Since its release in 2008, Grafito, designed by Kote Soto and Felipe Cáceres, has been the most popular typeface family for handwriting education in Chile, used by nearly all publishing houses that bid for government contracts or publish educational resources privately.
Sample pages of Alfadeca books from Fundación Sara Raier de Rassmuss.
Grafito was created on the heels of tcl Lila, designed by Soto and Tono Rojas for publishing company Editorial Marenostrum in 2004, and tcl Cotona, designed by Soto and Joaquin Contrera for publishing company SM in 2006. tcl Lila was the result of Editorial Marenostrum commissioning Soto and Rojas to create a novel typeface that would be used in a new schoolbook that they were presenting in a public bid to the Ministry of Education. The designers worked with teachers hired by the company, and learnt that the Ministry of Education provides no specifications about the letter shapes or calligraphic style that should be taught to children.
Grafito features fully-joined lowercase letters with no slant, and simplified cursive uppercase letters. It has optimised horizontal proportions, making it more economical than its predecessors. It is recognisable by its narrow “e”, very tall “t”, and a generous loop in lowercase “o”.
