Although they share a common language, Spanish (with the exception of the Portuguese-speaking Brazilians), Latin Americans cannot be lumped into a single homogenous culture. Latin America is made up of 20 countries in North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean islands, making for an incredibly rich and diverse region holding myriad traditions and influences that impact the lives and creativity of its people.

A prime example of the broad spectrum of creativity found among Latinos lies within the graphic design community, and, more specifically, within its thriving microcosm of type designers. A small but mighty battalion of gifted letter crafters (both expert and novice) is quickly becoming recognized as a force to be reckoned with in the eyes of the international design community.

Regardless of the diversity of style found in the work of Latin American graphic artists generally and type designers specifically, there remains a common thread. There is a depth of soul, a grace of spirit, an indefinable charm inherent in everything from precisely constructed techno typefaces to casual vernacular-inspired hand lettering. Passion for the craft of type design and life itself is evident in every stroke and curve.

Latin American type designers pour their hearts and souls into the Bézier, imbuing digital typeface outlines with warmth and strength of character. There are so many talented Latino typeface designers creating today that its impossible to document them all, but the handful featured here offer a fascinating glimpse into what’s going on, typographically speaking, south of the border.

“Enjoy hoy [today].”
Enrique “Quique” Ollervides Uribe, www.hulahula.com.mx
Born in Mexico City in 1974, Quique Ollervides runs the design studio Hula+Hula and co-owns a self-described “low-brow” design store and gallery called KONG. As a child, Ollervides collected candy wrappers, cereal packaging and soda cans from around the world and would copy his favorite bands’ logos, an obsession which led him on the path to graphic design.

Many of his typefaces grow out of logos developed for graphic design clients. “If we find the project suitable for a typeface design, we will suggest it,” Ollervides says. “Most of the time there won’t be enough budget for the client to pay for a typeface, so I either give it as a bonus to the project or do some variations and develop it for myself.”

Ollervides went the route many graphic designers take and worked as an educator. “I taught typography for eight years, but stopped when we opened KONG. In the beginning it was very hard for me, because I was the same age or even younger than some of my students. Teaching helped me understand typography a lot better and made me grow as a designer and as a person in general.”

“I had a long, long affair with Futura. Now I don’t use it anymore, but the love remains.”
Tony de Marco e Silva, www.justintype.com.br
Born in Santos, Brazil, in 1963, Tony de Marco has a colorful history as a graphic designer, publisher and type designer. Currently residing in São Paulo, De Marco says, “I was always drawing at school—in my workbook and those of my friends.” Because of his natural artistic ability, De Marco felt that architecture would be a good career choice, but he eventually decided to study advertising, then embarked on a self-taught course of study in graphic design.

In 1987 he began working as an illustrator at the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo. “There I learned everything about newspaper publishing, before computers,” he recalls. Once he got his hands on a Mac, he completed his first type family in 1989. Since then he has developed a number of experimental typefaces, including the curlicued deco masterpiece Samba.

When not designing type, De Marco publishes Tupigrafia with Claudio Rocha—a magazine that shows the world Brazilian type designers’ artistic roots and contemporary projects. “Beyond bringing to our public international news and historical articles about typography, calligraphy and type design,” he says, “I believe Tupigrafia helps to create a new generation of Brazilian type designers.”

“Type is sexy, especially if calligraphic.”
Gabriel Martínez Meave, www.kimeratype.com
One of the brightest stars is calligrapher and type designer Gabriel Martínez Meave. Born in Mexico City in 1972, Meave says he always had a penchant for things graphical. “I used to spend many hours drawing as a kid. However, when the time came to choose a career, I chose music, since I had studied piano during part of my childhood and teenage years.” But soon after making that decision, Meave discovered graphic design and decided to make it his career goal. He attended the Universidad Iberoamericana in his hometown while also working in design firms as a complement to his collegiate studies. His practical work in the field proved influential, as he discovered the value of self-education and self-employment. While still in school, he founded a design studio—Kimera—with friends from the university, focusing on corporate identity, editorial work and packaging design.

During the early years of building Kimera, type design was just a hobby for Meave. In the mid-1990s he was given his first custom type commissions, which were almost unheard of in Mexico at that time. “I had the luck to find a niche in the profession nobody had taken so far,” he says. “I decided, then, to take the self-taught route and get on with my firm.” A few years later he started practicing calligraphy, falling in love with the art of hand lettering. He’s now considered one of the most innovative calligraphers in the Americas, and his affinity for handwork is evident in many of his type designs.

Meave believes in sharing his experience and talents with others. In addition to work at Kimera, he teaches both students and professionals through university-level courses and hands-on workshops, often traveling far from his home to share his gifts. “I like to improvise. I don’t feel very comfortable with theoretical stuff—I prefer a hands-on approach to typography and calligraphy,” Meave says.

Meave has designed more than 20 typefaces, many of which are custom, with the remainder published through his Kimera type foundry and Adobe Systems. When asked for a favorite from his own work, Meave says, “If I had to pick just one, I’d choose Darka ... the visual territory of blackletter is where I find myself most satisfied and free as a type designer.”

