Traditional handwritten posters are originally used to announce social events like concerts, boxing matches, and parties. These posters exuded a distinct flair and vivacity. Inspired by the handwritten wheatpaste posters found in the vibrant coastal communities of Accra, Ga Maamli is a display font that embodies the Ga people's spirited essence. Commissioned by Google Fonts, Ga Maamli ambitiously seeks to be a digital representation of this handwritten style and not a replacement of traditional sign writing.
Scattered on the walls of the streets of Accra, one can see handwritten posters. These come in different lettering styles. There are smooth- stroked letterings, abrupt-stroked letterings and also posters with a mixture of the two.
To incorporate all these styles while maintaining harmony and balance, there had to be a study of styles and the construction logic behind these letterings. The team and I finally concluded that the lowercase characters should have smoother rounded strokes, while the uppercase characters embody the concept of more abrupt brush strokes. In addition, the uppercase characters had a styled accent.
Figs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 show the glyph construction logic used to create Ga Maamli. While trying to preserve the vernacular nature and brushstroke logic, it adhered to some typographic rules.
To establish a family, there had to be some form of harmonization between LC and UC characters. This also contributed to the overall visual language.
