Welcome to the latest issue of our newsletter, where I’ll continue to share the latest ongoings at the studio. Take a look at our our archive.

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We’ve long thought of adding a new serif to our library as a less represented genre in our catalog. Gaisyr, with its wide proportions and pronounced detailing, felt like the natural fit. It’s suitable for longer texts but loud enough that it’s not just another Times.

Close your eyes and imagine the King sitting in his garden, maybe a bit sunburned, surrounded by butterflies and low-hanging citrus fruit, sipping on a (glass bottle) of Coke®. You’ve successfully entered the world of Gaisyr.

Origins

Gaisyr resides in the neighbourhood of Romain Du Roi, the typeface of King Louis XIV — or the King’s own 'lil custom font, one might say. The heavily rational design was drawn by four scientists (including Jaugeon) in 1692 and based on a grid of 2,304 tiny squares per letter.

My teacher once told me that Romain Du Roi was the first “transitional” typeface. A bridge from the Old Style designs modeled on handwritten letters to typefaces created specifically for the printing press.

While the artists behind Romain Du Roi created a strictly geometric face, the punchcutters who produced it were still in the mindset of freestyling. They translated the sketches onto metal by eye and with rudimentary measuring, becoming the ones truly deserving of a crown.

It’s this tension between strict geometry and a loopy, hand-held interpretation (think of the King after an evening inspecting his distillery) that informed the lines of our own Gaisyr.

The Typeface

Gaisyr has a total of 42 styles. It’s available in Regular, Mono, and Semi-Mono cuts all with corresponding Italics. Pumps up from Thin to Black.

Butterfly Serifs

Gaisyr is ready-to-not-disturb-you while reading but also has a bunch of less toned down moments up its sleeve. Its Butterfly Serifs are one of its highlights, seen in typically overlooked characters like the lowercase i and l.

The serifs sprout out like a fountain, or, ehem, a geyser (but “gaisyr” is spelled prettier). We’ve started implementing the mirrored serifs in all Dinamo serifs. Fabian dubbed the style Butterfly.

Swashes

Royal swashes are available as alternates for when you need to make an entrance. Find them in the stylistic sets for e, h, k, m, n, r, and z.

Common and Rare Ligatures

True Italics, Small Caps, and Oldstyle Figures

Team

Together with our France-stemming intern Louis Brousseaud, Fabian spent some time stalking the archives of the Musee de L'Imprimerie Lyon and the Imprimerie National in Paris, sourcing documents and beginning to draw Gaisyr’s first digital shape.

In the year that followed, both Risto Kujanpää and Fabiola Mejía occasionally sketched on top of the interpretation, before Michelangelo Nigra grabbed the spatula and unearthed Gaisyr once and for all from our drawers. Over numerous years, he extended the typeface into the full family retail spectacle that it is today. Thank you Mike. Johannes, Maddy, Sascia, Mathias, and Tina then worked on the communication and campaign.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES WITH ERKIN ♥️

Erkin wrote an essay for me about what it was like to create systems font Repro.

Erkin worked on the font for six stoic years. But the idea for it can be traced back to his teenage years working at his father’s advertising print shop in Bielefeld.

Custom Typeface for GOAT

Since 2015, GOAT is the leading marketplace for sneakers, and it has expanded to offer apparel and accessories from streetwear and luxury labels. We designed the custom typeface for the brand, which takes the bones of our Diatype and reduces them to the max. Thanks to Sam and the rest of the team.

Walter Caption Contest

In each issue of The Dinamo Update, we provide a new Walter cartoon in need of a caption. You, the reader, can submit your caption by responding to this email or by commenting on our caption contest IG post. The best three responses win the complete Walter Alte.

Scroll on for the last round’s winners — as well as the new contest.

New Caption Contest

Round 7 Finalists

🏆🏆🏆

Congratulations to our winners Luan B Pissolati, Jacob Youngblood, and Ivan Larionov. Your font files are now with you.

Studio Updates

PS

Need more King Louis XIV? Check this essay. All about how his typographic philosophy upheld that geometry could correct the human body’s irregularities. 🧘🏼

• “We really would just drive to someone’s house and see what they were doing:” Apparently Gen Z have no idea what people used to do after work.
• Meanwhile, others feel anxiety about filling their free time with social plans. Haley Nahman suggests learning how to be alone.
• And while you’re at it, why not start lavishing in the beauty of meals for one?
• ...While listening to this new podcast about book design by our friends Jonas Wandeler and Laura Breitschmid?
• You might think writing this newsletter is a #lazygirljob but I assure you it’s not. Why are TikTokers romanticizing the drudgery of work with the hashtag?
• Fact: Cinema was so much better in 1999 than it is today. Could TV be to blame?
• Threads is “a multi-level-marketing-themed waiting room filled with Millennial cringe.” Embedded asks why, given the opportunity to build a new social media, we continue to post the worst clichés from today’s internet?

That’s it for today. See you next time.

Love,
Dinamo