The design process involved sketching by hand, vector reconstruction, and typographic refinement in digital type design software. Each curve and angle was adjusted to balance legibility with personality—exaggerated arcs, compressed spacing, and sharp intersections evoke mid-century optimism while maintaining a futuristic rhythm.

To accompany the typeface, I created a detailed process book that documents how the glyphs developed. It traces my steps of digital construction, showing how the original signage translated into clean, functional letterforms. Working in Adobe Illustrator, I focused on perfecting curves, adjusting spacing, and finding a balance between the exaggerated retro shapes and the sharper, futuristic angles that define the font. The process book highlights how the typeface evolved.

To conclude the project, we created a poster that showcased the completed typeface. The goal was to highlight the distinct personality of Sputnik through bold composition and expressive layout. Using our finalized glyphs, we explored different typographic arrangements, scales, and color combinations to emphasize the retro-futuristic aesthetic that defined the design. The poster became both a visual summary and a celebration of our work—demonstrating how individual experimentation came together as a cohesive, unified system. It served as the final expression of the project, capturing the energy and spirit of the typeface in a single, striking piece.

Rachel Lee, Luna Mazin, Caden Mueller, Mareez Saad, Tori Webb, and Emme Camp
Created in collaboration as part of Loyola University Chicago's Fine Arts Department (Explorations in Typography)