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This image shows some of the different stages of the project spearheaded by Etienne Aubert Bonn to create a new font family for writers of Inuktitut. - photo courtesy of Etienne Aubert Bonn

NUNAVUT
A Montreal-based graphic designer has created a new multi-script typeface system that allows computer users to match Inuktitut syllabics with a Latin serif text face.

Etienne Aubert Bonn, co-founder of the Coppers and Brasses type foundry, said his typeface family - called Nurraq - could be applied to books, magazines, signs and almost any kind of printed material.

"This typeface family is meant to be used primarily in print at text sizes and for continuous text," he stated in an e-mail.

"Magazines was the use I had in mind while creating it, but it is suitable for many things from books all the way up to title sizes."

While other Inuktitut fonts already exist - Euphemia and Pigiarniq are the most popular - Nurraq would give Inuktitut more flexibility and artistic value.

Mylene Chartrand, a graphic designer with Iqaluit-based Atii-Go Media Inc., said she always welcomes new Inuktitut fonts and would love the opportunity to make the script more similar to and relevant to Latin serif typefaces.

"Pigiarniq is the font we use the most but it has no serifs, no script feel," she said.

"We normally have to create it manually. Having different Inuktitut fonts would allow us to put an emphasis on different words."

Bonn said he was inspired to create the font family during a presentation on Canadian syllabics he gave last year at the Royal Academy of Arts in the Netherlands. Because of the strong attachment Inuktitut speakers have with the syllabics, he wanted to look further into how it compared to other scripts.

He said he quickly realized that it almost never shared anything in common such as size, contrast, proportion or colour of text.

Since the project is still in the developmental stage at this time, Bonn plans on developing an italic version of the syllabics and an additional weight in both Roman and italic styles. He said he wants to commercialize it through his own type foundry but doesn't know when it will be available for purchase.

Pinnguaq founder Ryan Oliver, whose company re-released Osmos for the iPad completely in Inuktitut, said he had a similar idea awhile back.

He wanted to bring together some of Nunavut's top artists to design a new graphic font, but never got around to it.

His brother, a graphic designer in Cape Dorset, has also run into issues when dealing with the Inuktitut syllabics on a computer.

"When you're creating a print product, the lack of variety and style in Inuktitut fonts is extremely frustrating," he said.

"It's impossible to make a stylish flyer or poster as the Inuktitut font is so uniform across the board. This (Bonn's font family) appears to be a step towards making something that is more visually appealing and I hope more people take it up."

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