Adidas has partnered with MCKL to create an innovative suite of variable fonts for use across a wide spectrum of applications, including creative direction, product design, graphics, communications, and digital experiences. MCKL founder Jeremy Mickel will tell the story of his long collaboration with Adidas, which started in 2012 and includes the 2015 expansion of the Adineue PRO family. In 2017 they started the first adidas Variable Font, Adineue CHOP Variable: an octagonal “athletic” sans in a wide range of weights from hairline to ultrablack, and widths from extra-condensed to super-wide. The next iteration of the project includes Adineue PRO Variable, based on the geometric adidas brand font. This talk will include discussion of the design process behind the adidas collaboration, the production headaches and surprises associated with new technology, and the final payoff of seeing the fonts used in exciting ways.
Jeremy Mickel runs MCKL, a Los Angeles-based design studio publishing original fonts and providing design services for clients worldwide. Founded in 2012, MCKL has collaborated with top-tier design studios, corporations, and social organizations around the world to produce custom typeface and logo services. MCKL’s work has been recognized by the Type Directors Club and the AIGA, and Mickel has taught at RISD and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.