Handmade, but not written – geometric, but not constructed – a typeface steeped in contradictions. 
 
The basic shapes of our letters – especially the capital letters – are quite easy to construct. Instead of using a compass and ruler to follow geometric principles, you can simply join straight lines together. The vast majority of shapes can be created this way in no time. And for the few shapes that are actually round, an angular solution usually suffices. If the lines are short enough, you can even manage a tighter ‘curve’.
 
‘Eckig’ is a typeface consisting entirely of capital letters – the lowercase letters are represented by a narrow version of the uppercase forms. The template for the »Eckig« typeface was created using a kind of printing process. The edges of several metal plates served as stamps. The acrylic paint used was actually too runny for this purpose. But I was absolutely determined to retain the resulting ‘handmade’ character in the finished font, including the small splashes of paint that had gone astray. This is why this typeface, which was actually designed to be strictly angular, conveys a soft and fluid impression.
 
The beauty of handcrafted typefaces is that even letters that appear similar are never exactly the same. For one thing, there is a difference between the capital letters, which are roughly square in shape, and the lowercase letters, which are significantly narrower. Most of the letters in the ‘Eckig’ typeface also have alternative forms that vary to a greater or lesser extent. Using the OpenType features ‘Ligatures’, ‘Discretionary Ligatures’, ‘Stylistic Alternates’ and ‘Capitals To Small Caps’, you can pick and choose these individually. 
 
So, by playing around with the relevant options, you can achieve at least three very different looks: 
 
1) all caps: when only uppercase letters are used, the typeface appears very wide and imposing.
 
2) all lowercase: using the c2sc function “Caps to Small Caps“, all letters are converted to the narrow lowercase characters.
 
3) the “wild mix”: when “Ligatures” are enabled, and even more so when “Discretionary Ligatures” are enabled, alternative letterforms are used and wide and narrow forms alternate, creating maximum variety in the typeface.