Mika Melvas became a full-time typographer in 2014, after having spent more than ten years working as a graphic designer and art director at an advertising agency. He took a short-lived class on type design in college and while he loved the course and the subject, typography remained little more than a hobby for nearly a decade.
With a strong affection for calligraphy and custom lettering, the majority of Mika’s type designs take a hand lettered approach. His work is pure artistry, focusing on designs that are visually interesting with well-drawn characters, thoroughly developed to work in different platforms.
His latest release, Boutiera, is a pleasant upright script with vintage tendencies. Upbeat and enthusiastic, Boutiera’s full-bodied presentation is open and welcoming, like a warm hug from an old friend. There’s a softness at play within its letterforms, creating an instant sense of familiarity and closeness that’s likely a result of its handmade appearance. Mika’s favorite part of the design process involved the initial sketching and setting the tone of the font, even though the hardest part was deciding exactly which direction the design should take.
Boutiera is casual without being simple, with intricate curls that add to its retro impression. Three weights — Light, Regular, and Bold — offer designers a lot of flexibility in their work, something that Mika strived to achieve. Boutiera is also packed with extras that include capitals to small caps, contextual alternates, initial forms, standard ligatures, stylistic alternates, and small caps. Its multilingual support extends to Basic Latin, Western European, Euro, Baltic, Turkish, Central European, Romanian, and Pan African Latin for broad accessibility.
The friendly charm of Boutiera is appropriate for a wide variety of design projects that include branding and identity, logo design, advertising, product packaging, casual wedding invitations, greeting cards, signage, and menus.
Boutiera is currently on sale for 35% off of its regular price through February 27, 2017.
If you enjoy handwritten scripts, you don’t want to miss the rest of Mika’s portfolio through YouWorkForThem. He’s really excited about what he’s working on right now, telling us, “I’m currently working on a formal script a bit like the vintage baseball style.” That release will have a lot of stylistic alternates, tasty underlines, and other OpenType features that will designers will love.
