Placas
Placas is a modified monospaced blackletter font inspired by Los Angeles barrio calligraphy (cholo writing) and the relationship between graffiti and graphic design, endlessly referencing one another. As graffiti uses codes of corporate branding to attain cultural authority, graphic design uses codes of the street to communicate cultural authenticity.
Unlike New York Wild Style writers, who "throw up" their names as big and as widely as possible, cholo/a writers "throw down" 'placas' (Spanish for plaques) wall writings that mark gang territory, presence and pride typically within their own barrio, by one or two writers representing an entire gang. A placa generally includes a street/gang name, a roster of each gang member's nickname, and the name(s) of the writer(s,) credited as "el/la (+ nickname)". Placas mix Spanish and English orthographies, Aztec and Roman numerals and symbols drawn from various sources (diamonds, down pointing arrows, skulls, the number 13, LA Dodgers logo, etc.)
Placas' lettering styles Block, Point and Loop are different ways of rendering gothic glyphs in virtually one continuous stroke.