Planet typography MyFonts
The typographic Times
[May 2002]
Neoritmo
by Claudio Piccinini
Neoritmo
The changing of times...

NeortimoNeoritmo was initially designed in 1996 in the attempt to create an experimental text typeface embodying the features of complementary realities, reaching thus an internal armony despite its idyosyncracies and experimental nature.

Neortimo

Complementary realties, for example are male/female, reason/intuition, science/literature to more specifically typographical ones like classic/modern and serif/sans-serif.
The idea was also, looking at our contemporary reality, to try to create a typeface in the tradition of the roman alphabet and the types of Garamond which would have tried to express more the malaise of modernity.
What sparkled the initial flame, I think, was the lighter weight of the typeface Stempel Schneidler, the only one whose uppercase O seem to have an even thickness, in opposition to the other capitals, modulated as usual.
After looking at it I began wondering what would have been like to have some letters following traditional modulation (the intution) and others being monotone (the reason, the structural approach).

... the rythm of history !

The main thing, while designing Neoritmo, that I tried to keep in mind was the rythm of internal tension that letters have in the roman alphabet, emphasized by the Roman stone inscriptions, that other alphabets don’t have in the same measure. In Neoritmo there’s the effort to underline this aspect, diversifying as much as possible the widths of single letters.This internal tension (a common trait of the best text typefaces) is also one of the fundamental aspects contributing an increase in legibility, as we consider it in the context of long passages of text (as we have in books) that shouldn’t tire the reader’s eye. Nonetheless the design remains experimental.

Neortimo

The family began to expand in an ordered but at the same time hydiosyncratic way. The difficulties of making it consistent and other external factors has delayed its release. All I can say now is that I hope Neoritmo will be released in time in late 2002 by my good friend Rodrigo Cavazos at Psy-Ops.


Related article: Claudio Piccinini interview (May 2002)