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A black poster with bold white typography reads “ASSHOLES WILL BE ASSHOLES”. The text is set in a heavy, stylised font and laid against a peach-coloured background.

Wade Jeffree's Hardy is a typeface with a certain edge

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Date
15 September 2014

When showing off a new typeface, most designers opt for the go-to panagram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” On one of the promotional posters for his new font Hardy, Wade Jeffree has plumped for “It’s too easy being a c**t.” In other words, this is a typeface with attitude.

The Australian, New York-based designer was idly sketching on the subway one day when the basic idea of Hardy began to emerge. “Upon arriving home I sat down and designed some characters and created the rules for the set. I actually started with the word ”fuck.” My foul mouth continues to be a key personality trait; I think this is inherent in the posters.”

It took Wade a month and a half working evenings and weekends to finish the font, trying to find time around his day job (at Sagmeister & Walsh) and his freelance commitments, with the glyphs in particular proving tricky to get right.

Wade describes the final product as “a display typeface whose circular cuts replace each angled intersection. For every 45° and 90° angle, there is a circle to soften the edge while still maintaining the typeface’s chiseled appearance. Each circle’s size is determined by the measure of the angle. The result is a largely masculine, yet somewhat awkward geometric face with strong personality.”

Shortly after uploading it to his site, Ten Dollar Fonts got in touch and Hardy is now available to buy over on their site. A happy ending for Wade and his potty-mouthed personal project!

A white alphanumeric typeface set against a black background. The bold, blocky characters include the full alphabet and numbers zero to nine.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

A black poster on a peach background features bold, white typographic text. The words “STONE”, “GRASS”, “DIRT” and “WATER” are stacked in a heavy, stylised font.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

A black poster with bold white typography reads “ASSHOLES WILL BE ASSHOLES”. It is laid flat against a plain peach background.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

A black specimen sheet featuring a bold, white blocky typeface. The page displays the alphabet, numerals and a variety of symbols and accented characters.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

A specimen sheet for a bold, geometric typeface in white on a black background. The page displays a full character set, including uppercase letters, numbers, and a wide array of symbols.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

A black book cover features a large, bold white letter “H” with rounded corners. Small text at the top reads “Hardy... A Display Typeface By Wade Jeffries”.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

An open book with a black background features bold, white typography. The words “HARD”, “HARDER” and “HARDEST” are stacked vertically in a heavy, blocky font.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

An open book shows a bold graphic across two pages. Three large, white, stylised numerals “666” are set against a black background.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

A black rectangular card featuring a large, white eight-pointed star shape in the centre. The card rests on a plain peach-coloured surface.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

A black rectangular card with two white geometric shapes rests on a peach-coloured surface. Small, illegible white text is printed in the bottom right corner.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

A black poster featuring four abstract white shapes arranged in a loose grid. The poster is set against a plain peach background.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

A black rectangular card rests on a peach-coloured surface. It features a large white circle in the lower left and a small white dot in the top right.
Above

Wade Jeffree: Hardy

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

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Rob Alderson is a freelance writer, editor and strategist. He was previously editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That and WePresent, and editor of Design Week. He publishes the newsletter Undo, which tries to make sense of how AI is changing design work, the design process and the design industry.

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