During a type design initiation workshop in March 2021, Lucas Descroix challenged students to create a display typeface based on a Pokémon. The resulting experimental calligraphic typeface, named Gotta Catch Dragon, was born from a process of gathering words and images to explore abstract rhythms by hand. By delving into influences and inspirations beyond the realm of typography, the students were able to create new and unexpected letterforms. The goal was to achieve an interesting conceptual distance from the original Pokémon, resulting in a unique and innovative typeface.
Gotta Catch is a typeface family created by the students of the DNMADE ‘Graphisme augmenté’ (Lycée Jacques Prévert, Boulogne-Billancourt, Fr), during a type design initiation workshop given by Lucas Descroix in March 2021.
Each student was asked to create a display typeface based on a type of Pokémon. In order to get an interesting conceptual distance they first gathered words and images, then explored abstract rhythms by hand.
The typefaces presented here are available to download, under CC BY-ND 4.0 license. This means you can copy, share and use them in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. However, you must give appropriate credit and are not allowed to redistribute any modification.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/legalcode
Results website:
http://lucasdescroix.fr/teaching/gottacatch
Workshop repo:
https://gitlab.com/lucasdescroix/gotta-catch-workshop