Mortier is a typeface inspired by old hand-painted advertisements on brick walls—many of which still exist as “ghost signs” in cities across the world. This unique style of lettering was influenced by precomputer techniques wherein sign painters would use the brick wall on which they were painting as a reference for laying out their text. These so-called “wall dogs” developed blocky letter forms that conformed to the structure of the brickwork, allowing them to use the bricks and mortar lines as a guide for scale and spacing. The rounded rectangles were more adaptable and easier to draw than complex curves, which made painting tall letters while up in scaffolding more manageable.

This set of two fonts is designed to fill space. The Slim style squishes words in a tight horizontal setting while the Jumbo variant is expansive and will most likely overflow any text box. They work well next to each other and can be used as alternates when mixing glyphs, such as combining ‘Jumbo’ figures with ‘Slim’ currency symbols to create eye-catching price tags.