PIANO KEYS

Display Typeface

Piano Keys, Display Typeface, Billboard Mock up

Project Type:
Type Design, Display Typeface, Branding, Typography
Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop

Background: This project features a custom designed display typeface intended for use in large-format media, such as posters and headlines, and features an all-caps character set. Piano Keys emerged from listening to my son playing piano, piano keys and piano notes.

Inspiration

Brainstorming sketches

Concept: Piano Keys is a bold, high-contrast display typeface that blends modernist typography with musical structure. Letterforms are constructed from rectangles with white lines cutting through them to resemble piano keys, paired with thin stroke details. Piano Keys targets creatives designing for music venues, album covers, jazz lounges, dark moody restaurants, vintage spaces, and movie theatre signage. This audience values typefaces with personality and historical resonance—typography that feels both sophisticated and expressive, bridging modernist discipline with emotional warmth.

Piano Keys, Typeface details

Mood Board for typeface and industry

Design Process: This typeface translates the structure of piano keys into simple geometric letterforms. Rectangular shapes and thin lines create contrast, guided by Didot-inspired proportions for clarity and balance.

Iterations for Piano Keys, Typeface

Piano Keys, Display Typeface, Full Alphabet

Typeface: Piano Keys. Album Cover: Billy Joel: Piano Man, Mock up

Typeface: Piano Keys. Billboard Ad: Marshall Portable Speaker, Mock up

Typeface: Piano Keys. Mobile Homepage: Crimson Keys Jazz and Wine Lounge, Mock up

Typeface: Piano Keys. Movie Theatre: The Lark, Mock up

Typeface: Piano Keys. Restaurant Store Front: Sushi and Soda, Mock up

Typeface: Piano Keys. Restaurant Menu: Sushi and Soda, Mock up

Design Solution: Piano Keys translates the visual structure of piano keys into a high-contrast, geometric display typeface. Built from simple rectangular forms divided by thin lines, it balances precision with expressiveness while maintaining clarity at large sizes. The restrained use of contrast and clean geometry keeps the design refined and versatile, allowing it to work across a range of creative contexts without feeling overly stylized.

Designed for display use, Piano Keys is well suited for album covers, vinyl packaging, concert posters, jazz lounge menus and signage, restaurant branding, movie theater marquees, and film festival materials.