MegaMegaTypeType
A single-weight display face built from fragments of four canonical American sans-serifs, using OpenType randomisation to recreate the irregular texture of moveable outdoor sign lettering.
About
Designed by Christian Schwartz in the late 1990s, the face draws loosely on Helvetica, Futura, Franklin Gothic and Alternate Gothic No. 2, blending their letterforms so that individual characters appear ordinary but combine into something visually restless and uneven. Tal Leming wrote OpenType code – informed by theories from quantum mechanics – to distribute the mismatched alternates in a way that resists pattern. The result is a typeface that simulates the accidental quality of hand-assembled signage without resorting to simple stylistic alternates.
Classification
A sans-serif display face drawing on four ubiquitous American grotesques – Helvetica, Futura, Franklin Gothic and Alternate Gothic No. 2 – with OpenType randomisation that mimics the irregularity of moveable outdoor sign lettering. Its distressed, mismatched character is the defining feature, placing it firmly in the display category.