Couple of months ago Büro Destruct got a call from ‘edding’ – famous for their permanent markers – and they wanted BD to design a font for them based on the edding 850, their boldest marker. For those that have used the marker know the limitations and also the freedom and scale that comes with using one. The team started scribbling and doodling straight away with countless sheets and letters they abandoned the idea of doing a script they’ve preferred the idea of each letter becoming a logo by itself. 

The font evolved from two simple principles, the thick and the thin stroke, the basics of the marker depending on which way you draw, up/down. Ultimately these two stroke weights create a modular system which can be combined to produce most letters. Besides the font, the team also built a web app which is an endless whiteboard following the principle of edding marker – what has been written, can’t be erased.

The Type-for-type web application created in HTML5 allows you contribute something to the collaborative realtime text-editor. Once you’re done, the «edding 850» opentype font is available for download. It comes together with a PDF-magazine that features the most liked designs from the project gallery, basically the blog side of the site, where everybody can upload anything using the font.

Try it here: Type-for-type | project gallery