Released last month, Jesse Ragan's Study is the result of a hypothetical dialogue with Rudolph Ruzicka. Here Jesse details the process behind bringing the design from a hand-painted alphabet to a comprehensive digital typeface family. With historical background and analysis of design decisions, the piece provides a personal look at how one typeface was made.
Our newest typeface has been waiting fifty years to be finished.
Study is based on an alphabet concept by designer and engraver Rudolph Ruzicka, first published in 1968 but never completed as a typeface. Now our own Jesse Ragan has reimagined it as a stunning 12-style family, full of unexpected twists and turns.
Jesse designed Dartmouth College’s new logotype and typeface, as a part of OCD Agency’s overhaul of their identity system. Both typographic elements are based on alphabets created by Rudolph Ruzicka in the late 1960s, when he had a close relationship with the university.
