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Speech Bubbles

Speech Bubbles

by Harald Geisler
Individual Styles from $99,999.00 USD
Complete family of 2 fonts: $99,999.00 USD
Speech Bubbles Font Family was designed by Harald Geisler and published by Harald Geisler. Speech Bubbles contains 2 styles and family package options.

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    Per Style:

    $49,999.50 USD

    Pack of 2 styles:

    $99,999.00 USD

    About Speech Bubbles Font Family


    The font Speech Bubbles offers a convenient way to integrate text and images. While the font can be used to design comics, it also gives the typographer a tool to make text speak – to give words conversational dynamics and visually emphasize the sound of the message. The font includes seventy outlines and seventy bubble backgrounds selected from a survey of historical forms. What follows is a discussion of my process of researching and developing the font and a few user suggestions. My work on the Speech Bubbles font began with historical research. My first resource was a close friend, a successful German comic artist. I had previously worked with him to transform his lettering art into an OpenType font. This allowed his publishing house to easily translate cartoons from German to other languages without using another font, as Helvetica rounded. My friend showed me the most exciting, outstanding, and graphically appealing speech bubbles from his library. I looked at early strips from Schulz -Peanuts-, Bill Waterson -Calvin & Hobbes-, Hergé -TinTin-, Franquin, and Walt Disney. The early Krazy Kat and Ignatz -around 1915- from George Herriman were the most inspiring. I also studied 1980’s classics Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen, Frank Miller’s Ronin, and Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta. Contemporary work was also a part of my research - like Liniers from Macanudo and the work of Ralf König. With this overview in mind, I began to work from scratch. I tried to distill the typical essence of each author's or era's speech bubble style into my font. Ultimately, I limited my work to the seventy most potent images. Examining each artist's speech bubble outlines was essential to the design process. They are carefully inked in some cases, as in most of the '80s work. In others, such as with Herriman, they are fast drawn with a rough impetus. The form can be dynamic and round -Schultz- with a variable stroke width or straight inked with no form contrast -Herge-. Since most outlines also carry the character of the tool they are made with, I chose to separate the outline from the speech bubble fill - in or background. This technical decision offers interesting creative possibilities.. For example, the font user can apply a slight offset from fill-in to outline, as is typical to early comic strips, where there are often print misalignments. Also, one can work with colors rather than on a classic white background with a black outline. Many tonal outcomes are possible by contrasting the fill-in and outline colors. The Speech Bubbles font offers a dynamic and quick way to flavor information while conveying a message. How is something said? Loudly? With a tint of shyness? Does a relatively small message take up a lot of space? The font’s extensive survey of historic comic designs in an assembly is helpful for pure comic purposes and more complex typographic projects. Use speech bubbles to give your message the right impact on your poster, ad, or composition.

    Designers: Harald Geisler

    Publisher: Harald Geisler

    Foundry: Harald Geisler

    Design Owner: Harald Geisler

    MyFonts debut: Jun 30, 2010

    Speech Bubbles

    About Harald Geisler

    Harald Geisler Foundry is the creative atelier of typographic artist Harald Geisler, located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Geisler is renowned for his innovative and conceptual approach to typography, blending art, history, and personal storytelling to create unique typefaces that challenge the boundaries of conventional design.\n \n••••••Geisler’s work gained international recognition in 2010 with the release of the foundry’s first typeface, Ciseaux Matisse. This font was inspired by an exhibition...

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