— Mock2 register · Type specimens —

The four faces Mock2 hires.

Mock2 marries three element-banks: graphic-novel grammar from Direction-A, the Simplicity-pattern-book vintage aesthetic Lindsey identified at the 2026-05-01 meeting, and the Austin-vintage anchor (Cavender's-boots stitching, not 50s-burger neon). The marriage needs four typefaces to do its work — each chosen for a specific job, none asked to do somebody else's. Specimens below are shown in real Hook & Eye copy at the sizes they actually appear, paired with the case for hiring them. Two anti-recommendations follow as register anchors.

The Lindsey note

"Body font in Mock1 is too chunky / cartoonish — wants smaller humanistic sans-serif." 2026-05-01 meeting feedback. Mock1 ran Inter at 17px; Mock2 swaps in Source Sans 3 at 16px.

The marriage

Display does the comic-book hand-lettered work. Body does the humanistic plainspoken work. Typewriter does the comic-narration / vintage-pattern-book scaffolding. Handwritten does the Simplicity-card "marker" captions. Four faces, four jobs.

Specimen rule

Every face shown in real H&E content (taglines, navigation labels, portfolio captions) at the sizes they actually appear. No lorem-ipsum, no abstract weight chart.

Reserve fallback

Per Guardian directive: if training-data-impression rendering of Simplicity-pattern-book aesthetic proves visually insufficient, fall back to reference-research of specific Simplicity pattern cards. Default posture: impression-only.

Source Sans 3

Body face Humanistic sans-serif · Adobe / Open-Source
Replaces Mock1's Inter

At the sizes Mock2 uses

11 / nav · metaHOME · WORK · SERVICES · PROCESS · WHO WE ARE

13 / captionMedium-zoom of the full silhouette — the cut and proportion readable.

16 / bodyHook and Eye Company builds and alters garments for theater, film, commercial commissions, and the person who walked in with a first-wedding hem.

19 / ledeIf your grandmother taught you what a good seam looks like — you are in the right place.

Why this face

Source Sans 3 is a humanistic sans designed for readability at long body lengths. Its open apertures and slightly narrower proportions read calmer than Inter at the same point size; the descenders are gentler; the lowercase a is single-story but un-aggressive.

For Mock2 it does the plainspoken work — pitch paragraphs, captions, navigation labels, footer fine-print. The typography stays out of the way of the prose.

Calm where Inter felt loud.

It also pairs cleanly with the comic-book Bangers display: it doesn't compete with the hand-lettered display, which means the display can shout without the body shouting back.

— Rendered in real H&E content —

Pitch paragraph · homepage

We work with our hands. We take pride in what we hand you back.

Detail caption · portfolio

Two of the team working different sections. Black-and-white per design slate (behind-the-scenes treatment).

Spec sheet value · pattern-card

Two — masquerade/jester coat (A); companion piece (B)

Bangers

Display face Comic-book hand-lettered caps
Retained from Mock1 (Direction-A)

At the sizes Mock2 uses

22 / pattern-card spineBODICE · THE GLOBE

32 / detail-page spineMASQUERADE · TWO COSTUMES

44 / section headWHERE YOU'VE SEEN OUR WORK

64 / hero (mobile)WE BUILD COOL SHIT.

88 / hero (desktop)WE BUILD COOL SHIT.

Why this face

Bangers is the hand-lettered comic-book grammar of Mock2 made literal. Heavy vertical strokes, exaggerated terminals, slight wobble — the typeface that doesn't pretend to be neutral.

It carries the verbatim phrases that earn the brand its voice: We build cool shit. · Custom costumes. Alterations. Actual craft. · the №-stamp pattern-card spines.

Loud is the job.

Bangers is direct from Mock1 / Direction-A; preserved unchanged in Mock2 because the comic-book grammar is exactly what Lindsey ratified at the meeting. Always uppercase, always with a hand-drawn shadow when it's at hero size.

— Rendered in real H&E content —

Hero tagline · homepage

WE BUILD COOL SHIT.

Pitch headline · homepage

CUSTOM COSTUMES. ALTERATIONS. ACTUAL CRAFT.

Pattern-card spine · portfolio

PATCH JACKET · INDIE FILM

Special Elite

Typewriter face Vintage typewriter / comic narration
Retained from Mock1; carries vintage-pattern-book load

At the sizes Mock2 uses

9 / mini-spine labelFINISHED · A · DETAIL · BUILD · B&W

11 / year-tabACT II · 2024

13 / social-proof label· WE'VE BUILT FOR ·

15 / narration bar▸ MEANWHILE, IN A SMALL SHOP OFF EAST CESAR CHAVEZ...

