Wind, a Layered Typeface for Optical Illusions

A capital-only display typeface by Hansje van Halem for intricate headlines, and optical effects.

Wind is the first published typeface of Amsterdam-based book and graphic designer Hansje van Halem. Like her other work, which is highly experimental, it uses vivid colours and intricately detailed patterns to create unexpected optical illusions, and its various layers can be combined and overlaid to create vibrant, hypnotic patterns.

In addition to four static styles, NE, SE, SW and NE, Wind also includes variable fonts capable of a full 360° of rotation, (one clockwise, the other anti-clockwise), offering unprecedented possibilities for the exploration of repetitive textural patterns. While most of Van Halem's work is highly personal, Wind is a tool for graphic expression, as intuitive as it is systematic in its exploration of the limits of legibility and the differences between reading and viewing.

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Read the article about the process of creating of Wind

Download Wind PDF specimen

Play with Wind’s static layers here.

Play with Wind variable fonts (requires the latest version of Safari).

Explore more of Hansje van Halem’s work in this book.

Watch a short documentary about Hansje van Halem, the author of Wind.

Illustrations by Shiva Nallaperumal.