Polly
Polly is a typeface inspired by Polly Jean Harvey, or PJ Harvey, and the lyric inserts in her records. Will discovered her music in his formative years and it stuck with him until now, so he wanted to make a typeface inspired by her. Polly is a semicondensed broad nib contrast typeface that is sharp, confident, and versatile, just like PJ Harvey.
Will found this interview from Q Magazine in 1994 with PJ Harvey, Bjork, and Tori Amos. Will designed an interview record that includes the transcript on an insert in the record jacket to show Polly in use.
Polly Regular
Polly Bold
Polly Regular italic
Polly Bold Italic
Bold Italic Alternates
These illustrations show how the path of the broad nib pen influenced the shapes in the typeface. The inner corners are created by the overlap of the pen, and the distinctive dot accent is created by the pen moving at a 45° angle.
Some early sketches of Polly compared to the final vector result.
Language support is an important feature of Polly—With the intended use case of setting music-related texts, we know that artists and lyrics come in many languages. There can always be more language support, so this is an ongoing project.
