Maine from Finland: Another Emil Bertell Font Masterpiece
When people in Finland create fonts based on the U.S. state of Maine, a good result might be expected based on similar inspiring characteristics. The people of these lands of firs, birches, lakes, and fresh air respect and are inspired by nature. Indeed, there are many partnerships between Finland and Maine based on their shared reverence for nature, such as this.
In the collective imagination, both Finland and Maine conjure images of green and blue: forests, lakes, pristine coasts. Regarding Finland’s culture, many hear reflections of Finland’s natural beauty and tempestuous history in the music of national composer Jan Sibelius.
Sibelius’s haunting Swan of Tuonela evokes Finland’s mythic land of the dead, located in the northernmost part of the world. As Sibelius’s music swells, the listener sees the black swan guarding the final land. Through the intoxicating music, the listener can taste the memory-erasing beer given to those that stray into that dark place. The more corporeally minded might be transmitted to Finland’s far north by Swan’s transcendental tones, which also evoke the Northern Lights.
The more historically minded enjoy the drama and intensity of Sibelius’s Finlandia, a piece integral to Finland’s struggle for independence. Finlandia, in fact, had to be performed under aliases such as Happy Feelings at the awakening of Finnish Spring in order to disguise its more ambitious meanings from Russian censors.
Maine also has its coast, lakes, and massive forests, but for many, Maine means literature. As of late, this is generally attributable to this guy. With over 350 Million books sold, Stephen King is arguably Maine’s most well-known and prolific literary ambassador.
But Maine has produced many literary greats in addition to King: Sarah Orne Jewett, E.B. White, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Margaret Jane Mussey Sweat, to name a few of Maine’s literary notables.
Maine: a great literary tradition, and the perfect place to begin your own literary career. So whether you’re writing about or within trees, where to start?
With the font Maine from Finland’s Emil Bertell, obviously.
Maine is your book font. It’s perfect for eery tales about regular folks who misread the map and end up in Tuonela’s cold darkness: black swans, memory-erasing beer, nighttime and ice. Or for that matter, any literary work about anything. Your inspiration only matters if you put in the work and write it.
As soon as you sit down at your writing desk and fire up the computer, Maine will get you halfway there by giving your book instant literary elegance. Don’t blow it with a “dark and stormy night” opener, as alluring and natural as that might feel when you’re alone in Maine, Finland, or your local digital workspace.
The facts: Maine is a modernized book antiqua with six styles and matching italics. Ranging from Light to Extrabold, Maine is especially excellent for text in Regular or Slightly Bolder Book.
Maine will lend a dignified—even regal quality—to any text. It automatically implies intelligent and well-thought out. Maine says established, competent, classic, brilliant. And, if you use it right…genius.
At the same time, Maine has some subtle and incredibly smart details that will additionally lend your project distinction, an individual voice, a specialness. Subtle yet slightly combative angles here and there give the serifs a jauntiness, maybe even a hint of rebellion or danger. Perfect to carry your darker and scarier passages, or to enliven your boring ones.
So get to work. I expect a rough draft on my desk in no more than one year. A draft made slightly less rough already by your astute choice of Maine from Emil Bertell.
