Mexica is a typographic homage to Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, but also the lingua franca of ancient Mexico. Mexica" is not only the feminized and Latinized form of the word "Mexico", but also the name of the inhabitants of this place: the Me-xic-cah. Nahuatl, when composed in the Latin alphabet, abounds in diagonal letter forms: XYZ are omnipresent in its classical orthography, as are KW in its modern one. This visual characteristic is reinforced by the absence of some rounded letters, such as BDG, which represent sounds that do not exist in this ancient language. In addition, Nahuatl is a language with a tendency to form very long words that give the text a quite differentiated appearance, unlike English, for example, with its abundance of short words. Mexica was designed to look good in all these contexts, and to work as well as a contemporary, bold and stylish serif typeface family, with various weights for text composition and display. In addition, its terminals and overall structure - almost entirely devoid of straight lines - are inspired by the angular architecture and ornamentation of the ancient city of Mexico: Tenochtitlan.
Awards and Recognition
Typeface Design