Typography for Aoki
Two weights, one character set
Optimo, in collaboration with LA-based graphic designer Brian Roettinger, developed a custom display typeface for Steve Aoki's Neon Future album campaign. The primary reference was Armin Hofmann's 1955 poster "Temple und Tee-haus in Japan," whose uppercase letters feature strong rectangular forms and reverse contrast. Type designer Chi-Long Trieu completed the alphabet loosely from Hofmann's hand-drawn letterforms and developed a lighter mono-linear weight; both weights were encoded within a single uppercase-only character set so the heavy cut functions as capitals and the light cut as lowercase. Alternate glyphs with variable widths and shapes were included to exploit the face's modular potential.
Set in Aoki
Insights
- Roettinger's typographic aim was to avoid rounded serifs and overtly futuristic or post-apocalyptic forms, seeking an expressive and iconic result instead.
- Hofmann's poster lettering distributes weight along horizontals rather than verticals—reverse contrast—and these rectangular, blockish forms were the specific quality that caught Roettinger's interest.
- Encoding two weights into one uppercase-only character set was Trieu's solution to simulate a case system without actual lowercase characters.
- Alternate glyphs for letters such as Q and S offer round/square and narrow/wide options to activate the design's modular potential.
1 / 4Swipe
Keep exploring
Related cases
