Project · Type Design · Released

Type, made.

Two typefaces I've drawn and shipped. One utilitarian and modular, one a display cut with more personality. Both free.

By John Loughrin Type design, 2020–present

I draw type when I want to solve a problem I can't find a typeface for. The two below were both that kind of itch — something I kept reaching for that didn't exist, or didn't exist in a form I wanted. So I made them. Both are free; the versions reflect a few years of using the first iterations in the wild and knowing what needed to change.

Type design is the slowest version of the same instinct that drives the rest of this site: if the thing I want does not quite exist, I try making it. Every curve is a decision; every bad spacing pair shows up forever.

MOD

Released

MOD Specimen using MODv3.otf

MOD is a modular sans built on a strict geometric skeleton. The current version tightens the spacing, adds a set of alternate characters I kept wanting — a single-story a, a straight-legged R — and brings a proper italic into the family for the first time.

Classification

Modular geometric sans. Two weights.

Use cases

Signage, product UI, editorial display.

What changed

Tighter spacing, new italics, alternates.

License

Free for personal and commercial use.

Download MOD

BLB

Released

BLB Specimen using BLBv2.otf

BLB is a display face with more attitude. Where MOD is sober, BLB is warmer, a little looser, built for titling and things that need to feel handled rather than generated. The current version rebuilt the curves from scratch and added wider language coverage.

Classification

Display / titling. One weight.

Use cases

Posters, covers, identity work.

What changed

Redrawn curves, extended language support.

License

Free for personal and commercial use.

Download BLB

A note on free

I put these out for free because the typefaces I learned the craft from were free, and because the work has already paid me back in what it taught me. If you use one of them on something you're proud of, I'd genuinely love to see it.

Using one of these?

Send me a screenshot. I want to see how people use them in the wild.

Send it over →