Q: Analyze a typeface designed by this typographer

Tshuma’s WIP Typeface, published on Behance in 2018, was inspired by Picasso’s 1911 cubist painting The Accordionist.

Each character was reconstructed from geometric fragments drawn from the painting, forming a highly abstract but legible font.

Cubist Forms Reimagined in Typography

Unlike Colonial Bastard Rhodes, which is anchored in historical critique, WIP functions as an artistic reinterpretation of modernist visual forms through an African lens. Tshuma applies techniques of fragmentation and distortion to create typographic compositions that mimic cubist layering.

This typeface has been used in experimental posters and exhibitions tied to art education, highlighting Tshuma’s range in drawing from European art movements and reimagining them with African design sensibilities.