Nel Kikokikona by Jasper Nijssen is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 A' Design Award Kala in Hoʻolālā Kiʻi, Kiʻi Paʻi a me Kamaʻilio ʻIke Competition Category.

KalaKiʻi· 2022

Nel Kikokikona

by Jasper Nijssen

Client: Jasper Nijssen

A' Design Award Kala Winner in Kiʻi Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #131193

Visit Site View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Nel Kikokikona

Hoʻokumu ʻia kēia typeface me ka manaʻo o ka mea hoʻolālā. ʻO Nel kahi kikokikona hou me nā koho he nui. ʻO ka mana maʻamau, aia nā huaʻōlelo Uppercase a me nā leka liʻiliʻi, a me nā kaha kikoʻī ʻē aʻe. ʻO ka Nel Brickbuild kahi mana stencil pāʻani a ʻo ka Nel Dots he ʻano kiko kiko. He ʻano māmā a kaumaha hoʻi ka Nel me nā mana leʻaleʻa like. ʻO nā ʻikona (kahi ʻona ikona āpau) kona lālā hou loa. ʻEiwa mau koho e hui a hoʻokūkū i ka hoʻolālā ʻana i nā paʻi weliweli, nā leka, nā logo, nā pūnaewele, a i ʻole nā mea ʻike. Hoʻokahi ʻohana. No nā mea hoʻolālā.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Kala

Ua lanakila ka hoʻolālā Nel Kikokikona i ka A' Design Award Kala, he ʻike hoʻohanohano nui loa i hāʻawi ʻia i nā hoʻolālā kiʻekiʻe loa, nani a kupaianaha. He mau hana ʻālohilohi loa a hana noʻeau nui nā lanakila Kala e hōʻike ana i ka loea, ka makakoho a me ka ʻoi aku o ka noʻonoʻo o kā lākou poʻe hoʻolālā. Manaʻo ʻia ʻo ka hoʻolālā Nel Kikokikona he hana kupaianaha, kūlana ʻoi aku, ʻoihana kiʻekiʻe a hou loa. ʻO kēia hoʻolālā i lanakila i ka A' Design Award Kala he mea hoʻokumu kūpono loa, mahalo ʻia e hāʻawi i ka pōmaikaʻi a hoʻoneʻe i nā palena o ka hana noʻeau, ka ʻepekema, ka hoʻolālā a me ka ʻenehana. He mea i ʻeleu ʻia e nā mea he nui ka hoʻolālā Nel Kikokikona e hoʻāla i ka makemake, lawe mai i nā manaʻo maikaʻi a hoʻāla i ka kamahaʻo a me ka mahalo.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: This typeface is developed with the designer in mind. Nel is a modern typeface with lots of options. The Regular version consists of UPPERCASE and lowercase letters, and quite a few other punctuation marks. The Nel Brickbuild is a playful stencil version and the Nel Dots is a dotted typeface. The Nel also has a light and heavy style with corresponding fun versions. There are nine options in total to mix and match while designing awesome prints, posters, logos, websites, or identities.
Dimensions & Packaging: All fonts are available in OTF (local) and WOFF (web) files.
Tags: font, typeface, decorative, playful, letterdesign,
Production Technology: The first sketches were doodles drawn on a lazy Sunday. Those doodles became a grid. The Regular consists of a width of three units and a height of nine units. Each unit is made up of a square of three by three subunits. The Light removes one sub-unit on either side to create a much thinner line and the Heavy adds a sub-unit. The fun, display styles are playful twists designed upon this base.
Design Challenge: The whole Nel is based on the same grid, and design choices. So the design process of the letters went quite smoothly. This was strengthened by the fact that some letters share quite a few similarities (the b > d > p > q). Some are harder to fit in (the k and x). The main challenge was is defining the whitespace between the letters (kerning). The space needs to be different between every letter to look the same. There are quite a few combinations, so this takes a lot of time and effort.
Research: -
Inspiration: During the "mixing and matching" of a few typefaces, the question arose: Wouldn't it be nice for a typeface to have a regular style for the body text and some eccentric, fun versions for headers or high-lighted text? This typeface would make it possible to use different styles and still be coherent.
Project Duration: The main part of this project finished in January 2019 and is available on MyFonts.com. Although once in a while it gets an update. For example: Icons (an all icon font) has been added this February.
Operation Flow: One of the hardest parts of designing a coherent layout is choosing which fonts to use. Nel solves this problem. All styles have their own characteristics, but they're all based on the same design choices. So all options can be mixed and matched with ease. Icons (the all icon font) has an extra. It's possible to combine glyphs. Example: When you type the capital i and 3, there's a bus and a silhouette. When you type the number sign (above the 3) instead of a 3, the human is inside the bus.
Image Credits: All images: Designer Jasper Nijssen, Visuals WBP Nel, 2022.