Colourful masses with a Memphis aesthetic in Mariano Pascual’s illustrated alphabet

As humans we have an innate urge to reinvent, this seems especially true for illustrators who continually reinterpret the world in their own way. Mariano Pascual’s response to the open brief 36 Days of Type perfectly encapsulates this notion as he visualises his own typeface. Set up by Nina Sans and Rafa Goicoechea the ongoing project asks creatives to design or illustrate one letter a day and post it on their Instagram feed. 

Mariano’s work caught our eye through his abstract application of the classic Memphis style. We’ve seen the Memphis aesthetic used before in letterforms, but the Barcelona-based illustrator mixes it up by taking a less geometric approach and uses abstract masses and other ambiguous objects instead. Full of peach and turquoise shades, each letter is made up of speckled textures and smooth surfaces. This alphabet is a peek into Mariano’s other illustration work, where slabs of colour and simply outlined shapes are seemingly connected together to make a whole image.