28 Project one Type essentials

Font creation software

Designing
the Soho
Gothic font
Monotype designer
Sebastian Lester
explains the thinking
behind Soho Gothic, a
typeface intended to
perform as well being
the backbone of a global
brand as it would in an
edgy fashion magazine
The Soho typeface project has been a huge personal undertaking:
54 fonts; over 3,500 hours of work over four years; and 43,924
individual characters. That’s obviously a lot of thinking, planning,
drawing, spacing, kerning and Python coding. At times, I thought I’d
never finish and really wondered what on earth possessed me to
start a project like this in the first place. It’s a major commitment by
any standard, especially given that it was developed entirely
outside of work hours.
I obviously had to have a lot of faith in the type design to
invest this amount of time and effort in developing it. I wouldn’t have
started unless I believed I was designing something that would be
extremely versatile and enduring. Over the following pages, you’ll
get an insight into this long and labour-intensive process.

Designer and many other Skills

Sebastian Lester companies and Inspiration and
is a senior type publications sketches
designer at worldwide. See Different
Illustration Nelson Balaban

Monotype Imaging. www.monotype- weights

He’s developed fonts.com. OpenType
custom typefaces for stylistic sets
Barclays, The Daily Font usage
Telegraph, Waitrose,

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 Designing the Soho Gothic font 29

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 30 Project one Type essentials

SOHOGOTHIC
™

02 I work as a type designer full-time for Monotype Imaging, where we develop a lot of typefaces for corporate clients. So, in
terms of inspiration, I’m always thinking about which characteristics might work well for branding purposes and, more practically,
what kinds of designs perform best in a wide variety of applications and environments on screen and in print. Soho Gothic is, in a
sense, a distillation of that process of thinking about what I like aesthetically and functionally in an industrial and versatile typeface
family, informed by my experience as a custom typeface designer.

01 The Soho family consists of a slab serif (shown

above) and a sans version. I love slab serifs – designs
characterised primarily by thick blocky serifs – but for the
purposes of this piece I’ll concentrate on the sans serif version,
which has just been released.

STYLISTIC SET 1 Semi slab letterforms in upper & lowercase.

Hamburgefonstivly
STYLISTIC SET 2 - Simplified forms in the lowercase - ‘a’, ‘u’ & ‘y’.
03 I always start with a sketchbook when I’m designing a new typeface. I’ll start with very crude
letterforms, fleshing out the basic proportions and themes in the design until I feel ready to start thinking
about the detailing.

Hamburgefonstivly
STYLISTIC SET 3 - Simplified forms in the lowercase ‘u’ & ‘y’ only.
ABCDEFGHIJKLM
abcdefghijklmnop
ABCDEFGHIJKLM
abcdefghijklmnop
05 I designed seven
weights with their respective
italics. So that’s 14 fonts in total.
0123456789&012 0123456789&012
Hamburgefonstivly
STYLISTIC SET 4 - Semi slab letterforms in the lowercase only.
REGULAR

ABCDEFGHIJKLM ABCDEFGHIJKLM
MEDIUM
Seven weights is actually a good
number – it offers lots of variety
and flexibility and the weights
harmonise nicely with the slab
abcdefghijklmno abcdefghijklmno serif versions of Soho.

Hamburgefonstivly 0123456789&01 0123456789&01

BOLD EXTRA BOLD

STYLISTIC SET 5 - Semi slab letterforms in the lowercase i & l only.

ABCDEFGHIJKL ABCDEFGHIJKL
04 I’ll normally work with a test word like ‘Hamburgefonstiv’ because it’s got all
abcdefghijklmn abcdefghijklmn
the key characters in a typeface design – round, square and diagonal shapes, and 0123456789&0 0123456789&0
proportions that set the tone for the rest of the typeface. ULTRA

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 Designing the Soho Gothic font 31

EFFORTLESS
06 The Thin version is super-chic looking and I think would work well in a
fashion context. I think it evokes exclusivity, luxury, and refinement. 07
STATESIn contrast, the Ultra version looks very robust, solid, and reliable.

My fiancée BRUISER

aaa
A Brief History of Shopping
08 The default italics are fairly straightforward. They are what’s known as
‘semi-cursive’, which means they allude to the cursive style of italic (in the ‘a’ and ‘f’
particularly) without being full-on italics. I think this style is most appropriate for a
design like this. Cursive italics can be really beautiful, but can have a softness that I
don’t think works well in industrial-style typefaces like this. There are actually six sets
of italics in each font – see step 11.

