The Yarza Twins’ New Batavier typeface has been rescued from a 1928 travel poster

Design studio The Yarza Twins has rescued a font from a travel poster by Francesca Claussen, reviving it to create the New Batavier typeface.

The original poster from 1928 announces a ship route between Rotterdam and London by Wm. H. Müller & Co’s Batavier Line, and shows elements of classic Dutch graphic design with bold constructivist type. This is what Eva and Marta Yarza have traced to use as a basis for their new face.

“We found the poster when reading a book on travelling posters, and fell in love at first sight with the font,” say the twins. “We couldn’t find a lot of information about it, but we felt we wanted to be able to use it.”

After tracing the available letters, the twins created a whole set and then started redrawing each individual letter, refining them to give a consistent feel. The sharp, geometric shapes have been stylised, given slightly rounder edges, and are overall a bit chunkier, adapting the typeface for a contemporary context.