About Blue Island

Blue Island™ began on 10 March 1996 as a six month project which grew! The idea was to create a typeface that was wholly ligature based. Letters would appear dismembered, almost inside out, yet when grouped into words, would link and form comprehensible words. Legibility was not a major concern at the beginning-it became one as time went on.

Blue Island sketchbook [open/close]

The intent was to create mesmeric and fascinating shapes. The initial sketches for Blue Island concentrated on how characters build together and how far character shapes can be broken down and distorted but still be recognisable. How individuals perceive and interpret visual things is a constant fascination with me, as is the variability of language systems.

Development drawing of letter b [open/close]

The characters began in a series of sketchbooks before moving onto trace and then computer. To obtain a working idea of the type, more than the normal test characters were developed; partly through enthusiasm and partly through a need to see that the characters would work in combinations. As the design progressed, the characters became more natural and elegant and problems with spacing, fit and flow were weeded out.

Kerning in action [open/close]

Fonts

Live sample

Sample