09 I also designed a semi-slab version of the font. Semi-slab fonts are not purely sans or serif; they’re
a hybrid style that can be used to create stylish, distinctive characters and extend the versatility of a design.
Soho Gothic’s semi-slabs are accessible via OpenType features in some applications.

10 Soho Gothic is an OpenType font.

In fact, it has 25 OpenType features, some
00123456789 0123456789 0123456789 0123456789 of which aren’t active yet in software such
as InDesign. I wanted to future-proof the
typeface as much as possible. It’s got a
0123456789(¢,$-.)0123456789(¢,$-.)0123456789(¢,$-.)0123456789(¢,$-.) dozen or so ligatures, four sets of numerals,
fractions, inferior and superior numerals,
¼½¾⅓⅔⅛⅜⅝⅞ and much more.

€$ƒ£¤¥¢₡₣₤₧%‰ %‰$¢$¢ €₣₤ƒ₡₧¤

≤<=¬+±×÷−≈≠>≥

[({|¦¡¿¡¿\/⁄∕‼!?})]¶&&@@_uvypqAiwhto‰™fª¥‹¡abdehilmnorst
«»‹›## ΩΩ∆∏∑µμ∂π√∫œ∞‒—.,-:;․‥∙◊«»‹›[({—–-_¯})]℮^

