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This curvy cat font inspired by cat tails was created for a zine about cats

This curvy cat font inspired by cat tails was created for a zine about cats

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A missed opportunity not calling it ‘Times Mew Roman,’ if you ask me

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Companies often like to create custom fonts to establish branding, and cat food subscription service Smalls is no different. Following in the footsteps of companies like Netflix, Samsung — heck, even Arby’s — Smalls has partnered with Oslo-based type foundry Good Type to create a font called Adieu Smalls.

The curvy font builds on Good Type’s Adieu as a base, but it takes inspiration from the way cats curl their tails to express emotions. “When a cat expresses interest, they form a slight hook at the tip of their tail. We applied this in the form of hooked tips to the ‘U’ and ‘E’ that break out of the ascender and descender of the characters,” Smalls lead designer Miles Barretto told Fast Company. “When a cat expresses pleasure, the tail quivers. You can see in ‘M’ and ‘O’ there is a similar state of playfulness.”

Image: Smalls

Customers will be able to see Adieu Smalls in action on the company’s website, packaging, and its upcoming zine Small Talk. According to DesignWeek, the zine is meant to be a print accompaniment to the brand’s blog. It’ll feature customers’ cats in photoshoots, and it may be included in some shipments a surprise add-on. As one would expect from a cat food startup, the zine is extremely design-forward, like if all the cats had a membership to The Wing.

There’s already an abundance of cat-inspired fonts out there, most of which play on cats’ liquid-like bodies to create the shapes. But Adieu Smalls aims to elevate the overall aesthetic of the cat font. “Today, cats are too often associated with social memes,” Barretto continues. “There is a deep and rich history of the celebration and reverence of felines in many cultures—take Maneki-neko in Japan or the goddess Bastet in ancient Egypt as but two examples.”

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