterating through ideas with David. When we met, we gathered inspiration we both liked, leaning into retro packaging design like VHS and cassette tapes, Polaroid, and Trapper Keepers as well as analog devices like calculators, keyboards, and game controllers. This material is also rife with great color motifs that go right up to the line of “clashing” while still feeling energetic.

The text samples are largely sci-fi and space themed, and the longer passages are game descriptions from an old Atari catalogue. I layered in a subtle paper texture to evoke the feeling of discovering these materials in an attic box, preserved but aged, like a time capsule from my youth.

I capped it all off with lots of little moments of motion and play. Almost everything on the site reacts to hover or touch — letters bounce, shift, and extrude. Because this is the very place to have fun with web design, all while trying to show how cool it is to use Megazoid.

Check out the site, and grab a copy of Megazoid for your next project.

Megazoid started out as an entry in DJR’s Font of the Month Club where members receive a new surprise font every month. It’s a fantastic membership that I highly recommend, it pays for itself many times over. Some fonts feel experimental at first, while others are revivals, expansions, or future workhorses. All are fully baked and usable, and serve as the seeds for future expansions. I love how David makes room for experimentation and play in his work, it’s both a labor of love and a dare he puts forth every month. Also, members get discounts on past months’ releases!

DJR is a friend and collaborator. He’s one of the most generous people in the type community, often giving his time and expertise to teaching and lifting up others. When I’ve taken type workshops in the past, he invariably shows up as a guest critic. Other type designers often tell me they turn to him for advice when they hit tricky scripting challenges. Just last week, he used ad space he bought on Fonts In Use to promote other designers. A+ human right there.

Reply via email.