ITC Teethreedee
ITC Teethreedee turns old style letter shapes into edgy, rough-and-ready typographic statements. As drawn by Tomi Haaparanta, Teethreedee exudes a kind of Bruce Springsteen appeal: square-jawed, strong-armed, soft-spoken. You can be sure that headlines set in Teethreedee will be noticed and respected.
Teethreedee was developed as a “chromatic” typeface. These multicolored typefaces were created by carefully overprinting two or sometimes three versions of each letter in different colors to produce a dramatic appearance. Although wonderfully usable as individual fonts, the various weights of Teethreedee can also be combined in this way. To achieve chromatic copy, the text is duplicated and set in both “Back” and “Front” variants, in contrasting colors. The two versions are then set on top of one other in a layout application, resulting in eye-catching, multicolor type.
A native of Finland, Haaparanta studied graphic design at the University of Industrial Arts in Helsinki, and later at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. There, a course taught by calligrapher and type designer Phil Baines prompted Haaparanta’s enduring love for letters.
After completing his studies Haaparanta found jobs with a number of advertising and design companies, but lettering and type design crept into his work every time. Unable to resist his fate any longer, Haaparanta started his own foundry. ITC Teethredee is the second typeface ITC has licensed from Haaparanta (the first was ITC Tyke).
ITC Teethreedee is available in three solid weights of Front, Back and Back Bold, and two outline versions of Teethreedee and Teethreedee Bold.