The inspiration for Aria was the epigraph on a frame of a nineteenth century painting. The high contrast, and overall quirkiness of the capitals, especially the R’s tail and the M’s oblique stems, were the main triggers. Attempting to capture the Romanticism of the original letters, the result was a lyric display typeface. The approach allowed for some exuberance on the regular style, but also led to more calligraphic letterforms in the italic.