hat trick design: typographic chess set hat trick design: typographic chess set
oct 04, 2012

hat trick design: typographic chess set

typographic chess set by hat-trick design

hat-trick have designed a typographic chess set based on chess notation, K for king etc. the forms are based on the typeface champion (lightweight) by hoefler frere jones.

the limited edition of 50 sets are laser cut from 25mm acrylic. the king is 50mm tall, the pawn is 30mm. the board is made from two 2mm pieces of greyboard, and foiled in black. the whole set comes in a foam tray with a greyboard sleeve.

typographic chess set by hat-trick design jim sutherland of hat-trick told us more about the set:

‘the original idea started on the same holiday that I started the typographic playing cards, in 2007. it’s been a long period of gestation and production testing.’

‘it was a really tricky production in order to get the fine detail and the counters sharp etc, plus making sure everything stood up properly for example the Q and P had to be redrawn for stability and the ‘Kt’ ligature for knight was redrawn.’

‘we added a couple of lovely quotes which I added to the info sheet in the packaging, which includes information about the moves and chess notation. there is also a small set of postcards, showing how each piece moves.’

‘chess is the most elaborate waste of human intelligence outside of an advertising agency. raymond chandler

I did a lot of research into chess art, graphics and products, so I’ve started a small tumblr site about the things I’ve found, which I’m adding to when I get time.’ – jim sutherland

typographic chess set by hat-trick design typographic chess set by hat-trick design

typographic chess set by hat-trick design

typographic chess set by hat-trick design

typographic chess set box by hat-trick design

guide to the pieces

chess explained through typography

jim sutherland’s sketch book

andy butler I designboom
oct 04, 2012

  • Cute but they’d be a lot more interesting if the two-dimensional letter were turned into three via one rotation. In two you need to see the piece in the right perspective to recognize it; in three you’d know from any angle.

    [email protected] says:
    Oct 05, 2012

  • absolutely brilliant – hard to believe its not been done before this

    dbkii says:
    Oct 05, 2012

  • The Bauhaus comes to mind.

    Arthink says:
    Oct 05, 2012

have something to add? share your thoughts in our comments section below.

comments policy
LOG IN
designboom's comment policy guidelines
generally speaking, if we publish something, it's because we're genuinely interested in the subject. we hope you'll share this interest and if you know even more about it, please share! our goal in the discussion threads is to have good conversation and we prefer constructive opinions. we and our readers have fun with entertaining ones. designboom welcomes alerts about typos, incorrect names, and the like.
the correction is at the discretion of the post editor and may not happen immediately.

what if you disagree with what we or another commenter has to say?
let's hear it! but please understand that offensive, inappropriate, or just plain annoying comments may be deleted or shortened.

- please do not make racist, sexist, anti-semitic, homophobic or otherwise offensive comments.
- please don't personally insult the writers or your fellow commenters.
- please avoid using offensive words, replacing a few letters with asterisks is not a valid workaround.
- please don't include your website or e-mail address in your comments for the purpose of self-promotion.
- please respect jury verdicts and do not discuss offensively on the competition results
(there is only one fist prize, and designboom usually asks renown professionals to help us to promote talent.
in addition to the awarded designs, we do feel that almost all deserve our attention, that is why we publish
the best 100-200 entries too.)

a link is allowed in comments as long as they add value in the form of information, images, humor, etc. (links to the front page of your personal blog or website are not okay). unwelcome links (to commercial products or services of others, offensive material etc. ) will be redacted. and, ... yes, spam gets banned. no, we do not post fake comments.

forgot password

(9 articles)

(6 articles)

PRODUCT LIBRARY

a diverse digital database that acts as a valuable guide in gaining insight and information about a product directly from the manufacturer, and serves as a rich reference point in developing a project or scheme.

design news

all design news