Cash App recently tapped luxury fashion designer LaQuan Smith to collaborate on a clothing capsule collection.
Perhaps it was only a matter of time before the worlds of mobile payment apps and luxury fashion met. The San Francisco based payment service provider has used its “LaQuan Smith for Cash App” with key letters set in Respira Black, Sharp Type’s homage to the Spanish blackletter. The sans serif is FF Infra by Gabriel Richter.
While it has the striking graphic qualities of its forebears, Respira is notable for its balance. Its restraint gives it a unique texture and feel, and this means it plays well with a variety of possible font combinations because it does not demand the same attention that many others of its kind do. The flashiness and gothic drama of the blackletter are condensed into minimal strokes while still evoking quality: the studious calligrapher’s hand and the materiality of ink to paper.