NaN Spaceland Font Family – Jack Llewellyn’s first release with NaN, Spaceland was conceived out of two points of interest. More generally, designs that are inherently digital in nature. More specifically, the question of whether component shapes of letterforms can be simultaneously positive and negative.
Building on the geometry principle of the Boolean relationship – the intersection of two positive shapes creating a negative area – Spaceland’s glyphs show outlines that overlap each other like a Mœbius strip, creating a mind-bending visual effect. Confounding inner shapes and outer shapes. White space and black space. In and out, all at once!
Designed to create a rigorous typographic system and then break its own rules, Spaceland’s folding outlines create collision points in usually mono-linear forms, combining a relatively reserved, minimal grotesque style with confident, exaggerated, overlapping features – such as the large ‘ink-traps’ at stroke joins.
In the thinner styles, the breaks are almost unnoticeable, offering a discreet elegance to the characters in an almost couture way. In the boldest styles, the breaks are proudly obvious, disturbing the calmer, grotesque structure, becoming almost illustrative at larger scales. Here, the viewer is invited to decipher the dance of shapes between the intertwined outlines.
Ultimately, Spaceland is an invitation to play. Though built on serious foundations, its play on inner and outer space makes it an ultimately charming character, treating the reader as an equal in what is sometimes a visual jigsaw puzzle. An intrepid pioneer exploring new territories. After all, NaN Spaceland’s numerous names are derived from the three-dimensional reality in E. A. Abbot’s Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions – where the ‘stranger’ (sphere) visits the humble square in a two-dimensional Flatland.
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