Jakarta-based designer Eko Bimantara’s font collection is characterized by legibility, broad functionality, and ease of use. Bimantara strives to make fonts that are, in sum, “simply good.” Perusing his work, it is clear that the “simply good” principle is consistently applied. With its broad range of practical applications, Bimantara’s work is not characterized by visual flamboyance or artistic overreach. Nor are his fonts “workhorses,” at least not in the sense that the word does them justice—broadly functional does not mean common.
What’s remarkable about Bimantara’s body of work is the careful planning and impeccable execution that define every artistic decision on every shoulder, stroke, spur, or stem. Not a single point is incidental. Bimantara’s process embodies the sharp thinking of the master designer. He meticulously sculpts distinct psychological messaging for every font. For instance, consider the elegant Bovino with its high contrast strokes and striking clarity. Look how Bimantara brilliantly uses tapering to increase Bovino’s classy radiance, or how the loop of the lowercase ‘g’ can be altered to change mood.
When Bimantara wants to push the boundaries, he does so with surgical strikes of abstraction and alternate shapes. Consider the interesting blend of brutalist clang and soft curves of the humanist grotesk Altersan. In Altersan, distinction and functionality become one like Belousova and Protopopov—the final appearance of harmony, grace and fluidity belies the uncountable hours of preparation and gruelling hard work.
This is the magic and the sacrifice of the master typographer: the overwhelming majority of people that read and are affected by typographical magic only experience the smoothness and perfection of the final product. They are largely unaware of the astounding effort behind their seamless experience. But what they do understand if only on an emotional, visceral level is the vast differences in mood, color, and message that each font evokes. In this respect, Bimantara’s collection is strikingly diverse—he has worked hard and smart in amounts we can’t measure to make each of his fonts a doorway to a hidden universe.
Featured here is Bimantara’s Hando. This Neo Grotesk masterwork has an astounding range of use. It is excellent for reading, and its white spaces make it legible at distance. Its curves hint toward the futuristic without reducing its classic solidity. It’s a font that works equally well for display or text, web or print. Hando is a prime example of the subtle mastery and professionalism that go into a broadly applicable font. A perfectly rendered font functions smoothly within each character to massive amounts of text. The font is a whole, the sum of its parts, yet each part can stand alone. Hando is a perfect example of this craftsmanship: both the big picture and the details are rendered with exactitude. The result is a unified, easy to use, wide ranging font for all your project needs. Our respects to Eko Bimantara—we look forward to whatever is next. Perhaps more fabulous paintings from this multi-talented individual.
