The Story Behind Grimshaw Display Font

By Jeff Yerkey | In the early days of the Covid 19 pandemic, I was thinking a lot about design influences. My son had just given me a book on psychedelic poster designs of the 1960s— the Summer of Love, Haight Ashbury, the Fillmore, and more.

Growing up in Detroit, I recalled seeing the artwork of Gary Grimshaw, one of the top rock ‘n roll poster artists. His otherworldly images and swirling calligraphy seemed to capture the endless free-spirited nature of the times.

Landing on Gary’s “Detroit Rock & Roll Revival” poster at right, I could see he was going somewhere with his calligraphy; and I was off to the races!

I wanted to capture the freedom of his signature curves— the casual forms combined with the razorsharp points of his terminals and apexes.

The result is GRIMSHAW DISPLAY, designed to carry a dose of 1960s psychedelia with the flexibility of modern-day fonts.

Font designed by Jeff Yerkey. Created with permission from The Gary Grimshaw Legacy Foundation.