A typeface that grows in each weight just like a strange Brazilian tree.
Ficus is a type design project whose output is a typeface family of 7 weights dedicated to the growing process of the Figueira Mata-Pau tree, in the brazilian Pantanal.
The process is the following: basically, the Figueira Mata-Pau (Ficus Clusiifolia) starts growing in another tree's trunk, after an animal leaves its seed. And it slowly grows without any harm.
Until its roots, that were growing in the air, reach the soil and the plant begins a long embrace to the initial tree trunk.
After some time, the first tree dies, and becomes only a support to the Figueira. A support that eventually disappears, rotting out,
and leaves behind a peculiar structure with a gap inside. This structure is a great home to several animals, and so the cycle is completed.
Each weight of the Ficus typeface represents stages of this growing plant, as it gets bolder, gains inverted contrast, becomes stranger, more complex and unusual.
The stages are finally done when it gets to an Inline weight, that represents the gap that first tree leaves after rotting inside the Figueira.
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*This was my graduation project and has been selected as one of the top 500 graphic design (and top 24 type design related) projects in the “Bienal Brasileira de Design ADG” between 2015 and 2016 in Brazil.
A comparasing between the plant and the typeface makes the design inspiration more clear to every stage of the process.
Some key charaters that has a lot of transformations through the weights (including the contrast, cuts in the endings, counterforms, curves, width, the form of diacritics, and even the thorns that show up).
The complete character set of Ficus has 215 glyphs on each weight, including one set of numbers (lining figures), math signs, punctuation, diacritics for spanish and portuguese, some ligatures (ff, fi, fl, œ and Œ) and one fleuron.
Booklet with all the research.
As a graduation project, it also envolved an extensive research throughout a year, and the booklet with the full texts about the project was entirely composed and printed using Ficus.
In a final stage of this project, I created 3 posters to promote the project.
