Year
2023
Client
Lee Clinton
MAIN Category
TYPEFACE DESIGN
Project relevance
ACADEMIC
Psychedelia is a blackletter-inspired typeface with a hand-lettered quality, combining decorative structure with controlled readability. Its visual identity is defined by consistent 45-degree nib angles, tapered forms, sharp serifs, balanced counters, and cohesive character widths. The typeface creates an intense, atmospheric style that reflects the idea of psychedelia as altered perception and visual intrigue.
The font was developed block by block in FontStruct, with each letter carefully built, refined, and reused as a foundation for related characters. Recycled angles, glyph widths, serifs, crossbars, tittles, shoulders, and x-heights helped maintain consistency across the full type system. Through repeated testing and refinement, Psychedelia evolved into a unified digital typeface that preserves the energy of flat-nib hand lettering.
Research began with studying established typefaces to better understand how fonts are constructed from modular systems, shared rules, and consistent visual logic. Additional experimentation with type anatomy, triangular grids, modular units, and physical materials helped build a stronger understanding of how letterforms are developed from scratch before moving into FontStruct.
