Sway is a reverse-contrast typeface that’s shamelessly offbeat.
The Concept
Weirdness is typical in this genre, and this typeface’s quirkiness is emphasized by a game of teetering polar opposites. Angular yet organic. East meets West. Smooth and edgy. There’s obvious tension, but what is a great story without a little conflict?
Display All Day
In a world saturated with free and open-source fonts, I didn’t want to make another typeface that’s just practical. If type design were on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, by now, it’s officially self-actualized. Garamond and Baskerville satisfied the basic need to be understood. Helvetica and geometric sans-serifs became cultural phenomena that elevated type design to high esteem. It seems like every company wants its own custom typeface these days. Shedding all convention, Sway (with its contemporaries) stands atop the pyramid, unapologetically expressive.
This iconoclast attitude is what makes Sway the perfect choice when you want to stand out. With high contrast and commanding serifs, Sway is made for headlines in advertising and editorials. It’s not intended as a text face, for the reserved or faint of heart.
Use it in short bursts of text like music festival branding, liquor labels, or propaganda posters. Or when you want your design to shout, “Yaaaaassss Gaga.”
The Design
The duality between round curves and sharp angles exhibits a harmonic clash that’s palatable, yet striking. It’s like a Whiskey Sour—rich and sweet, while tart and spicy. Sway goes down smooth but with a memorable kick.
Inspired by uncials, large counters and round forms create a flowing rhythm as if the type is grooving to the music. This fluid movement makes Sway feel like a friendly, easy-going face.
The large x-height combined with short extenders allows for densely stacked lines, in true display fashion.
The roman’s stroke endings feature a chisel tip, while the back slant is a pointed tip because this typeface does not commit to a single thing.
Sway is named after the typeface’s groovy rhythm. The funky, flowing letterforms are reminiscent of that feeling when you hear a good song that makes you want to sway side to side. Creating this typeface for Type West at the Letterform Archive was a transformative learning experience. For more on the process, check out my article on The Design Loupe.