Compunabula

Like Corey’s other typefaces, Compunabula began as a rejected logo for a client. He couldn’t let go of the design and tried to use it for other projects, but it “never felt right.” Still, he decided to explore it and see what happened. “I spent a marathon session, with little to no sleep, getting the basics of it down.” Corey’s friend (and fellow maker) Grant Hutchinson provided some technical and aesthetic feedback during the final stages, and “found a couple of errors that no rational person would have made, which I blame on my sleep deprivation. Once I realized that it was viable, the rest came easy.”

Grant also provided the typeface’s name. Grant explains, “Compunabula is a play onincunabula, which is defined as 1) books printed before 1501; or 2) a work of art or of industry of an early period.” Compunabula describes Grant’s ongoing affair with out-of-date computer equipment or technology.

Corey points out the term “fits the font rather nicely because who in their right mind would release a low-resolution bitmap font today? It’s an updated bitmap font, but still something very much out of fashion. As with many of my faces, the idea is to take two things that don’t go together at all and blend them.”

Product information