Oatmeal's very first iteration as a concept was derived from a simple logo I did in which I combined the letters C and E to make a wiggly jellyfish. While the logo was eventually trashed, I became interested in how movement could be conveyed through the shape of the letterforms. After much work and reworking came Meba, the typeface inspired by the often-overlooked amoeba (clever, huh?).
Using a square grid, Meba was a simple, blocky, monospace font. However, my grid was too strict and the lightest weight of Meba lacked a sense of movement and cohesiveness, and I was overall unsatisfied. Some letters were too quirky, and others too plain. I went back to the drawing board to try to find some balance.
After more fiddling and refining I decided that there is, in fact, some balance in contrast. So I embraced the quirky and bland aspects that inherently exist in some letters and completely rebuilt Meba to create Oatmeal. More narrow and distinct, Oatmeal strives to take full advantage of variable font technology and allow its user to find the point of “just right.” This image highlights the more finalized iterations Oatmeal went through before getting to the version showcased above.
