Flare
Spring 2021 • Advanced Typography • Display Font
Final Version Black
Final Version Red Stroke
Final Version 3D
I designed a graffiti-style font inspired by graffiti street art called Flare. Growing up I was an avid breakdancer which is why I pursued hip-hop culture at a young age, my b-girl name was Flare. One summer I took a graffiti drawing camp and became fascinated with graffiti lettering styles. For many years after, I often doodled graffiti words on my notebooks in school. This font is a tribute to my childhood and is influenced by Wildstyle, an abstract form of graffiti.
Preliminary Sketch
Preliminary Sketch
Flare Characters Sketch
The purpose of this font is for titles–decorative or display–not suitable for paragraphs. It honors existing styles with its own spin. In Wildstyle graffiti, creating abstraction is important but the way the letters connect together often makes it illegible to read. The difference in Flare is that it's still legible.
Movement 1
Movement 2
Designing it to look abstract was the most challenging part. This font is more legible than Wildstyle because I started the process by drawing simple sans-serif letters in my sketchbook and altering them to have elements of Wildstyle graffiti. I finished with three versions, a solid filled-in color, a solid fill with a red stroke, and a final version rendered in 3D.