Why this face

Special Elite carries two registers at once: the comic-book caption-box / narration-strip role (typewriter copy across the bottom of a panel), and the Simplicity-pattern-book vintage typesetting role (pattern envelopes used typewriter-set instructions).

It does the small-caps work — year tabs, mini-spine labels, social-proof labels, narration strips. Always uppercase, always letter-spaced wide enough to read at small sizes.

Two jobs, one face.

Retained from Mock1 because it already does both jobs perfectly; nothing in the marriage requires a swap.

— Rendered in real H&E content —

Narration bar · between hero and pitch

▸ Meanwhile, in a small shop off East Cesar Chavez, a needle threads a hem that will travel to London on opening night.

Year-tab · pattern-card

Act III · 2025

Mockup banner · preview chrome

Gated preview · Mockup 2 · Session 02

Caveat

Hand-lettered face Casual handwritten / marker
NEW in Mock2 (Simplicity-pattern-book carry)

At the sizes Mock2 uses

17 / specsheet sub— what's in the envelope

18 / mini-card hand-captionFinished, on the dressform.

22 / pull-quoteCalm where Inter felt loud.

26 / gallery sub-header— the second of the two

Why this face

Caveat is the Simplicity-pattern-book "marker" element of Mock2 made specific. On vintage sewing-pattern envelopes, hand-lettered annotations sit alongside typeset specs — "Junior Petite!" written in marker over a typewriter-set fabric requirement table. Caveat does the marker job.

In Mock2 it appears at the moments where a human voice should feel like it's speaking through the page: pattern-card hand-captions, gallery sub-headers, pull-quotes, the "what's in the envelope" specsheet subtitle.

A note in the margin, in someone's actual handwriting.

It's sparingly used — never long copy, never small captions. The face stops working at body size; it works at annotation size.

— Rendered in real H&E content —

Spec-sheet subtitle · detail page

— what's in the envelope

Pattern-card hand-caption · homepage

Distressed leather. Custom embroidered back patch.

Gallery sub-header · detail page

— in the shop, on the form

Inter

Anti-recommendation Was Mock1 body · Mock2 swaps it out
Per Lindsey 2026-05-01: "too chunky / cartoonish"

What Mock1 ran (and why we stopped)

13 / Mock1 captionMedium-zoom of the full silhouette — the cut and proportion readable.

17 / Mock1 bodyHook and Eye Company builds and alters garments for theater, film, commercial commissions.

19 / Mock1 ledeIf your grandmother taught you what a good seam looks like — you are in the right place.

Why we moved away

Inter is a competent humanistic sans, well-engineered for screen. At small sizes it sets cleanly. At 17px+ it carries more weight than the body needs to carry — the ascenders and descenders pack the line tight; the lowercase forms take more space than they earn.

Lindsey's reading at the 2026-05-01 meeting: "too chunky / cartoonish." She's right. Paired with Bangers (which is supposed to be the loud one), Inter doesn't yield enough — both faces are competing.

Two loud faces is one too many.

Source Sans 3 is the swap because it's calmer at the same point size, with similar humanistic openness. Same family of decisions; different volume.

All-Hand Body

Anti-recommendation A path Mock2 considered and rejected
Caveat scaled down to body size

What it would look like

16 / "body" — but it isn'tHook and Eye Company builds and alters garments for theater, film, commercial commissions, and the person who walked in with a first-wedding hem. We work with our hands. We take pride in what we hand you back.

13 / "caption" — but legible?Medium-zoom of the full silhouette — the cut and proportion readable.

Why we didn't

The temptation: "Simplicity-pattern-book" reads as marker hand-lettering everywhere. Why not just commit?

The reason: handwritten faces stop scanning at body length. Long paragraphs of Caveat are pleasant for thirty words and exhausting for three hundred. WCAG contrast is also harder to hold at body sizes in handwritten faces — the strokes thin in the wrong places.

Marker for a margin note. Not marker for a page of copy.

The Simplicity-card aesthetic on the actual envelopes uses marker sparingly — labels, annotations, "Junior Petite!" — over a base of typewriter-set or sans-serif body. Mock2 follows the same discipline.