Industry: Design

BRRR

Words that read like trains

BRRR is a typeface by Emmanuel Rey / Swiss Typefaces with extra-wide proportions and boxy capitals that make words read as dense, train-like horizontal blocks. Angled terminals on 'a' and 'g' evoke chisel-tip marker strokes made quickly, reinforced by stepped diagonal joins in 'M' and 'W' and a smeared i dot. Strokes are largely monolinear with the exception of pinched shoulders and bowls. Though not monospaced, barred I and J draw on fixed-width aesthetics; the typeface has been used in stacked settings where vertical relationships are at play.

Insights

The stepped joins on M and W reference the same chisel-tip marker implied by the angled terminals and smeared i dot, giving the design a unified gestural logic.
BRRR is not monospaced, yet barred I and J borrow fixed-width aesthetics; it has been used in stacked settings where vertical relationships are at play.
Pinched shoulders and bowls are the sole departure from an otherwise monolinear stroke structure.