By Chris Dale Peñacerrada Patriarca, BA Comm-4 OJT
Maragsâ, one of the typefaces created by Centralian John David Maza (Photo grabbed from johndavidmaza.gumroad.com).
John David Maza is a 23-year old graduate of Bachelor of Science in Packaging Engineering from Central Philippine University’s College of Engineering, whose typeface creations made its way locally and internationally as people continue to use his fonts in their events and publications.
It was November of 2019 when Maza downloaded a free-font creation software and started playing around with it.
When asked what inspired Maza in creating fonts, he stated that, “We, at the Central Echo, attended The Spectrum Fellowship in Talisay City last March 2019 (which was organized by The Spectrum of University of St. La Salle-Bacolod) where campus journalists from all over the country would gather together. There, we had the chance to listen to the talk “Patriotism through Digital Art” by Aaron Amar, designer of the popular jeepney-inspired fonts, Quiapo and Cubao, where he introduced his inspirations and process of creating the fonts.”
He also added that as a layout artist, he has already been using a lot of various fonts for their publication, but never did it occur to him before that it would also be possible for him to create his own.
Maza is currently enrolled at Type West, a year-long post-graduate certificate program by The Letterform Archive, based in San Francisco, California wherein he gets to learn from experienced type designers and experts in different aspects of the field, with the goal of creating more and better Filipino fonts in the near future.
Maza has also other fonts which are currently in progress and because typeface design is a time-consuming practice, he said that, “It is common among type designers to have all these unfinished projects and shelved ideas, but what I’ve been doing recently is I just release even the in-progress fonts as long as they’re already usable, keeping the mindset, “Just put your work out there.””
His latest release was the, “Lapì typeface,” which was inspired by, “panlapi,” or affixes in grammar.
Recently, his, “Maragsâ typeface,” was used in almost every publication material during the People’s rally for VP Leni Robredo’s presidency held at Paglaum Sports Complex in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental on Friday, March 11, 2022.
“It feels entirely different when it is used closer to home. As an Ilonggo and a type designer, it is very heart-warming and proud to see Maragsâ being used in the materials of the People’s Rally in Negros Occidental; in a movement this large, hoping for a brighter future for our country,” Maza said.
Licensing for most of his fonts are on pay-what-you-can-basis, which means people who would like to use his typeface creations can chip in any amount to support his work.
“Maragsâ,” can be downloaded for free in Maza’s website—johndavidmaza.gumroad.com—and is also accessible in Canva’s collection of Filipino fonts.