Eksell Sans
Letters from Sweden · Olle Eksell, Göran Söderström · 2021
A single-weight display face built from straight lines and circular arcs, revived from Olle Eksell's 1973 original alphabet by Göran Söderström in 2021.
About
Originally drawn in 1973 by Olle Eksell, the celebrated Swedish designer and illustrator, this alphabet sat unpublished until Göran Söderström digitised it for Letters from Sweden in 2021. Its letterforms are constructed entirely from straight strokes and circle arcs, placing it in the company of Bob Newman's Zipper and Aldo Novarese's Sintex, though Eksell's version reads as more idiosyncratic and typographically self-aware than either. The result is a face that feels simultaneously retro and unplaceable, suited to editorial, music and cultural contexts where outright strangeness is an asset.
Classification
Constructed from straight lines and circle arcs with no weight variation, Eksell Sans is a display typeface in the geometric tradition of 1970s novelty faces, closer to avant-garde lettering than any conventional text category.