Hamburgerfonts
Hamburgerfonts
Designers have a longstanding love affair with the term “Hamburgefonstiv,” a lexical oddity containing a variety of letter shapes that showcase different aspects of a font. Inspired by its infamous namesake, Hamburgerfonts is a typeface specimen cooked up to showcase the typefaces designed by Contrast Foundry. It’s playful, quirky, and bound to satisfy.
Scope
Book Design, Copywriting, Illustration, Photography, PackagingCool Points
Eco Print Production, Eco Packaging, Women Led
01
Overview
Type specimens often fall into two camps: the traditional and the avant-garde. Traditional specimens do little to inspire designers to use a typeface, while the avant-garde often focus too much on the creative concept in lieu of showcasing a font’s characteristics. Contrast Foundry (CoFo) tasked us with creating a printed piece that breaks the mold of a conventional type specimen, emphasizing and elevating their wide array of fonts.
02
Concept
Similar to how “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” contains every letter in the alphabet, “Hamburgefonstiv” is a made-up word often used to demonstrate the key characteristics of the letters in the Latin alphabet. Since the ingredients in hamburgers are comprised of multiple layers with endless amounts of creative variation, the book’s mix-and-match format was a natural match.
To reinforce the hamburger concept, we designed a custom food-safe wrapper that both protects the book in transit and offers a satisfying unboxing experience. Since the wrapper is food-safe, it also doubled as a wrapper for the burgers at the launch event.
The specimen highlights each font in the CoFo library, dividing the typefaces into three categories: Protein (display type), Veggies (body type), and Condiments (supportive type). Each font is paired with an ingredient illustration and a corresponding restaurant-inspired receipt panel. The result simultaneously emphasizes Contrasts Foundry’s typefaces and inspires designers to use CoFo’s wide range of fonts in their own projects.
Purchase Hamburgerfonts
Sustainability
We used Eska® Board for the book, a 100% postconsumer recycled book board that withstands warping better than conventional book boards made with virgin materials. It’s the best feeling when the most sustainable option is also the best option.
Book Book
Eska® board, 60pt
100% postconsumer waste (PCW) recycled fibers
Process Chlorine Free (PCF)
FSC® Certified (Forest Stewardship Council™)
Embossed, diecut, and offset printed in China
Wrapper Wrapper
Compostable food-safe paper, 38gsm
FSC® Certified (Forest Stewardship Council™)
Offset printed with water-based food-safe ink
03
Promotion
Getting noticed is hard, but taking creative risks makes it a whole lot easier. When Contrast Foundry asked us to develop a promotional campaign for Hamburgerfonts, they wanted something offbeat, bold, and unforgettable. So we wrote the script, recorded the narration and vocals, and produced a suite of promotional videos. The result are playful, weird, and occasionally unhinged.
Finding collaborators who match your sensitivity to detail and your sense of humor is rare. […] From the very beginning—researching at the Letterform Archive, through the photoshoot and promo videos—it felt like a perfect creative match.
Maria Doreuli, founder of Contrast Foundry
