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Solenn Bordeau

@bordeausolenn

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Type Designer & Font Engineer
✏️Design 🔠Production ⚙️Mastering
Collaborator at:
@lovercasetypefaces
Working with:
@grillitype
@ornamental_title_type

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

What does it take to bring a typeface from scratch to distribution?

It’s less a straight road than a long journey through an entire industrial chain — building tools, processes, and a workflow of your own. We’ve been designing typefaces for over 10 years. We started with FontLab, moved to Glyphs, then switched to RoboFont. Over time, we’ve learned that, whatever digital tool you use, a pen is still a pen: no software will make a better design than another. That said, preferences naturally evolve with experience, habits, and the specific needs of each project. While drawing remains at the heart of our practice, technology plays an equally important role in bringing a typeface to its highest level of quality and making it work across different environments. For example, we rely on open-source libraries and command-line tools to build and generate our fonts…Here’s a small, non-exhaustive glimpse into what happens behind the scenes, and a rough outline of the process below:

• Concept & brainstorming
• Hand-drawn sketches
• Initial alphabet drafts
• Family development
• Variable axis exploration
• Fine-tuning
• Proofing
• Font development
• Design decisions & reviews
• Stylistic sets definition
• OpenType features
• Text proofing
• Quality assurance
• Font information & metadata
• Kerning
• Spacing review
• Character proofing
• Mastering
• Designspace setup
• Font generation
• Testing & trials
• Gathering references & sources
• Graphic design conception
• Font description
• Web type tester content
• Website backend & uploads
• Communication

And that’s only part of it. A typeface may start with a sketch, but getting it ready for distribution means navigating a whole ecosystem of design, development, testing, tools, and communication. The drawing is just the beginning…

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Discover Emperia !

It all started from a simple question. “What would Trajan lowercase look like?” As Latin is a bicameral script that combines different letterforms, contemporary typefaces mainly relies on compromising the monumental structure of uppercase in the design process. However, Emperia takes a counterintuitive approach. It is a historical reinterpretation of the Antique genre. Rather than a revival, it is a calligraphic fiction of history, where the construction of the minuscule is grounded in the principles of Roman capitals. With the brush as its underlying tool, the typeface family strives to establish a closer relationship between uppercase and lowercase alphabets. By reuniting these two models in harmony, it successfully rewrites history from a fresh perspective !

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We are Live !! Lovercasetypefaces.com

Have a look through our catalog, subscribe to our newsletter and download trials 👀

We have dedicated a lot of time and care creating a unique interface to display our fonts the best way !

Each of our font family are long lasting designs that stands the test of fleeting trends 🤍

A special shout out to Benoït Wimart @bntwmrt for the website developement and Bruno Meilick for implementing the pricing system ! ⚒️

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NEW • The bold version of my typeface Dank just landed on @ornamental_title_type

We also used this release as an opportunity to update the regular —both styles now come with small caps!

Many thanks to @eliottgrunewald for the trust and to @bordeausolenn for the development and type engineering.

Trials and licenses are available at ott-foundry.com

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Protest Grotesk is now Re-Mastered and Re-Released!
🚙💨

Protest Grotesk is a friendly yet straightforward low-contrast sans serif, available in a wide range of weights. Inspired by late 19th- and early 20th-century geometric sans-serifs like Kabel and Futura, while also drawing on legibility focused classics such as Akzidenz Grotesk, it adds a modern twist that works beautifully in both display and text settings. With a balance of sporty, headline ready sharpness and reliable structure, Protest Grotesk excels in both print and digital contexts, making it a versatile tool for today’s design challenges.

Credits:

Design: @markjulienhahn_
Engineering: @bordeausolenn

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→ @edito.type @alanmadic

"ARCH

A condensed grotesque display family crystallizing the tension between structure and expression. Built upon a modular unit system, it extends the mid-century logic of rational design into a contemporary language of structure and rhythm. As our second re-evaluation of Walter Käch’s models, it draws from his condensed grotesque “Velos” Bold introduced in the late 1940s as a foundation. Each glyph is drawn within a grid regulating width, weight, and spacing across the four widths of the family; a rational foundation from which expressive forms emerge.

The unit system takes cues from the mechanical logic of the Linofilm typesetter, whose fixed spacing mechanism defined the widths and weights of early phototype families such as Helvetica Compressed (1966). By turning the mechanics of standardization into a design principle, what once arose from technical limitation becomes a deliberate method, extending Käch’s principles to form an ultimate condensed grotesque family.

The result is a display typeface that balances structural rigor with an inherent sense of rhythm and presence. Both rational and expressive, its heightened contrast brings a quiet authority and a distinctly graphic tone to the page.

Conceived through a grid-based methodology, Arch reflects a modular approach reminiscent of architectural construction and the structural utopias of the 1960s, particularly Superstudio’s grid. It revisits a modernist pursuit of order and proportion, translating it into a typographic syntax that feels both mechanical and alive—an exploration of how form can emerge from the logic of construction itself.

2024-2025
Design: @alanmadic
Font engineering and production care: @bordeausolenn

RELEASING DECEMBER 1 2025

EDITO"

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A gift made for @bordeausolenn inspired by her first own typeface released at @blackfoundry called Minorca.
Made with Indian rosewood
———
#menorca #indianrosewood #wood #woodcarving #typedesign #seaworld #fish

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A gift made for @bordeausolenn inspired by her first own typeface released at @blackfoundry called Minorca.
Made with Indian rosewood
———
#menorca #indianrosewood #wood #woodcarving #typedesign #seaworld #fish

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A gift made for @bordeausolenn inspired by her first own typeface released at @blackfoundry called Minorca.
Made with Indian rosewood
———
#menorca #indianrosewood #wood #woodcarving #typedesign #seaworld #fish

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⚡️ Meet Ampere ⚡️
Sleek, precise, and full of energy, Ampere is the typeface that balances modern clarity with bold impact. Available in 6 weights, it’s perfect for everything from immersive reading to powerful headings. Featuring unique electric characters and playful ligatures, Ampere adds a dynamic spark to any project.
Ready to power up your design? ⚡️

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Here is Ampere, our very latest font release! Ampere stands out with a refined, grid-like precision that speaks to its modern design ethos. Discover more on our website 😍
Link in bio.
#type #typegang #typography #typer #typedesign #typographic #typedrivesculture #typespire #typematters #typographie

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The AACC’s mission to support creative agencies is stronger than ever. In a world where brands need to catalyze real societal changes, the AACC is here to help agencies evolve with the times. To symbolize this constant transformation, the AACC partnered with Black[Foundry] to create "BLAACCK"—a typeface that stands at the heart of their new visual identity.
@aacclive @aaronsamuellevin 🖤
This unique typography offers flexibility and interpretation, whether it’s seen as quotation marks or eyes, it embodies openness and connection. 👁️✒️
A true reflection of agility and creativity in the ever-changing world of design.
#type #typer #typo #typography #typographic #typographicposter #typedesign #typedrivesculture #typespire #typematters #typecooker #typeyeah

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