Onick Font Free Download

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Onick Font
Published: Jul 20, 2013
File Size: 270.03 KB
Vector

Description: Onick Font
While researching the history of Onitsuka Tiger’s branding & graphic design, I came across an odd, yet highly appealing piece of custom lettering on the company’s ONICK ski boots from the 1970s. Reminiscent of aspects of the typeface Black-Out by Eli Carrico (released by my type foundry Wordshape), yet vertically compressed with razor-sliced counters & odd stencil element that makes up one of the legs of the “K”, the ONICK lettering is a potential source for an intriguing modular font. I immediately thought of Ryoichi Tsunekawa as a potential collaborator to bring this piece of lettering to full-fledged life in the contemporary context. Based in Nagoya, Tsunekawa runs an independent type foundry called Dharma Type, including three specialized foundry sub-labels: Flat-It, devoted to display lettering; Prop-A-Ganda, a series of fonts inspired by & based on retro propaganda posters, movie posters, retail sign lettering & advertisements in the early 20th century; & Holiday Type, a series of decorative & retro scripts for holiday use.

The past year has seen a flurry of notice of his work abroad, having been featured in both MyFonts’ “Creative Characters” & YouWorkForThem’s newsletter. As the work of most Japanese type designers is almost wholly unnoticed abroad, for Tsunekawa to be interviewed by two of the most popular type distribution companies in the world is definitely something beyond the norm. Perhaps it is because he works independently, or perhaps it is due to the charm & friendliness with which his typefaces are infused. Either way, this attention is both welcome & appreciated.

Beyond mere charm, Tsunekawa’s work is nuanced, detailed, & accessible due to its high level of finish. His fonts stand apart from his contemporaries in Latin typeface design in Japan due to his fascination with pop, vernacular & historical lettering from “non-pure” sources- whereas type designers like Kunihiko Okano & Akira Kobayashi have spent years analyzing the essence of Western letterform construction & unlocking the essence of Latin forms, Tsunekawa views surface & the awkward nature of his sources as being of value, as well.

His irreverence for the formal doctrines of history imbue his typeface designs with a rugged inventiveness that would be missed by most- glyphs without source designs are guessed at & approximated, often in a manner wildly divergent from what Western eyes would assume. It is in these moments that I find sheer delight in Tsunekawa’s work & what make me most pleased to invite him aboard Neojaponisme & Onitsuka Tiger’s type development project.

His assorted typefaces show an eclecticism in finish & as holistic systems- Tsunekawa’s return email to me about the proposed type project showed a digital sketch of how a completed typeface family from the source lettering might look, rendered with an effortlessness & dedication to detail that belies a skilled craftsperson. Further development showed Tsunekawa’s rigor- the typeface in development rapidly featured glyphs ignored by many: a full set of fractions, Eastern European diacritics & accents, superior & inferior numerals, alternate characters, & custom ligatures – all designed with regulated, detailed spacing.

ONICK is a typeface Tsunekawa should be proud of- an homage to a moment in history rendered in the absolute best fashion. We are proud to present it to the world!

–Ian Lynam

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