Why the first letter matters most in logo design 🧢
A new Letter Hunt just dropped on my Youtube channel! And not any Letter Hunt, this is possibly THE Letter Hunt. I visited LA and had my friend and type designer @mckltype guiding me through the most iconic street signs of the city.
In the full YouTube episode, we walk through vernacular signs across the city, analyzing what makes them memorable. Expressive capital letters, neon tube work, contrast, readability, and personality... This episode is a gem.
Watch the full video on my YouTube channel 🎥
Comment “LATYPE” and I’ll send you the link.
McCann Headline was designed to work across the full range of the agency’s communications.
With a bold black and white identity built around the custom typeface, the system carries everything from large-scale messaging to more structured editorial layouts.
Tight-not-touching tracking and compact vertical shapes, including minimized punctuation and descenders, allow headlines to lock up cleanly without adjustment, creating a dense and uniform rhythm of text.
Based on McCann’s long history with Futura, we knew it would be a primary reference for their new logo and typeface. But which Futura? The typeface has appeared in dozens of forms over the years, each with its own proportions and quirks.
We expanded the research beyond the obvious, looking at precursors like Erbar and contemporaries such as Tempo, Spartan, Nobel, and Granby. None pushed far enough toward the weight and narrowness we were after.
A more useful reference came from an unexpected place: Phil’s Fonts’ Homage to the Alphabet, which includes a curious design called Topic Futura, a strange amalgam of Futura and Gill Kayo.
Its more even proportions, heavier weight, and more straightforward construction provided a welcome counterpoint to Futura Bold Condensed, helping define a new silhouette for McCann.
@mccann_mw is one of the world’s most historic advertising agencies, with more than a century of global brand-making behind its name. For its new identity, @designbymccann partnered with MCKL to develop a custom logo and headline typeface.
McCann had used various versions of Futura over the years and was drawn to a compact style with tight tracking. But with so many existing interpretations of Futura, and the long shadow of Nike’s use of Futura Bold Condensed in the Just Do It campaign, rehashing familiar shapes risked feeling derivative. The challenge became clear: create something with the confidence and strength of that genre, but a silhouette unmistakably its own.
Design direction by @mattvanleeuwen
Jeremy Mickel will be joining us at Type Drives Commerce (March 13 in NYC) bringing his expertise and remarkable experience in type design, logo creation and agency collaborations. Swipe to see see some of his incredible work (a LOT more where those came from… MCKLtype.com)
Jeremy Mickel
Founder
MCKL
Jeremy Mickel is the founder of MCKL, a Los Angeles-based type foundry and design studio. He’s built a reputation for custom work through partnerships with prestigious firms like Pentagram, Collins, and Wolff Olins, and working for clients such as Adidas, Uber, and the LA28 Olympics.
Gear’s widths range from XXNarrow to XXXWide.
And with a slant axis in the variable font, the entire family can go from -30 to 30 degrees.
With circular numbers in all styles, just for fun.
Originally commissioned by @adidas , Gear draws on a long tradition of athletic typography, from jersey numbers and stadium signage to varsity lettering. So when it came time to launch the typeface, sports metaphors felt like a natural reference point. We paired the weightlifting-inspired copy with mid-century colors and modernist layouts to strike a more balanced tone.
Special shout-out to @3dgar.c for the 90’s inspired barbell logo!
We created slanted and backslanted styles for each of Gear’s 8 widths and 9 weights, all set at a steep 30° angle. That’s much more extreme than our typical italics, but the XXXWide styles needed something exaggerated to create enough contrast. Admittedly, 30° looks a little wild in the XXNarrow styles… but we loved it, so we went with it.
Gear is also the first MCKL typeface available as a variable font, giving you full control over slant angle. The default is 30°, but you can dial it back to 20°, 15°, 10°, or anywhere in between.
Bonus: Gear includes a contextual feature that automatically adjusts spacing between slanted and upright styles when paired together, so those dramatic angles don’t crash into each other.
Gear is a study in extremes — with sharp octagonal forms, dramatic slants and backslants, and widths ranging from XXNarrow to XXXWide, it’s engineered to stretch, flex, and fill any space with typography.
Here are some more of the poster-inspired layouts we’ve been working on, designed by @3dgar.c@nat.wrk .
Trial fonts and licensing available at mckltype.com
Gear was originally created as a display typeface for sports brand. The octagonal shapes (straight lines instead of curves) are a common theme in athletics lettering, from jersey numerals to stadium signage, and we were inspired to create a series of posters inspired by weightlifting and other sports.
Trial fonts and licensing available at mckltype.com
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Announcing GEAR – a bold, athletic typeface designed to flex into any space.
With sharp octagonal shapes, dramatic slants and backslants, and widths from XXNarrow to XXXWide, Gear adapts to every challenge with power and style.
Originally commissioned for Adidas as an all-caps display face, GEAR has been reimagined to include lowercase character set, refined the drawing and proportions, and expanded the range to include slanted and backslanted styles, dramatically increasing its versatility.
The collection now spans 8 widths and 9 weights in each of the three angles: backslanted, upright, and slanted.
Designed by Jeremy Mickel
With assistance by Graham Bradley, Sabina Chipara, and Douglas Hayes
Trial fonts and licensing available at mckltype.com
