Born in the 70s Personal influences are unavoidable in type design and usually find their way through into finished fonts. At Fontsmith, one period in particular provides inspiration, according to FS Pimlico designer, Fernando Mello. “Jason and Phil have always known that I’m very into the visual language of the 70s. I know that Jason shares my love of the 70s and Phil will sometimes admit to being a fan, too. I think that’s the reason they were both so supportive in the development of this font. “And, of course, we all share an interest in good-humoured and intelligent design. We like to think it’s a Fontsmith characteristic.” Back from black FS Pimlico started in an unusual place: with a tubby, penguin-like lowercase “a” that Fernando Mello had been sketching. From “a” grew the rest of the alphabet – a bubbly, fat, friendly family with a brush-written quality that became FS Pimlico Black. The black weight certainly isn’t the normal starting point for creating a regular and bold weight, but Fernando pressed on, driven by a glut of influences: brush-writing; Letraset and early digital systems catalogues; the type of Herb Lubalin and Tony di Spigna; 70s clothes and vinyl; and 70s revival disco nights in London’s Pimlico and Vauxhall. Natural or flourished Not often do fonts come along that seem to span the ages. FS Pimlico is at home in an office environment providing a fresh clear identity in communications or providing text that’s clear and easy to read. But it likes to party, too, 70s style. With the OpenType features switched on, a designer can totally change the look of their work, and create point-of-sale, headlines and titles that stand out and get noticed.

Introducing Expressway, a sleek sans-serif typeface that draws inspiration from the iconic FHWA Series of Standard Alphabets, also known as Highway Gothic. As the most widely-used typeface on road signs in numerous countries since the mid-twentieth century, Expressway’s freeway-themed aesthetic exudes both technicality and industrial charm. With 28 unique styles to choose from, including seven weights, two widths, and italics, Expressway’s practical design perfectly captures the original road sign feel. This family also offers both lowercase (old-style) numerals and monospaced (tabular) numerals, as well as currency, mathematical, and fraction symbols, all of which are monospaced, making it a breeze to create price lists and other tabular numeric data. Whether you’re a designer, engineer, or simply a lover of all things technical, Expressway’s warm and inviting style is sure to stand the test of time. So why not hit the road with Expressway and take your designs to the next level? Most Latin-based European, Vietnamese, Greek, and most Cyrillic-based writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Buryat, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dungan, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Gikuyu, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaingang, Khalkha, Kalmyk, Kanuri, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kazakh, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Komi-Permyak, Kurdish, Kurdish (Latin), Kyrgyz, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Macedonian, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Nahuatl, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Russian, Rusyn, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tajik, Tatar, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Uzbek (Latin), Venda, Venetian, Vepsian, Vietnamese, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xavante, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec, Zarma, Zazaki, Zulu and Zuni.

Morris Fuller Benton, the principal designer of the American Type Founders, designed Mariage in 1901. Mariage, which has been sold under a plethora of different names during the last century, is a blackletter typeface belonging to the Old English category. The term blackletter refers to typefaces that stem out of the historical printing traditions of northern Europe. These letters, called gebrochene Schriften, or "broken type" in German, are normally elaborately bent and distorted. Their forms often print large amounts of ink upon the page, creating text that leaves a heavy, black impression. The Old English style is a subset of blackletter type that dates back to 1498, when Wynken de Worde introduced textura style printing to England. Continental printers had been printing with textura style letters since Gutenberg's invention of the printing press fifty years earlier. Italian printers stopped using them around 1470. For northern Europeans, texturas remained the most popular form of typeface design until the invention of the fraktur style in Nuremberg. Mariage is heavily classicized sort of Old English type. During the Victorian era, designers admired the Middle Ages for its chivalric, community-based values and its pre-industrial lifestyle. Yet they also found the basic medieval textura letterform too difficult to read by present standards. They desired to modernize this old style. Today, this sort of update is often referred to not as "modernization" but as classicism. Benton's design for ATF builds upon earlier Victorian classicist interpretations of Old English/textura letters. For an example of what these Victorian designs looked like, check out the popular 1990 revival of the genre, Old English . Old English style types often appear drastically different from other blackletters. For contrast, compare Mariage to a classical German fraktur design, Fette Fraktur , a schwabacher style face, or the popular early 20th Century calligraphic gothic from Linotype, Wilhelm Klingspor Gotisch . Especially in the United States, classicist Old English typefaces are thought to espouse tradition and journalistic integrity. These features, together with the inherent, complex beauty of Mariage's forms, make this typeface a perfect choice for certificates, awards, and newsletter mastheads.

