One evening, during my first semester teaching Introduction to Typography, I had a brief side conversation with a student. He was a little older and had a little more experience than most, so he was well at ease asking a teacher question. He said something to the effect of “You Seem To Be Really Into Type” (not a direct quote, as I have no record of this) and then, as a casual tangent, asked me if I had ever designed a typeface myself. I had a “Heck No!” mental reaction, akin to what you might get when asked if you had ever climbed atop a volcano. Sure, it sounds like an amazing feat, but I am certain I lack the skill, training, and stamina. After a pause I chuckled and mumbled something about No, But Maybe Someday and went on about what was due on Monday.

一个晚上，在我的第一学期教版式概论期间，我与一个学生进行了简短的旁白交谈。 他的年龄比大多数人大一些，因此他可以轻松地向老师提问。 他说了一些“您似乎真的要变成字体”的效果(不是直接引用，因为我没有这方面的记录)，然后，作为一个随意的切线，问我自己是否设计过字体。 我有一个“哎呀！” 精神React，类似于当被问到您是否曾爬过火山顶时会得到什么。 当然，这听起来像是一项了不起的壮举，但是我敢肯定我缺乏技巧，训练和耐力。 片刻后，我咯咯地笑着，嘟m着一些关于“不，但也许有一天”的事情，然后继续讨论周一的预定。

But that comment had some staying power. In subsequent years, I added a type design component to the same class, vicariously assigning that same herculean task to students as an experiment. There is quite a lot to learn about type by attempting to design a display typeface, so this became one of my favorite projects to assign. Over time, though, the hypocrisy laid bare too crisply, and that student’s words kept rumbling back. Well, why not try designing one of these?

但是该评论具有一定的持久力。 在随后的几年中，我在同一个班级中添加了一个字体设计组件，将相同的繁重任务分配给学生作为实验。 通过尝试设计显示字体，有很多关于字体的知识，因此这成为我最喜欢分配的项目之一。 但是，随着时间的流逝，伪善的表现得太清晰了，那个学生的话语不停回荡。 好吧，为什么不尝试设计其中之一？

Deep in some other brain well, I held the peculiar letterforms from

在其他大脑的深处，我拿着来自

Caifanes album covers — a Mexican band I idolized in high school. Sometime between that long-ago side comment and the spring of 2020 (not sure when exactly), I realized that if I were to attempt to design a typeface, it would be based on these characters.Caifanes的专辑封面-我在高中时就崇拜的墨西哥乐队。 在那段长期的评论与2020年的春天之间的某个时间(不确定确切的时间)，我意识到如果我要设计字体，它将基于这些字符。

In addition to being obsessed with Caifanes’ music, I spent a lot of time in high school staring at these letters, drawing them repeatedly, decorating my binder with them, doodling on the margins during lectures. Something about that S drew me in, and I found the uppercase A to be so memorable and beautiful. Of course, this was before I knew what typography was, long before I knew you could study letterforms and that their parts had names, long before I noticed that only one of the A’s had a slab serifs and the other didn’t, long before I even had the vocabulary to make that mental note. I doubt that my interest in letters began with these albums, but it was certainly fostered there, incubating in my headphones on my walks to school. It grew as I listened and listened and identified with the songs, subconsciously connecting bass lines with baselines.

除了沉迷于Caifanes的音乐外，我还在高中时就花了很多时间盯着这些字母，反复画这些字母，用它们装饰我的活页夹，在演讲期间在书本上乱涂乱画。 关于S的一些事情吸引了我，我发现大写A如此令人难忘和美丽。 当然，那是在我知道字体是什么之前，很久以后，我才知道您可以学习字母形式，并且它们的各个部分都有名称，很久以后，我才注意到，只有一个A带有平衬线，而另一个没有。我什至有词汇去做那个心理笔记。 我怀疑我对信件的兴趣是从这些专辑开始的，但肯定是在那里培养的，在我步行去学校的时候戴在耳机里。 随着我的聆听，聆听和对歌曲的认同，它逐渐发展起来，潜意识地将低音线与基线连接起来。

On March 2 of this year, the 36 days of type project started, and I took that as a final nudge to get this going. I began, of course, with that uppercase A. From the outset, I wanted to explore the typeface in a couple of different realms — in one, I stayed close to the original outlines and trimmed the contours; in another, I accentuated the stroke contrast. Lastly, I added a stencil on some studies that took even broader geometric liberties. Would the spirals taper or not? Would I keep the slabs? Would the quirky internal architecture of the original lettering hold up for legibility within an entire alphabet? Those are things I wanted to dig into as the project got off the ground.

