Johabu is based on Gebrochene Fraktur, a lighter softer sort of type, compared to the German forms of the same period. Johabu was drawn by Johannes Bureus, around 1620, cut and cast by Peter van Selow in Stockholm. Johannes Bureus, archaeologist and linguist, designed and let Selow cast runes in 1598, and he became the first Swedish keeper, archivist, of the National Record Office State Archives.