The streets of Perú are flooded with Chicha culture signage plastered on walls, street lights, traffic lights, and even houses. Those posters have a unique handmade quality typical characteristic of Peruvian street art. I wanted to make a typeface that borrowed features from this style and incorporated contemporary and functional aspects to each character to make it useful for display.
EVERYTHING STARTS DRAWING
1. INSPIRATION
Peruvian streets are filled with these vernacular posters that hold the same aesthetics. Images one and three are designs by Elliot Tupac, a famous Peruvian letterer that focuses on reimagining the typical Chicha culture poster. The image in the middle is a picture of a plastered wall, as you would typically see walking down streets.
2. CALLIGRAPHY
The process is time-consuming and detail-oriented, and it takes quite some time to perfect a system that will allow you to create a set of unique characters to stand on its own and be cohesive within a group. The semester was intense, and I tried to figure out the best way. I finished this course with many more questions and knowledge than I started. I immediately thought that I needed another semester-long intensive work to be closer to finishing with this typeface.
3. CRITIQUING AS GROWING PROCESS
Printing the digital work helps view it from a different perspective. During a group critique, you soak in every comment and appreciation to observe the details you didn't see. Here are two videos that show before and after a Crit session.
BEFORE
AFTER
VALERIAN TYPEFACE SPECIMEN
