F37® Foundry launches F37 Ginger Mono with a nostalgia-tinged roster of character-driven sticker packs

“F37 Ginger has been one of our most popular typefaces to date,” reveals Design Director Duncan Gravestock, “so developing a Mono version felt like a natural progression.” Ginger Mono joins the UK-based foundry’s roster, designed to maintain the versatility and completeness of the original F37 Ginger family, which includes Regular, Soft, and Rounded styles. “Rather than reinventing it with a bunch of new design elements,” Designer Keelin Wright continues, “[the type designers] focused on preserving as much of the original ‘Ginger-ness’ as possible. The challenge was to squash and stretch the existing letterforms into a fixed mono width while keeping their character intact.” Letters like the ‘m’ and ‘w’ needed to be tightly condensed, while narrower ones like ‘I’ and ‘r’ needed to be extended (or have extra details, like serifs). This culminated in a comprehensive exploration of monospaced typography that, above all, remains faithful to the original’s DNA.

While it would have been easy enough to make a specimen or publication to promote the typeface, F37® Studio (the foundry’s sister design agency) has always embraced a more playful approach, manifesting in creative executions like Rubik’s cubes for F37 Qbik and sticks of rock for F37 Britain. “Type design has become increasingly screen-based,” notes Gravestock. “We try to bring a more tactile and playful approach by turning specimens into objects people actually want.” For this typeface launch, he explains that the team looked to the Garbage Pail Kids collectables, citing the joy of collecting stickers as a kid in the ’90s. “It was all about the rush of not knowing what you’d get until the seal was broken. Garbage Pail Kids were a big influence at the time. The gross character, wild illustrations and the feeling that you were holding something you probably shouldn’t made them even more exciting to collect.”

Inspired by the cult phenomenon, F37® Studio has created its own series of 24 grotesque characters (the ‘Monomob’), each sporting the typeface’s defining feature – a monobrow. “The idea of Ginger Mono(brows) pretty much screamed at us early on when we were brainstorming PR ideas, it felt like a no-brainer to run with such an obvious and funny execution,” adds Wright. The characters, all sharing the initials ‘GM’ for Ginger Mono, range from the unsettling Ghastly Marcy to the hirsute Grizzly Morgan – a walking mass of ginger hair. Each character comes complete with their own bizarre backstory and traits, “with the goal of bringing out that fun, unsettling side of each character whilst making them as grotesque and memorable as possible,” she notes.

“The sticker packs followed naturally, sparked by conversations about how weird and unexpected we could make a type specimen.” Each pack includes a holographic type specimen card (“we wanted to create a ‘special’ card, like you get with rare stickers essentially. Its that little elevated touch that brings the whole experience together,” notes Gravestock) and six randomly selected stickers, channeling the excitement of traditional trading card unboxing experiences.

The project marks F37®’s first major exploration into AI-assisted design. For the studio, this felt like a natural fit. “We’ve always embraced creativity and experimentation when promoting our fonts. Mono fonts are rooted in digital culture and early computing, so using AI felt like an unexpected but fitting tool to explore that legacy,” explains Gravestock.

The journey into AI proved to be both difficult and enlightening. “It was definitely a challenge,” explains Wright, noting that crafting effective prompts became their biggest hurdle – “We initially thought we had written detailed and precise instructions, but then AI would throw out results that were completely different from what we had envisioned.”

Gravestock adds that, in hindsight, while AI offered unprecedented speed and scale for experimentation, a traditional 3D designer might have provided more refined, direct feedback. “AI is a very powerful tool, and it played a vital part in helping us bring to life our little Mob, but it was a huge learning curve. It’s clear that these tools are here to stay and will continue to improve over time, whether we’re ready for that change or not.” The project ultimately evolved beyond its experimental roots into something much more substantial. “As the project progressed,” recalls Gravestock, “there were so many exciting moments we wanted to bring to life, from the motion branding to the packaging. It was just a lot of fun to see it all come together.” Getting the final printed product was especially rewarding, as Wright explains – “We worked with Made by Team on the production, and since they’d never made anything quite like this before, it was a bit of trial and error. When we finally nailed the materials and held the finished product in our hands, it was amazing!” she recalls. And for Gravestock, the most satisfying aspect was seeing the type designers’ work transformed into something tangible that people could “cherish, enjoy and collect.”