Contrast Foundry and TOOOT whip up their mix-and-match specimen Hamburgerfonts

Most type designers will be familiar with ‘hamburgerfonts,’ a quirky little term that showcases the unique features of a typeface. As Contrast Foundry’s Founder & Creative Director Maria Doreuli explains, “Similar to how ‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’ contains every letter in the alphabet, Hamburgefonstiv is a made-up word often used to demonstrate the key characteristics of the letters in the Latin alphabet. But as type designers, we often type it as Hamburgerfonts – because that’s exactly what it reminds you of :)”

Here, Contrast Foundry (CoFo) embrace this unconventional ‘hamburgerfonts’ idea wholeheartedly, partnering up with The Office of Ordinary Things (TOOOT) to produce a type specimen of the foundry’s retail catalogue, centred around ‘hamburger fonts.’ With a playful, illustrative style, each typeface from Contrast Foundry’s retail collection is categorised into one of three hamburger-inspired groups – protein (display type), veggies (body type), and condiments (supportive type). 

For visual inspiration, the team visited the Letterform Archive in San Francisco, where Doreuli also teaches type design. “Our friend Stephen Coles showed us some of his favorite type specimens,” Founder of TOOOT, Jonny Black, tells us, including a mix-and-match book consisting of a face divided into three panels (eyes, nose, and mouth) on the left/verso, each paired with a corresponding typeface on the right/recto.”

“When thinking about burgers, we think about layers,” Doreuli adds, so, taking the format of mix-and-match children’s books, the book’s divided pages allows readers to mix and match these various typefaces and visually asses their compatibility in a playful, hands on way. “We wanted the whole object to feel right,” says Doreuli, where it needed to be thick and chunky – like a burger – “so we settled on the thick board pages often used for children’s books.” 

As Doreuli points out, “Working with twenty-two wildly different typefaces in one book is not an easy task.” To balance playfulness with the clear visibility of each typeface’s characteristics and personality, they use the pages and layouts carefully. On the right-hand side of each spread, three typefaces are showcased. Here, type takes on an illustrative role, acting as a selection of ingredients. The left side features the ‘receipt’ page, which can emphasise some technical and enjoyable aspects of each typeface. Larger display typefaces are located at the top, while the middle section presents text typefaces, showcasing the available styles. “At the bottom is the fun part,” Doreuli tells us, “the end of the receipt – a thank-you, a little joke, or a small way to highlight something about the foundry and play with the typefaces.”

Thanks to its format, the publication transcends being an industry-specific tool and becomes accessible to readers of all levels. “It’s fun to just browse through – even if you’re not a designer,” Doreuli adds. “Kids love it because it’s a format and style they understand. Designers will enjoy the attention to detail and typeface choices. And for those who get extra curious, there are small captions highlighting special features of the typefaces.”

All of this joy, humour, and bright-eyed playfulness was bolstered by the successful synergy of the two practices, where, from the very beginning, Doreuli tells us, it felt like a perfect creative match. “Finding collaborators who match your sensitivity to detail and your sense of humour is rare – especially in type design,” she says. “At CoFo, that’s essential – we want to make sure the type nerdiness doesn’t overwhelm the fun.” The project is also particularly special for the two practices, as it marks the first project they’ve completed together after sharing an office since 2023. “Imagine if you owned a studio and you started renting a few desks out, hoping that some cool creatives might bring some new energy and enhance the vibe,” Black notes. “Now imagine that the very first person to sign a lease was the founder of a very dope type foundry, and that person hires you for a very rad project and is absolutely the coolest chillest client ever. That’s basically what happened.”