Initially commissioned in the summer of 2009 for a popular North American ice cream parlor chain we cannot name, Tuba started with a reconceptualization of a somewhat flawed '72 alphabet idea by Swiss graphic designer Erwin Poell. During the back-and-forth of the custom project, other ideas seeped into the design, mostly from other Canada Type fonts, like Fab, Jonah, Jojo and Teaspoon. The end result was what the client called a “sugar circuit trigger alphabet”. This now is the retail version of that project.

Tuba’s main style is a straight-forward mix of 60s/70s art nouveau ideas and late-70s/early-80s tube aesthetic. The Highlight and Outline styles are almost necessary spinoffs for this kind of typeface. And the all-caps Black style is a nod to the fat font fad of the past couple of years. All styles contain many alternates – so many that each style is almost two fonts in one. Make sure to check out the character sets for a few nice and useful surprises.

Life’s too short. Seek sweetness. Get gooey.