The Ojuju Typeface - Inspired by African Masquerades
Chisaokwu Joboson has just unveiled the ‘Ojuju’ typeface; the word mainly associated with ‘Ojuju Calabar’ is translated to mean ‘Masquerade”. The inspiration is a reference to the eye sockets of African masks worn by masquerades. After about 5 months of constantly sharing the work-in-progress, Joboson unveiled the Ojuju typeface for any one to download and use. Mirko Velimirović also contributed to the project by providing font engineering support and project supervision. This Afro-grotesque family of fonts is a reverse contrast typeface, with 7 styles to choose from (Extralight, light, medium, semi-bold, bold, and extra-bold), and supports 514 African languages. This font is available to try out and download for free on Google Fonts. ‘Ojuju’ is published by Udi Foundry.
Joboson is a Nigerian-based brand and type designer. He creates contemporary typefaces under his independent type foundry called Ụdị, meticulously crafted to accommodate various African language scripts.
“I feel it’s necessary to be fascinated by things around us, especially with African things, if we’re going to build/design for Africa. You’ll be amazed at what would inspire you. For me, it was experiencing the village masquerades whenever I traveled home. Those memories inspired Ojuju There are a thousand African things waiting for us to be inspired by them. That’s the only way we can successfully design an African logo or an Afrocentric font or an animation reflecting African culture… and so on.”
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As Joboson unveiled the project on twitter, the African creative community has poured in their support. Many designers have created their own explorations with the font, showing the range and versatility of the Ojuju family of fonts. We have curated some of them below.
If you loved this project, and will like to put it to work on a project, download the font family for free on Google Fonts.
Ụdị Foundry is an independent type foundry founded by Chisaokwu Joboson with a mission to craft contemporary typefaces inspired by African culture and accommodate various African language scripts.