Megabase is a display gothic with strong horizontal stress
inspired by the clunkiness of 19th-century gothics like Gothic
Bold and the space-age funkiness of 1970s designs such as
Aldo Novareseâs Sintex and Bob Newmanâs Zipper. Megabase
goes beyond its forebears in emphasizing its horizontality;
while most typefaces strive for an even typographic color,
Megabase embraces its unevenness, allowing topheavy,
bottomheavy, and diagonal forms to stick out like sore thumbs.
The typeface offers several variants of especially disruptive
letters, allowing the designer to calibrate these interruptions.
Megabase is my personal favorite of the Megafonts, even if is not as widely used as Megazoid and Megascope. I am a sucker for horizontal stress (as you might know) and I appreciate its space-age funkiness and the playful up-and-down of its vertical alignments.
Iâve been concerned that Megabaseâs thin stems and high stroke contrast made it too delicate, and therefore too difficult to work with in anything but the largest sizes. Donât get me wrongâŠthis is a display font, and the contrast is kinda the whole point. But Iâve found myself wishing that I hadnât strayed quite so far from its chunky ancestors like Gothic Bold and Sintex.