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 32 Project one Type essentials
SOHO GOTHIC LIGHT & LIGHT ITALIC 6/9
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You may choose your
own favourite vintage for this imaginary demonstration, so that it be a
deep shimmering crimson in colour. You have two goblets before you.
One is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns. The other is of
crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transparent. Pour and drink; and
according to your choice of goblet, I shall know whether or not you are a
connoisseur of wine. Bear with me in this long-winded and fragrant meta-
phor; for you will find that almost all the virtues of the perfect wine-glass
have a parallel in typography. There is the long, thin stem that obviates
fingerprints on the bowl. Why? Because no cloud must come between your
eyes and the fiery hearth of the liquid. Are not the margins on book pages
similarly meant to obviate the necessity of fingering the type-pages?
SOHO GOTHIC MEDIUM & MEDIUM ITALIC 6/9
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You may choose
your own favourite vintage for this imaginary demonstration, so that
it be a deep shimmering crimson in colour. You have two goblets be-
fore you. One is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns.
The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transpar-
ent. Pour and drink; and according to your choice of goblet, I shall
know whether or not you are a connoisseur of wine. you will find
Bear with me in this long-winded and fragrant metaphor; for you
will find that almost all the virtues of the perfect wine-glass have a
parallel in typography. There is the long, thin stem that obviates fin-
gerprints on the bowl. Why? Because no cloud must come between
your eyes and the fiery hearth of the liquid. Are not the margins on
SOHO GOTHIC THIN & THIN ITALIC 8/11
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You
may choose your own favourite vintage for this imaginary
demonstration, so that it be a deep shimmering crimson
in colour. You have two goblets before you. One is of solid
gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns. The other is
of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transparent.
Pour and drink; and according to your choice of goblet, I
shall know whether or not you are a connoisseur of wine.
Bear with me in this long-winded and fragrant metaphor;
for you will find that almost all the virtues of the perfect
SOHO GOTHIC REGULAR & ITALIC 8/11
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine.
You may choose your own favourite vintage for this
imaginary demonstration, so that it be a deep shim-
mering crimson in colour. You have two goblets before
you. One is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite
patterns. The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a
bubble, and as transparent. Pour and drink; and ac-
cording to your choice of goblet, I shall know whether
or not you are a connoisseur of wine. Bear with me in
this long-winded and fragrant metaphor; for you will
SOHO GOTHIC BOLD & BOLD ITALIC 8/11
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of
wine. You may choose your own favourite vin-
tage for this imaginary demonstration, so that
it be a deep shimmering crimson in colour. You
have two goblets before you. One is of solid gold,
wrought in the most exquisite patterns. The oth-
er is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and
as transparent. Pour and drink; and according
to your choice of goblet, I shall know whether
or not you are a connoisseur of wine. Bear with
11 One of the special features I designed is the extensive range of OpenType
feature stylistic sets. These are not accessible in all design software but they enable
the user to choose from alternative styles of the same design, ranging from sans serif
to a semi-slab design. This makes the design more useful and versatile, and I’m really
pleased with how well some of these work. It’s like having six designs in one font.
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CAP111.tut_soho 32
SOHO GOTHIC REGULAR & ITALIC 6/9 SOHO GOTHIC THIN & THIN ITALIC 14/17 SOHO GOTHIC LIGHT & LIGHT ITALIC 14/17
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You may choose your
own favourite vintage for this imaginary demonstration, so that it be a
deep shimmering crimson in colour. You have two goblets before you. Imagine that you have before you Imagine that you have before
you a flagon of wine. You may
One is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns. The other
is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transparent. Pour and
drink; and according to your choice of goblet, I shall know whether or
a flagon of wine. You may choose
not you are a connoisseur of wine. Bear with me in this long-winded
and fragrant metaphor; for you will find that almost all the virtues of your own favourite vintage for this choose your own favourite
the perfect wine-glass have a parallel in typography. There is the long,
thin stem that obviates fingerprints on the bowl. Why? Because no cloud
must come between your eyes and the fiery hearth of the liquid. Are not
imaginary demonstration, so that vintage for this imaginary dem-
the margins on book pages similarly meant to obviate the necessity of
it be a deep shimmering crimson in onstration, so that it be a deep
SOHO GOTHIC BOLD & BOLD ITALIC 6/9
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You may
colour. You have two goblets before shimmering crimson in colour.
choose your own favourite vintage for this imaginary demonstra-
tion, so that it be a deep shimmering crimson in colour. You have
two goblets before you. One is of solid gold, wrought in the most SOHO GOTHIC REGULAR & ITALIC 14/17 SOHO GOTHIC MEDIUM & MEDIUM ITALIC 14/17
exquisite patterns. The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a
bubble, and as transparent. Pour and drink; and according to your
choice of goblet, I shall know whether or not you are a connois-
seur of wine. Bear with me in this long-winded and fragrant Imagine that you have before Imagine that you have before
metaphor; for you will find that almost all the virtues of the per-
fect wine-glass have a parallel in typography. There is the long,
thin stem that obviates fingerprints on the bowl. Why? Because
you a flagon of wine. You may you a flagon of wine. You may
no cloud must come between your eyes and the fiery hearth of
choose your own favourite vin- choose your own favourite
SOHO GOTHIC LIGHT & LIGHT ITALIC 8/11
tage for this imaginary dem- vintage for this imaginary
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You onstration, so that it be a deep demonstration, so that it be
may choose your own favourite vintage for this imagi-
nary demonstration, so that it be a deep shimmering shimmering crimson in colour. a deep shimmering crimson
crimson in colour. You have two goblets before you. One
is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns.
The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and
as transparent. Pour and drink; and according to your
choice of goblet, I shall know whether or not you are a 12 Soho Gothic has only just become available, but the early feedback is very positive. I have a group
connoisseur of wine. Bear with me in this long-winded of knowledgeable designer friends who I know will give me honest opinions about my typefaces as they
and fragrant metaphor; for you will find that almost all
evolve, and that’s very useful.
SOHO GOTHIC MEDIUM & MEDIUM ITALIC 8/11
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine.
You may choose your own favourite vintage for
this imaginary demonstration, so that it be a deep
shimmering crimson in colour. You have two goblets
before you. One is of solid gold, wrought in the
most exquisite patterns. The other is of crystal-
clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transparent.
Pour and drink; and according to your choice of
goblet, I shall know whether or not you are a con-
noisseur of wine. Bear with me in this long-winded
SOHO GOTHIC EXTRA BOLD & EXTRA BOLD ITALIC 8/11
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of
wine. You may choose your own favourite vin-
tage for this imaginary demonstration, so that
it be a deep shimmering crimson in colour. You
have two goblets before you. One is of solid
gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns.
The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a
bubble, and as transparent. Pour and drink;
and according to your choice of goblet, I shall
know whether or not you are a connoisseur of
13 Soho is used in a few lifestyle magazines at the moment and it’s used skilfully in Total Guitar. I have
to say, though, no matter how badly one of my typefaces is used, it’s always pleasing to me. There are plenty
of typefaces available these days and it’s a compliment that someone has picked your typeface in the first
place. I have seen some examples of my type being used that have amused me, but I’ve never been angry or
upset. If the typeface is licensed properly from a legal perspective then how people use it is up to them.
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