Type face

This re-release moment called for a special celebration. Early ideas around western themes, cowboys or cowgirls didn’t feel too inspiring: the subject of our campaign needed to embody the same hybrid spirit as our half sans, half serif Arizona. No stone around the city of Berlin (and its clubs and nearby countryside stables) was left unturned until we found the perfect match:

horsegiirL, who’s famously half human, half horse, had to be the face of this type face.

Starting this week a couple of billboards and posters will appear across Berlin, London and New York – Dinamo’s first printed out-of-home PR situation!! Scroll down for the full credits and go hire all these people for big payday projects.

Backed by Science

How it happened. With a team lead by veryes and Tereza Mundilová, we took an awful sounding idea – a hot desert sun casting alphabetical shadows – very seriously and came up with this formula:

Arizona = half sans, half serif
Arizona = variable font
Variable font = moving font
First moving image = moving horse
HorsegiirL = half horse, half human

Conclusion: horsegiirL = Arizona.
Done. That was enough work for the day.

In the News(paper)

Then, inspired by teen magazines that come with a foldout poster in the middle, we designed a newspaper that works in the same way. Five loose sheets, five posters, half type specimen, half reader. Slap it on your wall! Or, when flipping through the pages on a table in front of you, you get rewarded with nice, unintentional combinations of text and image.

Not a one track pony.

Her 2023 single “My Barn My Rules” (with MCR-T), became a popular sound on TikTok, and attracted attention after Arielle Free was suspended from BBC Radio 1 for a week for decrying it on air, and later appeared on Dazed’s “20 best tracks of 2023” list. Call that a ride. Between gigs across south America, we caught up with her for a quick back 2 back interview session, which we’ll put on our blog soon.

Font Fiction Fever Dream

If I were still a player in the Game of Graphic Design, oh I would have loved the many possibilities Arizona carries inside its horse-sized font-belly. I imagine myself at a small round marble bistro table, laptop open, ten different potions freshly applied in random order to the dark area below my eyes. I instantly hit a custom shortcut and launch InDesign, or Figma, or whatever. (Certainly not Canva.)

I got this design thing I’m working on, a big commission. I’m inspired. I prioritize. And in between, I drink water. The audience is mixed, the product range is wide. So I need to express a whole bunch of things. Let’s do this!

I’m dragging around those variable sliders and I’m presented with a range of styles I can mix and match; from Serif to Sans, to Condensed. I feel elastic. I’m making some of it Bold.

I experience a state of flow as I’m sprinkling in a bit of Italics.

Can I really design an entire project on a single font, adjusting its parameters as I please, and have everything always look right together? It seems so. I send my invoice and take a whole month off.

I’m not sure we’re compatible anymore

One thing that made designing Arizona a bit hard (to put it mildly) is that everything needed to stay interpolatable. In·ter·po·lat·able. Shapes that you want to reveal need to be collapsed into obscurity, so they don't show when they shouldn't — but can emerge to form beautiful Flares and Serifs when needed.

It required Elias to place each vector point thoughtfully and to carefully smooth over bezier curves so they look good whether static or animated.

A-A-Arizona then and NOW

Back in 2021, Arizona quickly became a go-to for designers seeking a type system that’s equal parts expressive and precise, and fully adjustable.

On one end, Arizona Serif features high-contrast, pointy forms with a Renaissance-meets-modern feel. On the other, Arizona Sans offers a straightforward grotesque with a humanist touch. In between lie Arizona Flare (nearly-but-not sans), Arizona Mix (chunky and ­low-contrast), and Arizona Text (a classy text face).

Today and with the introduction of new Compressed and Condensed styles, Arizona offers even greater versatility and new ways to achieve strong, tightly-set headlines or compact, small-size body copy.

Access all areas

The stars aligned truly aligned for this one. Not only is it the Year of the Horse, but also is horsegiirL releasing her new album titled Nature Is Healing this May. And she’s going on a big world wide tour! Keep your eyes and ears pealed.

We hope you’re as excited as we are!! :)

Love,
Dinamo