从今年3月2 日开始，为期36天的类型项目开始了，我以此为最终推动力。 我当然是从大写字母A开始的。从一开始，我就想在几个不同的领域中探索字体–在其中一个方面，我紧贴原始轮廓并修剪了轮廓。 在另一个方面，我强调了笔触的对比。 最后，我在一些研究中添加了模板，这些研究具有更广泛的几何自由。 螺旋会变细吗？ 我会保留平板吗？ 原始字母的古怪内部结构是否可以在整个字母表中保持可读性？ 这些是我在项目启动时想要挖掘的东西。

Over time, the forms that were closer to the original began to lose their appeal, as it felt like an exercise in cleaning up vernacular type without adding anything else. A specter of pointlessness began to fall over those letters, particularly in the middle of the alphabet, where the task felt more like a production assignment, not a years-long What If project. I loved how the A and the B and the C turned out, and I continued drawing them to see what would happen once the R or the X or the Z came around, but I did so without the same interest.

随着时间的流逝，更接近原始形式的表格开始失去吸引力，因为感觉就像是清理白话类型而无需添加任何其他内容的练习。 这些字母变得毫无意义，特别是在字母中间，这种感觉更像是一项生产任务，而不是长达数年的“假设分析”项目。 我喜欢A，B和C的结果，我继续画它们，看看R或X或Z出现后会发生什么，但是我没有同样的兴趣。

Drawing tapering spirals also tested my patience a little too much, especially with the daily pace the project required. The high contrast version stayed around a little longer (in fact, it is still an intriguing idea to me and perhaps something I will revisit down the line). Still, by the end of the alphabet, I was most satisfied with stencil / geometric approach. I kept drawing high contrast versions until the end, but as the numerals started to count down, I knew the outcome would be a cleaned-up version of that stencil set.

逐渐变细的螺旋线也测试了我的耐心，特别是按照项目所需的日常节奏。 高对比度版本停留了更长的时间(实际上，这对我来说仍然是一个有趣的想法，也许我会重新审视一下)。 尽管如此，到字母表结尾时，我对模具/几何方法还是很满意的。 我一直画高对比度版本直到最后，但是随着数字开始递减计数，我知道结果将是该模板集的清理版本。

Little rules emerged here & there. The original wordmark had no diagonals, so I stuck to that as much as possible, which made things like the N and the forward slash and the accents somewhat of a challenge, but I felt there had to be some idiosyncratic remnant to the alphabet to keep the spirit of the original letterforms. I had to sacrifice the original S as it just started to read like a 5 in most cases (I kept is as an alternate), and, though I’ve always loved the NE relationship, I removed the curved stem of the N to make it work better in the entire system.

在这里和那里几乎没有规则出现。 最初的字标没有对角线，因此我尽可能地坚持这一点，这使诸如N和正斜线以及重音之类的字词有些挑战，但是我觉得必须保留一些特殊的字母才能保留字母原始字母形式的精神。 在大多数情况下，我不得不牺牲原始的S，因为在大多数情况下它开始读为5(我保留为备用)，尽管我一直很喜欢NE关系，但我删除了N的弧形茎，它在整个系统中效果更好。

As I feared on that long-ago sidebar with my student, there was only so much stamina I could bring. When the non-alphabetical glyphs came around, I could only muster the energy for the glyphs hidden behind the keyboard’s numerals. !@#$%^&*(). Someday the other glyphs might make it back, but this particular set felt like it needed to come to a close.

正如我担心与我的学生在那个长期的侧边栏上一样，我只能带来这么多的耐力。 当非字母字形出现时，我只能为隐藏在键盘数字后面的字形聚集能量。 ！@＃$％^＆*()。 总有一天，其他字形可能会重新出现，但是这组特殊感觉好像需要结束了。

Part of why I love teaching type is that it is so ubiquitous that you fail to see it, but once you unearth the particulars, you realize there are dozens and dozens of decisions that need to be made. Where should the crossbars hit? Should the slab serifs always project horizontally from both sides of the stem? Are all circular segments sections of circles, or ovals, or supercircles? Should this zig-zag component appear only on the R and K, or somewhere else?

我热爱教学类型的部分原因是它无处不在，以至于您看不到它，但是一旦发现细节，您就会意识到需要做出许多决定。 横杆应该在哪里击中？ 平板衬线是否应始终从杆的两侧水平伸出？ 是否是圆，椭圆或超圆的所有圆形段部分？ 之字形分量应该只出现在R和K还是其他位置？

In Episode S2:06 of Netflix’s The Art of Design, Jonathan Hoefler walks us through Decimal’s design and alludes to this process, half science, half art, mostly rational decisions with a speck of Just Because.

