Rejecting restraints: Mike Nigra on combining typographic anatomies

“Just as much as I love devouring stories, I equally enjoy creating them,” Turin-based type and graphic designer Mike Nigra tells us, discussing the creative foundations of his practice. “As a designer, I kickstart my creative process with established, well-defined templates,” he explains. “From there, it’s a journey of reimagining and reshaping them into something new, all with the aim of crafting a unique story.” A great example is his latest research project, Daily, a striking, Scotch-Slab hybrid typeface.

“A typeface family shouldn’t be constrained by repetitive patterns,” Mike suggests, explaining the defining notion behind Daily. “Instead, it’s about injecting them with a shared DNA that finds its expression in distinctive features.” Mike notes the almost identical anatomy of Scotch and Slab typefaces. “They share the same level of boldness,” Mike recalls, “and their stylistic resemblance led me to consider grouping them in the same type family,” forging a typographic space we haven’t quite seen before.

Outside of research and typographic histories, Mike’s inspirations find him, rather than the other way around. “It’s like that flicker of a lightbulb moment when your ideas start to come to your mind,” he tells us, “that nudge that eventually propels you to bring something to life,” creating with it a sense of play. “Playing is a serious endeavor,” he details. “A game represents a unique realm of human activity with its own set of rules,” creating an experience separate from our daily lives. “The bending of rules is integral to the game itself,” Mike concludes, “and it’s through this that the doors to creative exploration swing wide open.”