Another Grotesk is a contemporary typeface that was inspired by the early grotesques. Upon closer inspection you will notice the terminals of some of the characters are slightly turned inwards, this detail gives Another Grotesk its distinctive and friendly personality. Another Grotesk is functional and has been crafted with a great attention to detail. It is available in 9 weights and two optical sizes with matching italics which adds up to 36 styles. Another Grotesk Text family has been carefully redesigned some of the details were removed and simplified, x-height increased, and ink traps added, but preserved the overall look and feel of the display version, to ensure a greater legibility and clarity in running text. The extensive language support allows type setting in more than 200 languages across Latin, Cyrillic and Greek scripts. Another Grotesk also includes small caps and punctuation, tabular and old-style figures, as well as case sensitive feature and offers stylistic alternates for K, a, g, and y to fulfil any creative need of a designer.

A typeface of grace, power and exceptional versatility, the Slate collection is a truly beautiful design that achieves stellar levels of readability, both in print and on screen. Created by the award winning type designer Rod McDonald, this six-weight sans serif family is a rare example of sublime aesthetics meeting world-class functionality. The typeface’s legible letterforms embody an amalgam of the best traits of both humanistic and grotesque letterforms. “I didn’t want a face with an ‘engineered’ look, or with any noticeable design gimmicks or devices,” admits designer McDonald. “I wanted a pure design. I confess that I was ruthless with any character that wanted to stand out from the rest.” The Slate collection is available in six weights with complementary italics, with slight changes in structure from the light to the black weights. Its light weight is reminiscent of early American sans. Whether for use in display work or in longer-form settings, few typefaces possess the beauty and power of this design, leaving the Slate family an excellent addition to any designer’s typographic quiver.

ITC Merss proves that sometimes accidents work out just fine. Late one evening Eduardo Manso, an Argentinean graphic and type designer, spilled coffee on his desk. When he began to wipe up the mess, he noticed that one of the splashes looked like a roman letter 'l' - complete with serifs. This triggered his imagination. “What if a complete alphabet was created with this same irregular flow to the character designs?” ITC Merss was the result of Manso's experiments with “fluid” letter shapes. The oddly handsome design looks aged and spontaneous at the same time. Its irregular texture is striking-the result of careful modeling of character shapes. While Manso wanted to maintain the free-form character of spilled liquid, he also knew the individual letters had to work together with an underlying harmony. When not experimenting with typefaces - or spilled coffee - Manso creates award-winning graphic and publication designs. A contributor to the design magazine el Huevo (the Egg), he also writes articles on type and typography and is part of the publication's design team.

Introducing "Anger Style": Unleash the Power of Emotion Are you ready to harness the raw energy of emotions and bring them to life in your designs? Look no further than "Anger Style," an electrifying and dynamic font that will leave a lasting impact on your audience. Designed by our team of expert font designers, "Anger Style" is a captivating blend of intensity, power, and expressiveness. Possible Design Uses: "Anger Style" is a font that excels in making a bold statement. Its commanding presence and fiery nature make it perfect for various design applications, including: Headlines and Titles: Grab your audience's attention and make a lasting impression with powerful headlines that demand to be noticed. Logos and Branding: Infuse your brand identity with passion and intensity, creating a memorable and distinct visual presence. Posters and Flyers: Advertise events, concerts, or special promotions with eye-catching designs that embody rebelliousness and energy. Book Covers: Create striking covers that captivate readers and convey the emotional depth of your story or message. Apparel and Merchandise: Add an edgy touch to your clothing designs, making a statement that resonates with your target audience. Unique Qualities: What sets "Anger Style" apart from other fonts is its ability to evoke a wide range of emotions, not just anger. It transcends its name, allowing you to express passion, determination, and rebellion through your designs. Its versatility lies in its bold strokes and sharp edges, which convey a sense of intensity and power. By choosing "Anger Style," you gain access to a font that embodies the very essence of raw human emotion. Font Pairing: "Anger Style" pairs exceptionally well with other fonts that complement its intensity and create harmonious combinations. Consider combining it with: "Bold Sans Serifs": The clean lines and strong presence of a bold sans serif font can enhance the impact of "Anger Style," creating a balanced and eye-catching composition. "Elegant Script Fonts": To add a touch of contrast and sophistication, pairing "Anger Style" with an elegant script font can create a visually engaging and dynamic design. Functional Aspects: "Anger Style" offers a range of functional aspects designed to enhance your creative possibilities: Styles: "Anger Style" is available in bold and regular styles, allowing you to emphasize different levels of intensity within your designs. Character Sets: The font includes an extensive character set, covering uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and special characters. This ensures versatility and legibility across various design projects. Special Features: "Anger Style" includes stylistic alternates and ligatures, providing you with additional design options and allowing you to create a truly customized and unique look.