在Netflix的《设计艺术》的S2：06集中 ，乔纳森·霍夫勒(Jonathan Hoefler)向我们介绍了Decimal的设计，并暗示了这一过程，一半是科学，一半是艺术，大部分都是理性的决定，带有Just Just的斑点。

The volcano pictured is a famous peak in the Mexican horizon, the mighty Popocatépetl, an active volcano that sits alongside a dormant one known as Iztaccíhuatl. The names come from an Aztec legend that depicts Iztaccíhuatl as a beautiful princess in love with a warrior named Popocatépetl. One day, she dies from grief, after being deliberately deceived and told that Popocatépetl had perished in a battle. When Popocatépetl returns to find his loved one dead, he kneels by her grave and vows to look after her sleep. As the centuries roll by, the gods cover them with snow and change them into mountains. Popocatépetl becomes an active volcano, occasionally bringing his fiery wrath in the form of eruptions into the city, grieving his loss. Iztaccíhuatl remains asleep, her back forever arched upward across the city’s landscape.

图中的火山是墨西哥地平线上一个著名的山峰，巨大的Popocatépetl是一座活火山，与Hibernate的Iztaccíhuatl一起坐落。 这些名字来自阿兹台克人的传说 ，描绘了伊兹塔恰瓦特尔(Iztaccíhuatl)是一位美丽的公主，爱上了一位名叫Popocatépetl的战士。 有一天，在被故意欺骗并告诉她波波卡特佩特尔在一场战斗中丧生之后，她死于悲痛。 当Popocatépetl返回发现自己的亲人时，他跪在她的坟墓旁，发誓要照顾她的睡眠。 随着世纪的流逝，众神在白雪覆盖下，将它们变成山脉。 Popocatépetl变成了一座活泼的火山，偶尔以喷发的形式将他的烈性愤怒带入这座城市，为他的损失感到悲伤。 伊兹塔恰瓦特尔(Iztaccíhuatl)保持睡眠，她的后背永远在城市景观中向上弯曲。

I thought about this story a lot back in high school, its epic sadness and beauty, its utter Mexicanness. I’m not sure I would have looked into this tale, or this aspect of the city I was born in if it wasn’t for that cover or that t-shirt I wore feverishly. It was mesmerizing, this notion of a dormant volcano, a Mexican Juliet of sorts, representing a deep feeling, a deep sense of devotion buried forever. What happens with emotions, with sounds, with the love of things, when left behind? Do they erupt violently? Or do they seep into the ground and slowly and interminably impact the lives that follow?

我在高中时就曾想过这个故事，它充满了史诗般的悲伤和美丽，充满了墨西哥风味。 我不确定我是否会研究这个故事，或者我出生的城市的这个方面，如果不是为了发烧的那件封面或那件T恤。 令人着迷的是，Hibernate的火山的概念，墨西哥朱丽叶的某种形式，代表着一种永远隐藏的深刻感觉和深刻奉献精神。 当被抛弃时，情感，声音，对事物的热爱会发生什么？ 他们会爆发吗？ 还是它们渗入地下并缓慢而无限地影响着随后的生活？

That story came to embed itself in the way I listened to these songs, the way I looked at my faded out T-shirt that had the same smoke bellowing out, the same deep blue cast leaving a trace, like a powerful image seeping through the thick fog of memory. That myth, the songs, the mist, and the letterforms soon became one single thrust and remained so for years. Attempting to create a typeface that felt “Mexican” was not my summer project’s goal, but it makes all the sense in the world in hindsight that this was the outcome. Some things go deep. Some things go right to the very core.

这个故事逐渐融入我听这些歌曲的方式，看待我褪色的T恤的方式，这种T恤散发着相同的烟雾，同样的深蓝色投射出一丝痕迹，就像强大的图像从记忆的浓雾。 那个神话，歌曲，迷雾和字母形式很快就成为一个单一的推动力，并且持续了多年。 尝试创建一种感觉“墨西哥”的字体不是我的暑期项目的目标，但事后看来，这是世界范围内的全部想法。 有些事情深入人心。 有些事情是最核心的。

After the 36days project ended, I walked away for a while, then came back and refined two weights, the regular/medium that was the focus of the posts, and a light version that emerged when doing the numerals. I named the two weights Caifan Lai and Caifan Jevi — deliberate misspellings of Light/Heavy that reference the backstory of the Caifanes name itself. The band’s name came from Pachuco slang for “Me Cae ‘Fine,” a term of endearment which, through the lens of time and its two intertwined tongues, basically translates to “cool dude.” In the future, I would love to add a bolder weight and bring back that stencil version that was a big part of the original study. Maybe later on, with another burst of fire and energy, I can tackle the lowercase characters. Maybe someday.

