I came across French type designer and art director Daytona Mess‚ (Anne-Dauphine Borione) work on Instagram. There are a lot of typeface studios and typography designers I see regularly, but her work felt very original and energetic to me. I tried DMing Ando and asked if she would like to create a DJ mix from her favorite music. She loved the idea and after a few days sent us a mix, that was “basically all my most played pop songs, ending with my fav song :)” I added a couple of questions, and suddenly this mix and interview were created. You can tune into the mix below and read more about the creative process and inspiration from music and video games like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077.
∎) Well first of all, can you transfer this musical energy of your favorite songs into visual art? Are you thinking about the intersection of music and visual art like drawing, painting, design, and typography of course?
I think this idea of transferring musical energy into visuals is one of the key aspects of why I love type so much: it’s not just visuals. It’s layer upon layer of meaning. You have the lyrics, the meaning of them, and you have the typeface composing the lyrics. Different typefaces can give profoundly different meanings to the same lyrics, and my interest lies in drawing typefaces that translate my own understanding of the lyrics, or feel of the music in the case of instrumentals. I have a Fine Arts background, and it is impossible for me not to think about the intersection of every kind of design and art. For me, it’s all tied. It all feeds into each other. It just happens that to me, type is the ultimate art and design form, because of this layering I just mentioned. Type is the aspect that brings everything together.
∎) You’ve mentioned in your bio, that you like video games, especially Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3. Have you worked with some game studios? What inspires you about video games?
Absolutely, I so very much do. Not yet! The key word = yet! It would be my absolute dream to have a typeface featured in a video game. I am extremely impressed by the use of Quadraat in Baldur’s Gate 3 for instance, and having my fonts be used in this kind of setting is the ultimate goal for me. Perhaps even more than having a font used in a musical context. I love the idea that people can build their own stories using one of my fonts because that’s what I love in games. I love how the font, in the context of BG3 for example, becomes like a character. The font, as much as the texts that are composed with it, plays a role in the emotions felt by the player. It shapes the opinion people have of the meaning of a text. I think that’s awesome.
What inspires me about video games, and why I dislike watching movies and shows and much prefer playing, is that you are in control of the story that unfolds. You get to make choices, that have an impact. Even in more linear games, such as The Legend of Zelda’s Wind Waker, also one of my absolute favourite titles, no two playthroughs will be the same. And I love how the typeface and the aesthetic of it are part of the universe built. My sister gifted me Stray for Christmas, for instance, and I was fascinated by the fake language used in it and the aesthetic of it, and how it reinforced the story. I was wondering how another style of typeface for this language would have impacted my feelings playing the game.
∎) I downloaded Cyberpunk 2077 yesterday, so do you have some tips for beginners? 😀
I’m answering these questions wearing my Cyberpunk 2077 hoodie, I LOVE this game haha! I would say: don’t underestimate the power of netrunning. Especially Contagion and Ping combined. I love being able to clear a place without even entering battle mode 🙂 Also, the side quests are massive fun, I prefer them to the main story and encourage you to explore them!
∎) I was browsing your portfolio, and I loved your diploma work „A comme Palaios – Une Étude Paléomythoanthropologique du A“. Especially the part of the photographed objects, that you transferred to drawings that resembled the letter „A“. Is the outside world, and how do you look at objects on a daily basis, an important part of your creative process?
Thank you very much! That is an interesting question, I realize that I actually do not think about this often. To be completely honest, the outside world does not play that much of a role in my creative process. I am more inspired by concepts, ideas, and sounds than visuals. Since I completed this project, I have not revisited the idea of getting inspired by the world around me, except when I did an experimental challenge in July 2024, but I like the idea that the world around me is always present and can always be used as a source of inspiration.
∎) What do you recommend to someone interested in typography, some interesting channels to watch, some fun tutorials, or where to learn the basics?
There is an awesome website put together by Justin Penner that I always recommend: https://typedesignresources.com/
Apart from that, I really encourage everyone interested in typography to… Well, just start. Start experimenting, open Glyphs, read the tutorials (they are incredibly well made), and apply them to your own ideas. I love working from a concept or idea, related to music or games, and translating it as best I can in type form. I have to credit the pixel-type tutorial from Glyphs in particular for a lot of what I have put out since I started. I love thinking like, „If this was a font, what would it be like?“. Working from something as intangible as music especially interests me!
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☛ You can follow Anne-Dauphine Borione on Instagram or Behance ☚
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