BT Romualdo

Research, Type Design
Year Created: 2022
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Tributing my grandfather, in-progress BT Romualdo explores how a typeface can be an artifact that infuses historical research, preserves cultural identity, and honors personal narrative.

Investigate how to be more intentional with the depiction of letterform characteristics. Reflect on the notion of diasporic identity by questioning what is the Filipino identity, how do individuals retain their identity while living in a diaspora, what are the challenges they face, and how can that be represented visually?

For research, I gathered a few archival photographs and scans of my grandpa. Some examples include the Key West Citizen article from when he and my grandma got married, a few handwritten recipes, his headshot from when he was in the U.S. Navy in the 1950s. I primarily used these assets to inform my design decisions. The sticky notes show some key words I was keeping in mind: strong, eccentric, ingenious, honest, and reserved.