A creative context 2003. Fontsmith was sharing a small, cold, whitewashed studio space in Northburgh Street, Clerkenwell. But things were on the up following prestigious custom type commissions for The Post Office and E4. “Slab serifs were on the brink of another revival, we could feel it,” says Jason Smith. “All we wanted to do was have a play with these slabs, go as far as we could within what was acceptable and readable.” “It wasn’t initially clear what was happening,” recalls Phil Garnham. “We were becoming very influenced by our surroundings, outside the studio space. We absorbed the essence and the designer grime of where we were.” Process Jason began by drawing stems on-screen. “The key aspect of the font is the upward bend of the leading shoulder serif, the way it kind of ramps up and then plummets back down the stem. “The regular and light characters are quite narrow – great for text but the bold is quite wide and chunky – better for headlines. I think ‘y’ is quite different for a slab design. We call it the Fontsmith ‘y’.” Promotion Fontsmith were determined to get FS Clerkenwell noticed. To launch the font, Ian Whalley, a designer friend of Fontsmith, captured words heard on the streets of Clerkenwell, set them in the new font and crafted a small book of typographic conversations. It was a first for Fontsmith. “I think that’s part of why this font has been so successful,” says Phil. “It really does embody the spirit of the area, as a special place for design, arts and crafts. And designers love that.” Contemporary twist FS Clerkenwell, based on influences in and around this part of London with a rich tradition of printing and design, mixes tradition with creation. Old-fashioned values meet new-school trends. Its quirky, contemporary character lends an edge to headlines, logotypes and any large-size text.

Based on a specimen of an obscure and uncredited old face called Kitterland, Hamlet is one of those curiosities hardly ever noticed in the world of modern fonts, the kind that infuses a variety of historic Blackletter and calligraphy traits in an otherwise Roman alphabet. Such typefaces, what few of them exist, are almost always classified by typophiles as traditional decorative Roman alphabets. We beg to differ. We think such hybrids are fascinating enough to deserve a classification of their own. And we think today's aspiring letterers and type designers would benefit from paying special attention to this kind of hybrid alphabet, not only because it has much more hand than machine in it, but also because it is a prime example of how to succeed in mixing different lettering techniques into one self-contained and distinctly functional alphabet. As in any efficient mixture of lettering methods, Hamlet ended up with characters that are uniquely its own, such as the cupped A, M, V, W and Y, the very luscious and inviting curves on the arms of E, F, L and T, both single- and double-story forms of the a, and the humblest, friendliest g and y ever. A dozen alternate characters are sprinkled throughout the character set, so check out the map for a few pleasant surprises. We also made the Handtooled and Headstone styles because we thought these friendly forms were just crying out for such treatments. The Handtooled version turned out quite lovely, if we may say so ourselves, perhaps even better than the main font. The Headstone version is available as a free bonus to those who purchase the complete Hamlet package. All Hamlet styles come with lining figures as well as old style ones. Hamlet comes in all popular font formats. The OpenType fonts contain push-button swapping alternates and figures, which come in handy in software programs that support this kind of thing.