Mission + Control

I developed the Mission + Control family with Reebok for their 2008 NFL Sideline and NHL Center Ice collections. The conceptual goal for this family was to unite the space innovation aesthetic, especially the 1975 NASA “worm” logo, with the traditional American athletic aesthetic. The result is a typeface that is simultaneously familiar yet other-worldly.

The family was destined for use setting team names in large sizes. These names vary in length from very short to very long, so three widths were developed. Additionally, I drew two different styles, solid and inline, for use in different branches of the collection. Altogether the family consists of twelve unique styles.

One of the key goals for the project was to make each team name look wholly unique. To accomplish this, I developed a set of alternate glyphs and corresponding OpenType features that create ligatures on the fly based on the surrounding context. Additionally, a wide range of alternate forms are automatically inserted to reduce form repetition and improve the overall look of the text.

The team at Reebok has deployed this family in a huge number of outstanding designs. I’ve seen the various family members used in application methods as varied as complex stitching, heat transfer, cut fabric and simple silkscreen. It’s always great to see my typefaces used in such amazing contexts.

This family was revised and rechristened as Torque. License it today!

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Commissioned Work