Proxima Nova Booklet


A geometric type specimen celebrating Proxima Nova’s versatility. Designed with a blueprint theme, it highlights the typeface’s modern appeal, legibility, and digital performance. Featuring a minimal color palette and dynamic layouts, this specimen showcases Proxima Nova’s utility across diverse applications.
Date: Spring 2022

Scope: Research, Copywriting, Layout Design, Typography

Deliverables:  Type Specimen Booklet

Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Indesign and Photoshop



Overview


Typeface in Focus: The Versatility of Proxima Nova


This project explored Proxima Nova, a geometric sans serif typeface designed by Mark Simonson in 2005. Known for its versatility and modern appeal, Proxima Nova has become a digital design standard due to its readability and adaptability across various applications.

Longtime favorites like Helvetica and Futura are clean, and versatile and go perfectly fine with many design projects, but they have also been around for so long that many young designers find them quite stale. The typeface offers a modern and trendy look while maintaining the simplicity and versatility of Helvetica. With a range of weights and its balance, Proxima Nova strikes a perfect balance between modern aesthetics and functionality.



Concept


Design Rationale


I heavily leaned into the typeface’s classification as geometric, creating a type specimen inspired by blueprints and schematics. By incorporating intersecting lines alongside the letterforms, I wanted to bring attention to the angularity of their strokes. Upon receiving feedback, I also wanted to incorporate dynamic text placements.

I chose a bluish-green color, yellow, black, and white. I opted for a bluish-green color instead of the aggressive primary blue commonly used in blueprints because I wanted to provide an air of sophistication to my specimen. Yellow was included as an accent color (in my mind I likened this to highlighting on said blueprints), and then black and white were used for the sake of conventions, but also because I was reversing type, and I wanted to give a visual break among the color I had in my spreads.