During Emil Bertell’s attendance at an arts-oriented high school, he applied to a multimedia course that laid the groundwork for what would one day become his career. “I first got to know the field of graphic design,” he began, “and soon realized the big impact a typeface has to a design.” Emil was driven to create his own fonts, releasing his very first type design at the tender age of sixteen and landing a feature in a Japanese type book at seventeen.
He prefers for his finished designs to feature just a touch of intentional imperfection. “I’ve always felt that if I polish a font too much it loses some expressive qualities,” he said. Emil’s body of work is anything but flawed; it stirs the imagination, evokes an immediate emotional response, and changes the atmosphere of any project for the better.
Vanilla Shot is rooted in mid-century American commercial signage. This lively script family leans toward the informal, yet it carries an undercurrent of elegance and high class that makes it fitting for a wide range of design projects. Food and beverage packaging, wedding invitations, branding, and logos that want to take a sweetly spirited approach to their design will benefit from a strong hit of Vanilla Shot.
It’s packed with extras, too — more than 1,000 glyphs offer extreme versatility for every application. Each standard letter has at least three distinct alternates accessible through OpenType in Swash, Titling Alternates, and Stylistic Alternates. Standard ligatures and small caps further round out the artistic flexibility of this delicious type design. Vanilla Shot is on sale for 50% off of its regular price through February 15, 2017.
Skipper is nautical by nature. Bold lines and graceful connections make this type design undulate like waves upon the ocean, lending a sensation of movement through the shapes of its letterforms. The vintage tone of Skipper is appropriate for a variety of design projects, including posters, book covers, signs, product packing, and advertisements.
Offering swashes, stylistic and titling alternates, and standard ligatures, Skipper also includes a set of 35 ornaments accessible through the Glyphs Palette. Right now through February 15, 2017, Skipper is on sale for 55% off of its regular price.
If you’re beginning to notice a trend with expansive alternates in each of Emil’s products, it’s not a coincidence. Deciding on the final size of a font family is a challenge that he often wrestles with during the design process. “You could go on expanding a font family forever,” Emil observed, “but every family needs to be finished at some point to be released.”
Frost is an ice-cold brush script with extensive lettering alternates for the utmost design adaptability. While it takes a decidedly retro, mid-century spin, Frost is refined to meet contemporary design aesthetics. Headlines, product packaging, signage, branding, and advertisements take on a casual-cool approach that viewers will instantly notice. The complete family also includes banners, caps, small caps, and ornaments, making this a must-have for anyone who loves smooth retro scripts. Frost is on sale for 45% off of its regular price through February 15, 2017.
People generally hate Mondays, but Emil’s own version is something worth celebrating. Monday is a heavy brush script available in two weights with a matching set of ornaments. Swash, conceptual, stylistic, and tilting alternates, standard ligatures, and additional goodies in the Glyphs Palette make Monday an exceedingly versatile type design.
Monday is a terrific retro-fied option for product packaging, branding, menus, logos, and advertising. Right now through February 28, 2017, Monday is on sale for 50% off of its regular price.
Emil likes to add OpenType features to his work and loves starting new projects, although like so many of us, he sometimes lacks the energy to finish everything he starts. His selection of work available through YouWorkForThem is varied and artistically engaging, and if you like what you’ve seen so far you definitely don’t want to miss the rest of his portfolio. Emil told us, “I’m currently working on a script family that will contain many weights of a monoline script and a brush version of the same font,” which will likely include other supporting fonts and extras, as well.
One thing is certain: we’re greatly looking forward to his upcoming work.