“Type design is an act of plagiarism in itself—you basically recreate the flesh of the same skeleton.”
Alejandro Lo Celso Saravia, www.pampatype.com
Although born in Córdoba, Argentina, in 1970, Alejandro Lo Celso now makes his home in the quiet Coyoacán neighborhood of Mexico City. A lifelong lover of books and reading, Lo Celso says his attachment to typography seems a natural extension of his literary passion. “Argentina has a rich tradition in literature—I’ve always wanted to become a writer myself,” he says. “Let’s say I decided to approach the letters from the backstage. Instead of writing them, I decided I would design them.”

Lo Celso has used his favorite authors as inspiration for creating tone and atmosphere in his type designs. “I enjoy making an intellectual parallel between what is valuable to me in a writer’s oeuvre, and the shapes, styles and rhythmic qualities of a type design. In this line I have paid tribute to Julio Cortázar [Rayuela], Jorge Luis Borges and Roberto Arlt. I hope there are many more to come.”

His first exposure to type design was early in his youth. “When we were kids, my mother enjoyed decorating the title pages of our schoolbooks with a simple but attractive gothic lettering,” Lo Celso says. “I think that gave me an early awareness of letterforms. With the years I realized my mother was repeating her own mother’s ritual.”

Like many children, Lo Celso made his own comic books, giving special attention to the letters inside the balloons and on the title pages. He created his first type design around 1996 and entered the University of Reading in the U.K. in 1999, where he completed the master’s program in type design. In addition to his design practice, Lo Celso is one of Latin America’s most passionate design educators. “Teaching has been an important part of my life since 1997. I’ve taught courses and workshops in different schools and countries. I love teaching; it is a very pleasant and feeding activity,” he says. “I have always tried to inspire passion in my students, to give them my own emotions about other designers’ work, about history, about everything that relates to design and type and life. ”When asked how he describes his vocation and passion to the average person, Lo Celso says, “I just say I design letters. I think if they don’t understand it the first time, they never will, so there’s no point in insisting. It’s like children—most people believe typefaces are brought by storks. Why should we destroy that naive myth? It might be worse if they realize we type designers exist!”

“Only the ideas that keep my interest for an extended period are those that eventually are transformed into fonts.”
Eduardo Manso, www.emtype.net
Born in 1972 in Pirovano, a small village in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Eduardo Manso made the move to Barcelona, Spain, in 1999. He works as a graphic designer and publishes typefaces through his Emtype Foundry.

Manso always had an interest in typography, design and related activities, but actually contemplated studying medicine. Before entering university, he took an aptitude test that convinced him to study graphic design instead, and enrolled in the design program at Mar del Plata in 1992.

Manso was inspired by the work of Zuzana Licko and Rudy VanderLans for their Emigre magazine, and David Carson’s deconstructed typography for RayGun and “designed” experimental alphabets. He took notice when, in 1995, a fellow Argentinian, Rubén Fontana, designed his Fontana typeface exclusively for the magazine tipoGráfica with a different approach: an original typeface for text. He was further intrigued when Licko designed Filosofia and Mrs. Eaves in 1996. Manso’s interest gradually moved from the experimental to the new text-based direction typography was taking at the time.

He conceived of his Relato Serif as a typeface for writing stories … narrative forms shorter than novels. “I liked the idea of making a type for texts of intermediate length. That allowed me to make a more personal type—I was freed of the weight of types for traditional text.”

Since Relato Serif, Manso developed several other type families, including a sans version of Relato, Dixplay (a pixel family), the quirky and elegant serif Bohemia, and the sturdy Lorena, which won honors from the Type Directors Club in 2007.

“Things that inspire me or stimulate me are everywhere.”
Alejandro Paul, www.sudtipos.com
Argentinian designer Alejandro Paul lives in Buenos Aires, where he was born in 1972. One of the cofounders of the thriving Sudtipos type foundry, Paul is known for bringing to life script typefaces from hand-lettering masters. He grew up in Buenos Aires, playing street soccer with friends in a politically charged environment. Paul discovered typography in college, when he was trying to figure out why some other students were doing better work than his own. “I found out that it was because they used better typography,” he says. “So I began to study type on my own, honing my understanding of what makes a font special.”

His first forays into type design were quite different from the elegant scripts he’s now famous for. “I just toyed around with geometrical forms and bitmaps. My first commercial font was one of those geometry experiments,” he says. “It was called Stardust, and it was published by T.26.”

Paul now seeks inspiration in old books, particularly those about type and calligraphy. “Usually, if I like an idea that was relevant in the past, I try to think of ways to update it, so it will become relevant in contemporary design.” When designing a new typeface, Paul says he doesn’t have a single, defined process. “I dislike routine, and type design itself has a lot of routine in it. So I have to find ways to keep it interesting for myself. I try to have a convergence of multiple ideas in every project I undertake,” he says. “One of the things I like is pushing technologies to their limits to see what can be done. The main idea for a typeface and the different challenges it presents, coupled with the yearning to push type technology to its limits, usually keep me interested long enough to last through my projects.”