This font started out as a “proof of concept” — something I built just to see if it could be done. The initial test told me yes! But since then, it became seemingly impossible to finish. Every time I hit a wall, I’d put it aside and work on something else. But it kept calling me back, and as it nears completion at LONG last, I wanted to share some of the inspiration and process.

The idea for this font first came to me when this fantastic Instagram account BWHAM I follow started showing comic letterer John Workman’s incredible sound effects and titles from 1980s THOR comics.

Workman has a unique approach to FX — they’re very rigid and geometric, the letters stretch from tall to wide, and he varies the contrast wildly between the vertical and horizontal strokes.

I thought, something like this might make an incredible Variable Font…. so I spent a few hours building an alphabet, just to see if it would work. And lo, it did:

…for the most part, anyways. 🙂

The surprising treat was that, as I stretched and shifted the letters, it started reminding me of various “futuristic” sci-fi type logos from the ’70s and ’80s, like the SIMON game…

…the Houston Rockets logo…

…one of my favorite bands album covers…

and a near-perfect match for my second favorite shoe brand's logo (sorry, Rudi, Adi makes the coolest.)

Since many of the letter shapes repeated, I thought it might work to construct each letter from a handful of “modular” shapes, that would simplify the work required to make the many widths and weights…

…but that strategy created more problems than it solved. The slightest change to one shape threw everything else off!

Once I had that solved, the next trickiest bit was getting the top and bottom “hooks” to appear and disappear based on the letter thicknesses and crossbar position…

…and getting the K to flip its look when the Crossbar axis passed the midpoint:

Eventually, the kinks were getting worked out, and the family was taking shape! The number of “presets” within the realm of possible weights and widths quickly added up…

But was that enough? No, dear reader, it was not…

As I was completing the accents and special characters, the thought occurred to me: “it could have a ‘reverse-stress’ option, where the horizontal strokes are thicker than the vertical.”

And once I think it, I have to make it. HAVE to, I tell you. So I did.

As the font neared completion, I faced the final challenge: choosing the name! Finding a name that tells the story of the font and isn’t already in use can be daunting. And this one needed something short enough to leave room for all of the width & weight names while keeping within the 32 character limit.

At some point I came up with JETLAB, which I think perfectly captures the high tech space race optimism of the ’60s and ’70s. It also pays tribute to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, which recently conquered the seemingly impossible challenge of building a helicopter that flies on Mars!

Yeah, if they can do that, I can finish this font.