The Story of Shantell Sans

Shantell Sans mixes variable axes for Weight, Italic, Informality, and Bounce to deliver a wide array of font styles, from friendly, readable, everyday typographic workhorses to striking, high-energy, experimental styles meant especially for animation.

This is the story behind its inspiration and creation.

Why make a new font?

Shantell Martin, Artist

Shantell Martin, Photo credit Michelle Mosqueda

One of my first relationships with words was back in elementary school. We did spelling tests every week. Since I never passed them, I had to sit in detention.

Despite being scared of the spelling tests, I loved words. I wrote and drew a lot. I knew that words helped me to express my feelings and feel better. Since I was writing for myself, I didn’t have to care about spelling.

When I was 20 or 21, I found out that I was dyslexic. When I started my art degree at Central Saint Martins in London, I was in an environment where it felt like the majority of people were dyslexic.…