republi.sh is such a cool project by Behalf Studio. The team restored and digitized typefaces from Southern Vietnam in the 20th century. These typefaces were used on hand-painted signs, colonial buildings, and old newspaper and book headlines.
I love how they preserve the history of these fonts. They turn them into unique designs that feel fresh and modern today. Below are two of my favorite fonts from republi.sh!
The team launched the Typography as… (Chữ là chi…) exhibition in early 2021, showing how these typefaces can be used in modern design in creative ways. What caught my attention most was their typeface design process: Research → Exploration → Development → Refinement → Output. I was especially interested in the Research phase, where they study letterforms and define the style of the typeface.
I found this very inspiring for my own typeface design project. I did not start with a research phase. I jumped straight into designing the typeface. Because of that, it was hard to define a clear style while keeping the original personality of the typeface I was digitizing.