Polymode

XYZ Type
2023

Promotional video showing how the Realness and Weight variable axes work and the font in use.
About the design, variable font, and character set.
Sample settings for Acting Basic and Going to Work.
Sample settings for Attitude and Opulence.
Sample display settings for Efik, English, and Vietnamese. The design has language support for Central European, a majority of the written languages of Africa, and Vietnamese.

Polymode Studio commissioned a house typeface to represent their strong personal voice in print, books, web, and identity design projects. Based on the studio partners’ philosophy of the polymodal self, the typeface needed to adapt to a broad range of aesthetics and concepts without sacrificing its core identity. This variable typeface balances straightforward functionality with an exploration of LGBTQ+ identity through a unique “Realness” axis, on which the glyphs get progressively more expressive and harder to ignore.

Designer
Ben Kiel
Designer
Jesse Ragan
Creative director
Brian Johnson
Creative director
Silas Munro
Design assistant
Cem Eskinazi
Specimen design
Vanna Vu
Motion design
Edgar Casarin
Project link