Kenarp Typeface
Typography Design
2022
Project Overview
This project challenged students to design an original typeface inspired by a faculty member, a "Professor Muse." I chose Ken Harper, my mentor and former professor. Through direct interviews, his personality, presence, and communication style were translated into original letterforms. The goal was to move beyond aesthetics and create something that genuinely felt like the person behind it.
Design Overview
Built in Glyphs, each letterform was drawn from scratch using bezier curves and carefully tuned anchor points. The heavy sans-serif construction mirrors Harper's confident yet approachable presence, with uniform stroke weight and rounded terminals reflecting his consistency and warmth. X-height, cap height, and kerning were all manually refined to ensure optical balance across the full character set. Every technical decision traces back to something learned in conversation with him.
