Rabbit holes can be oh-so-fun. No, not the doomscrolling variety. We’re talking about the kind designers descend into as they nurture the seed of a new idea or a spark inspired by something they’ve seen. We’re talking about the satisfaction and flow that comes from pulling on threads to reveal new paths for our curiosity.
Airport, a new typeface designed by Lukas Scheider, founder of Revolver Type Foundry, came out of one such rabbit hole. Schneider saw a vintage counting game for kids from 1979 and the type caught his eye. He was unable to find the typeface, so he engaged a Berlin graphic designer and type expert, Florian Hardwig, who finally tracked down the mystery typeface: Airport Spotlight, a spin-off of Matthew Carter’s Airport, a typeface designed in 1960 for London Airport (now Heathrow).
Down the hole Schneider went, through the fascinating histories of London Airport and airport wayfinding and through the pages of books that reference Carter’s typeface (including the extremely hard-to-obtain 1970 book, A Sign System Manual, by Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes, and Alan Fletcher), and eventually leading to a conversation with Carter himself.
A Sign Systems Manual, Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes, 1970
(Left) Two images from Airport Wayfinding, Nehl/Schlaich, 2021;
(Right) Airport variants from a catalog of Layoutsetzerei Stulle, Stuttgart, 1985
Airport and Airport X are the results of his research, releasing a modern version of Carter’s iconic, mid-century typeface 64 years after it debuted. Schneider’s Airport is not simply a direct digitization—he played with the aperture proportions, modulation, and x-height, thus enabling the family to be used at smaller sizes than the original version. Stylistic alternatives, glyphs, and special characters add additional language support and iconography harkening back to the original typeface’s wayfinding purpose.
Read more about the type family and Schneider’s research on the Airport microsite.
I asked Schneider a few questions about the project; his answers are below.
What was your favorite aspect of the design process or the overall project?
One favorite aspect of the overall project was creating the microsite and background story. After spending time designing the letter shapes, it was refreshing to work on the visualizations. Sometimes it takes a while to finalize the visual identity, but I believe the effort and iterations are worth it to achieve a cohesive design. Although time-consuming, I enjoy thinking about how to present the project to the public, especially when it has a historical background like this one. Another exciting part was the thrill of finding rare materials, such as the book A Sign System Manual, and having the opportunity to discuss the project with Matthew Carter.
What was the most challenging aspect of the project?
On one hand, some decisions about specific shapes were quite challenging due to the scarcity of printed examples of the original typeface.
For example, I had to determine which shape of the lowercase ‘r’ was used in the original release. On the other hand, this gave me some freedom to incorporate my personal tastes and preferences. Fortunately, OpenType features allow for alternate glyphs to be included, so I added a few. However, alternate glyphs are often used less than the default shapes, so this decision had to be carefully considered.
Why is it important to preserve and re-work iconic typefaces?
As a type designer, I’m always seeking inspiration. Revitalizing old fonts is a long-standing tradition in type design, and for me, it’s intrinsic to the craft itself. Digitizing an analog typeface makes it more accessible and easier to use by a wider audience, which I believe is a positive development. In a way, you’re also preserving history.
What’s next for you and Revolver Type?
I have several projects in the pipeline. Sometimes progress is slow, and it’s difficult to predict which project will be published next, especially when working on multiple projects simultaneously. I’m focusing more on variable font technology, which can make projects more time-consuming. So there won’t be a new release soon.
Schneider founded Revolver in 2017; the Frankfurt-based foundry’s name is a clever nod to the circular and always-evolving nature of print, editorial, and type design.
At Revolver Type, we like to mix historical motifs and contemporary vision, combine them with state-of-the-art technology, and fuse them into forceful fonts. Made with love – no guns involved.
In recent years, Revolver has developed tools to streamline the digital type design and production process. LS Cadencer channels the spacing principles of 16th-century typesetting to assist type designers in their workflow, enabling spacing to be effortlessly considered at the early stages of a design.