Summer 2024

Crosley Display Face

INTERN PROJECT

Display Type Design · Glyphs App

Crosley is an octic slab-serif display face and typographic ode to brutalist landmark of University of Cincinnati, Crosley Tower. Both loved and hated for its strangeness and lore, the 16-story tower is the tallest single-pour concrete structure in the world.*

This project was an intern project done during my time working at Order︎︎︎ under the mentorship of Order Type Foundry︎︎︎.

History

Crosley Tower, designed by A.M. Kinney and Associates, was built in 1969 to house the university’s chemistry department.

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At 16 stories tall, it was constructed through a continuous single pour of concrete over the course of 18 straight days, making it the tallest continuous-pour concrete structure in the world.*

Many sources claim Crosley Tower to be the second-largest single-pour concrete structure in the world, behind only the Hoover Dam. However, this is incorrect as the Hoover Dam could not feasibly be constructed in a single pour. There are other recorded large-scale continuous concrete pours, but none that I can find as tall as Crosley.

But the impact of Crosley stretches much further than just feats of engineering.

Culture

Whether you love it or hate it, everyone has an opinion on the brutalist landmark, as just a scroll through its Google reviews will show you.

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It has gathered a cult following that embraces its quirky little features with equally quirky tributes.

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From Crosley Tower Appreciation Club

Unfortunately, a single-pour of concrete isn’t easy to maintain and the building has started to crumble. The demolition process has already begun, and in a couple years, Crosley will be no more.

But through these silly little odes to Crosley, we can preserve its memory.

And what better ode to Crosley is there than its own typeface?

Details from tower to typeface

The typeface takes its forms directly from the iconic details of the building:

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Looking to the tower's silhouette for the chunky, angled slab serifs

To the "eyes" at the top of the building for circular counters, contrasting the rigid angular exterior

To the inset windows for the notches that help to enclose the circular counters

And, as the home to UC’s chemistry department, the letterforms also reflect the content held within the building’s classrooms

Even thinking about letterforms that feel like they themselves could be constructed through a continuous pour of concrete.

Achieving this by "filling in" the gaps that would normally separate strokes with concrete.

The widths of the capitals even take a brutalist approach — the size of the counters dictate the width, even when it creates uncomfortable results.

Open type features offer alternative glyphs that embody the building in different ways, case-sensitive punctuation and symbols, and small numerals for scientific applications.

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A brutal legacy

Like the tower and its fanbase, Crosley Display doesn’t take itself too seriously — it’s brutalist, but cute; it’s industrial, but warm; and it disregards typical type design conventions.

This all results in a typeface that carries the spirit of the architecture itself, as well as, the fans, memes, chemistry labs, and legacy. Not everyone shares the same feelings for Crosley Tower, but its eventual absence will certainly be noticed far and wide.