Hardal

A spotlight on Fatih Hardal with 8 questions and our favourite pieces.

Fatih Hardal, Graphic Designer, Type Designer and Researcher. He graduated from Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts in 2019. In the same year, he founded Hardal Studio. In February 2020, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University started his graduate education. He conducts his research on type design and typography. He works independently for services and consultancy in typography, type design and branding.

 

He has been working in the field of type design since 2018. They work on commissioned projects in the commercial, cultural and editorial sector, with a strong focus on typographic treatment, including the design and distribution of a range of original typefaces. Popular typefaces are FH Ronaldson, FH Phemister, FH Oscar, FH Giselle, Ampersand Typeface and 1089 Display. Hardal sells its typefaces directly through hardalstudio.com and is based in Istanbul, Turkey. Besides the fonts, he collaborated with brands such as Adidas, Adobe, Airbnb, GQ, Jessica Walsh and Sony Music. He still continues to work independently. He has been a member of GMK since 2019.

Do you remember the moment you knew you wanted to become a designer?

I was interested in illustration in high school. I was also dealing with calligraphy. As a continuation of this, we have made a project that includes similar compositions during university years. By selecting a district in the province of Istanbul, a typeface project at a level appropriate to the characteristics of that district was produced. This was incredibly interesting to me! It was a great experience and I discovered that I was in the right profession.

Did you go to design school? Do you think it was necessary to get to where you are today?

One of the best design schools in Turkey Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts in Graphic Design education I received. Now, I continue my graduate education at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Yes, I think the lecturers are helpful. They make a nice impact on the person with the right directions. This definitely helped me move towards jobs and it worked right! But I can rate it as 40%. If a person wants to develop, he has to observe what is produced around him and in the world. I think this will be much more effective.

Who is your favorite designer right now?

I love SPIN Studio, which is based in the UK. Their analysis as well as their use of typography are unique.

 

What is your all time favorite font?

Absolutely Helvetica! You have full control while setting up the composition and Helvetica only does its job. In other words, it provides only plain reading. And timeless!
View Font

What is your method of getting out of a designers block?

Source books! I admire the designers who lived in the past years. I spend most of my time reading and studying these designers. I can say that the names such as Josef Müller Brockmann, Emil Ruder, Wolfgang Weingart inspired me when I examined their works.

 

Can you describe your ideal working environment?

Avoiding all kinds of plain and distracting materials as much as possible. I am a minimalist person and I try to experience this in every moment of my life.

Some of our Favorites

What advice would you have given yourself 3 years ago?

I am a graphic designer and also a type designer. If there are people who want to deal with this job, they should definitely know that typography education is important. It is the number one function in Graphic Design. They should direct all focus points to typography without being ignored.

 

What is the greatest challenge you have faced in your career so far? How did you overcome it?

I love this job! It will be a classic answer, but I enjoy it during the production stages. Since it is not seen as a job, it is a process that progresses with pleasure.

Want more info on Hardal?

Check out Fatih’s Behance Profile, or his Instagram, or check out his personal website.

Share this Article

Showcase

Violaine & Jeremy
Type Foundry

They design fonts like they would design everything else: with their own artistic gesture and sensibility.

View the work

Latest Posts

Latest Free Fonts

Experimental

Latest News

tg_icon_white

type changes everything

Links

Socials

More