Ice Cold started with a familiar visual. The kind you see outside gas stations and convenience stores all the time. Those classic ice lockers with bold lettering and hand-drawn snow caps.
When I went looking for that exact style, I was surprised to find it didn’t really exist as a usable font. There were plenty of “snow” typefaces out there, but none captured that specific, iconic look. After digging a bit deeper, I realized others were searching for the same thing. That made me think there might be a real gap worth filling.
The lettering used on those classic Leer ice machines is essentially a modified Helvetica. It feels rounded and approachable, paired with hand-drawn snow caps and a simple drop shadow. To recreate that feel, I built my own foundation. A custom Helvetica-inspired typeface I called Howl-vetica.
From there, I carefully recreated the core letterforms, starting with “I”, “C”, and “E”, then illustrated unique snow caps for every character by hand. Rather than perfectly replicating every detail, I focused on capturing the spirit of the original while creating something cohesive and flexible as a full type system.
After the initial release was well received, I expanded the font to include a full lowercase set, French accented characters, and additional symbols. This made Ice Cold more versatile for real-world use across different languages and applications.
To explore the flexibility of Ice Cold, I applied it to a series of well-known logos built on Helvetica. It started as a simple exercise and quickly became a fun way to show how many iconic brands rely on this classic typeface.
By adding hand-drawn snow caps to familiar wordmarks and symbols, each logo takes on a new personality while still feeling recognizable. From subtle details on letterforms to snow resting on iconic shapes, the goal was to push the idea beyond type and into full brand expression.
Seeing similar “ice” styles pop up in movies, commercials, and merchandise reinforced how recognizable this look is. This series became a way to show how Ice Cold can adapt and bring character to almost any brand.
In 2025, Ice Cold unexpectedly showed up in New York City politics. Zohran Mamdani’s campaign used the font on large-scale signage at a public event, bringing the classic “ice” aesthetic into a completely new context.
It was a bit of a surreal moment. I rarely get to see how people use the fonts I create, so spotting it in the wild, especially at that scale, was a surprise. The same style also appeared on merchandise from a support site, including can coolers that I ended up ordering for myself.
As someone who really appreciated the overall branding of the Mamdani campaign, it was exciting to see Ice Cold find its way into that world, even if it likely came from outside the core design team.
Ice Cold has quickly become the most popular font I’ve created to date. While it’s inspired by a familiar and widely recognized style, building it from scratch reinforced my passion for type design and the process behind it.
At its core, this font is about giving people something fun, expressive, and easy to use. Whether it’s applied to a full brand, a piece of merchandise, or just typing out your name to see it covered in snow, Ice Cold is meant to be enjoyed and used in your own way.