Typeface Design for Ivory Mono

Narrow text cut derived before the regular proportions — an atypical construction sequence

LL Ivory Mono is part of Aurèle Sack's first full serif family, rooted in a 2016 commission for Vogue Hommes Paris that called for an expressive titling serif to accompany LL Brown. Sack drew on 19th-century American wood type and poster fonts, retaining their extended proportions while refining contrast and serifs through a strict grid-and-geometry method. Development followed an unusual reverse path: from the display, Sack first derived a narrowed text variant, then moved on to the standard-proportion regular cuts. Font engineering and mastering were handled by Alphabet, Berlin.

Set in LL Ivory Mono, LL Brown

Insights

The titling family originated as a direct commission from Vogue Hommes Paris, where LL Brown was already in use.
Sack's reverse development process — deriving the narrow text cut from the display before developing the standard-proportion regular weights — is atypical for serif family construction.
All letterforms are constructed on strict geometric grids, a practice traceable to Sack's time at NORM.
Final serif detailing was trimmed and slimmed across both display and text versions to balance extravagance with sturdy legibility.