Founded in 2007, LatinoType became Chile’s first digital type foundry, established by Miguel Hernández. He was later joined by Luciano Vergara and Daniel Hernández, and together, LatinoType collaborates with numerous graphic designers to further extend the global reach of Latin American typography. They also conduct workshops to educate and share their own experiences with up-and-coming designers.
One of LatinoType’s latest releases is Javiera, a geometric sans serif designed by Enrique Hernández V.
Enrique first experienced typography in the 1980s while he was a student of Graphic Design. “I remember at that time we learned and practiced everything manually, the digital era had not yet come into our lives,” Enrique recalled. “Everything was handmade, each letter with paint, brush, and a lot of pulse.”
Over the years, his family continuously encouraged his exploration of typography and through his tenacity and creativity, Enrique has flourished in the profession. His first type design was Santis, a project that took more than seven months to complete. “The construction process was not without innumerable corrections, endless discussions, frustrations, and anxiety. At the end of that cycle,” Enrique observed, “I managed to realize how important it was to work as a team and accept the observations of the experts.”
For Enrique, excellent typography is most notable for what it transmits. “It is communication through the printed word, it is elegance and permanence in time,” he offered. Optima, Avant Garde, Futura, Eurostile, Impact, Times, and Helvetica are among his all-time favorite type designs. “I really enjoy designing fonts. The process itself is fascinating from the initial sketch, which defines the design until it begins to take shape, expressing its own traits and personality.”
His latest release, Javiera, offers a humanist perspective in its geometric design, resulting in a fresh and contemporary typeface that carries a soft and welcoming demeanor. Enrique took an innovative approach to its structure, favoring a smaller x-height that would provide a slightly more condensed form with rounded terminals.
He also took a deeply personal approach to Javiera’s design and temperament. “Javiera is my fourth daughter,” he mused. “She has a strong personality; she’s determined, bold, feminine and rebellious. I realized that the name of my typography has to be inspired by people who are very significant to me, those I love and with whom I share a history.” Enrique finds that his creative process is far more pleasing and harmonious that way.
Javiera’s design further captivated Enrique because he loves to witness the emergence of a font’s unique personality and character. He takes interest in every stage of composition, but his favorite moment arrives when he sees everything come together in the finished design, taking particularly great pleasure in creating the design specimens for each font.
Javiera is an excellent choice for a wide variety of projects that include branding and identity, headlines, editorials, advertising layouts, corporate communications, web content, and mobile applications. It is available in six weights that range from Thin to Black with corresponding italics for each. Javiera offers case sensitive forms, fractions, standard ligatures, and stylistic alternates. Its multilingual support extends to Basic Latin, Western European, Euro, Catalan, Baltic, Turkish, Central European, Romanian, Pan African Latin, Dutch, and Afrikaans, providing accessibility for more than 200 languages.
LatinoType currently offers more than 130 products through YouWorkForThem and their portfolio only continues to grow with time. Enrique is always working on new type designs, as well, including a sans serif version of Isidora. “I especially want to thank my wife, Patricia Mora, for her infinite patience, love, and unconditional support throughout this beautiful process,” he expressed. He also extends his gratitude to LatinoType and to typography in general because it has opened a world of possibilities that allow Enrique to pursue his passion while working from home and spending ample time with his family.
We wish him all the best in his future work, which is sure to be amazing.