在为期36天的项目结束后，我走了一段时间，然后回过头来完善了两个砝码，常规/中号是帖子的重点，而数字处理时出现了轻巧的版本。 我将两个权重命名为Caifan Lai和Caifan Jevi，它们是故意引用Light / Heavy的拼写错误，它们引用了Caifanes名称本身的背景知识。 乐队的名字来自Pachuco s语，意为“ Me Cae'Fine”，这是一个讨人喜欢的称呼，通过时间的镜头和两条交织在一起的舌头，基本上可以翻译为“酷家伙”。 将来，我想增加一个更大的重量，并带回原来研究中很大一部分的模具版本。 也许以后，有了又一阵火光和能量，我可以解决小写字母了。 也许有一天。

I know there are many blind spots in these letters. Not only in the glyphs I outright omitted, but there are some ratios and counterforms that an experienced type designer would find appalling and numerous things I am sure I can’t even see. But, as an exploration of a deeply buried notion, it feels like a decent outcome. Some songs are fine without a guitar solo; some are fine ending at 1.56.

我知道这些信件中有很多盲点。 不仅在我完全省略的字形中，而且经验丰富的字体设计人员会在某些比例和形式上感到震惊，而且我敢肯定甚至看不到很多东西。 但是，作为对深层观念的探索，这感觉像是一个不错的结果。 如果没有吉他独奏，有些歌曲会很好。 有些很好，以1.56结尾。

We all have musicians and bands and heroes that get us through high school. These are critically formative years, and the emotional responses built up through this stretch have a long reach; they remain emotionally resonant long afterward. As I wrapped up these letterforms, it became clear that this exercise wasn’t just about going on and on about my favorite band, or nerding out on letters, or reconnecting with a younger self. This was also about reaffirming my own identity, of further fusing these two selves back together — the Mexican and the Designer. These are by no means mutually exclusive, but these two sides have developed at different times and in different cities for me, and they sometimes need more common ground to share.

我们都有音乐家，乐队和英雄，使我们高中毕业。 这些是至关重要的形成性年份，通过这段时间建立起来的情感React具有很长的影响。 他们在很久以后仍保持情感共鸣。 当我整理好这些字母的形式时，很明显，这种练习不仅是继续和继续我最喜欢的乐队，或者是迷恋字母，或者是与年轻的自我重新建立联系。 这也是关于重申我自己的身份，进一步将这两个自我(墨西哥人和设计师)融合在一起。 这些绝不是相互排斥的，但是对我而言，这两个方面是在不同的时间和不同的城市发展的，有时它们需要更多共同点来分享。

In 1996, Caifanes became Jaguares (I can’t get into that here, but in short, they’ve had a long history of internal feuds, including some about the name, although they recently returned to Caifanes and started playing again under that moniker). That first Jaguares album, which I got as I headed off to college, opened with a track featuring atmospheric, cave-like sounds while Saúl Hernandez spoke about returning to primal states, about finding balance. The spoken word segment ended with the lines: “No quiero perder el instinto / Que me guiará a recuperar / Nuestro estado original.” This loosely translates to: “I don’t want to lose the instinct / That will guide me to recover / Our original state.”

1996年，凯凡内斯(Caifanes)成为美洲虎(简而言之，他们有着悠久的内部仇恨历史，包括一些关于名字的争执，尽管他们最近回到了凯凡内斯(Caifanes)并开始以这个绰号开始比赛 )。 我刚上大学时就获得了第一张Jaguares专辑，开张时的曲目带有大气，类似洞穴的声音，而SaúlHernandez谈到了回到原始状态，寻求平衡的过程。 语音词段以以下行结尾：“请不要在quiero perder el instinto / Que meguiará调养人/ Nuestro estado原文 。” 宽松地翻译为：“ 我不想失去本能，这将引导我恢复原状。 ”

It is a great fortune to get a chance to reconnect with something that had been long abandoned — an adolescent sketch, a lost identity — only to find it breathing, ready to wake after being thought to be lost deep underground.

能够有机会重新与早已被遗弃的事物(青春期素描，失去的身份)重新建立联系，发现它呼吸，准备在被认为迷失在地下之后醒来，这是一个巨大的财富。