Typeface Design for Estd.

Floor-tile inscriptions as design inspiration

Estd. is a typeface by A2-TYPE drawn from mono-linear inscriptions found on floor tiles in French Basque country churches. The design was built from multiple historical sources and digitally reimagined, resulting in a family with an extended character set covering multiple languages and numerous weights.

Set in Estd.

Insights

The mono-linear construction is described as 'heavy duty', suggesting uniform stroke weight throughout the letterforms.
The design draws from multiple tile inscription sources rather than a single reference, implying a synthesised rather than directly transcribed revival.
Language support and multiple weights were added during digitisation, extending the original inscriptional scope.