To describe what inspired Magneta would be to add a little Dwiggins, throw in some Benton with a hint of Austin, wrap it up in a crisp, contemporary package and serve. The skeleton of the family is a Garalde (like my earlier Epic) but with a desire to produce something much more transitional and contemporary, I sought to simplify, simplify, simplify. Cap and ascenders share the same height, the x-height is slightly larger than expected which should make a functional typeface for editorial, headlines or where more visually complex systems are needed. The modulation is much more intentional than historical and creates some interesting interactions between the various weights. There are both Normal and Condensed widths available with 6 different weights and matching italics, small caps, oldstyle figures, swashes, stylistic and discretionary ligatures (that includes some fun majuscule ligatures in the roman styles), there is no lack of typographic goodness for the designer. To add some spice, a set of Decorative Ornaments have been created that include geometric, floral, curvilinear patterns and much more.

EraMax Radial is a geometric sans serif meant to be set BIG, for big statements. It's the perfect face for signage, packaging posters, branding and so on and on, where a strong voice is needed. It has a modern look that will work in a retro setting. Or, should that be a vintage look that will work in a modern setting. This is the first of what is to be a series to typefaces inspired by the original hand painted signage found in the TH&B train station in Hamilton Ontario. This classic Art Deco, Or, more precisely, Art Moderne building designed by the New York architectural firm of Fellheimer and Wagner and completed in 1933. The original lettering included about 75% of the uppercase letters only, so the balance of the uppercase and the lowercase plus all the other glyphs were extrapolated from the look and feel of the existing uppercase letters. Figures are based on the numerals on the station clock, with adjustments made to harmonised with the letters.

This typeface was inspired by the rough surroundings of a modern city and reflects the contradicting nature of an emerging global youth culture. Ever since its first release—back in late 1999— it is constantly on our ‘most wanted’ list and has been part of numerous product campaigns. Music, mobile telephony, food and beverages, politics, you name it. Coca-Cola used it, José Cuervo used it for about 3 years. The new ‘Pro’ version goes one step ahead. You may now capture the essence of the younger generation in every major European language. PF Fuel has been extended with the full array of Cyrillic characters as well as matching frames for this extra stamped look. Furthermore there more alternate characters than ever. Create a custom look, when same characters sit close, or one next to the other. You may find these useful—alternate characters either in the lowercase positions, or access them through the ‘stylistic alternates’ OpenType Pro feature. If you need some extra fuel, this is where to get it!

To describe what inspired Magneta would be to add a little Dwiggins, throw in some Benton with a hint of Austin, wrap it up in a crisp, contemporary package and serve. The skeleton of the family is a Garalde (like my earlier Epic) but with a desire to produce something much more transitional and contemporary, I sought to simplify, simplify, simplify. Cap and ascenders share the same height, the x-height is slightly larger than expected which should make a functional typeface for editorial, headlines or where more visually complex systems are needed. The modulation is much more intentional than historical and creates some interesting interactions between the various weights. There are both Normal and Condensed widths available with 6 different weights and matching italics, small caps, oldstyle figures, swashes, stylistic and discretionary ligatures (that includes some fun majuscule ligatures in the roman styles), there is no lack of typographic goodness for the designer. To add some spice, a set of Decorative Ornaments have been created that include geometric, floral, curvilinear patterns and much more.

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.

Rooted Rooted in 1960s Brit modernism and infused with a fresh, contemporary spirit, FS Elliot is a future-proof, workhorse sans serif, well-suited to any assignment. Open and harmonious, its clear, fluid shapes lend words a distinctive and optimistic bounce. Britishness FS Elliot came out of a desire to create something squarely in the British modernist tradition, drawing on influences such as Design Research Unit’s portfolio of type for famous British brands and products, and Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir’s work on the British road sign system. Nick Job took the openness and simplicity of that style and injected warmth and wide appeal, coming up with a highly practical, multi-purpose family of faces. Enduring appeal “The great thing about having an eye on the future,” says designer Nick Job, “is that most of it is unknown. It’s what encourages us to take risks. And it leaves an uncertainty which, I believe, gives the best work its enduring appeal.” FS Elliot is available in a Pro version with full language support and a full range of Roman, Cyrillic and Greek weights.

Rialto dF is a book face inspired by calligraphic tradition. Named after the famous bridge in Venice, it was conceived as a bridge between calligraphy and typography, roman and italic. It can also be thought of as an imaginary bridge between Italy and Austria, since it is the result of collaboration started in 1995 between the Austrian Lui Karner and Venetian Giovanni de Faccio. The letterforms of Rialto dF were drawn directly in digital format with a starting point deriving from humanistic letterforms memorized in the hearts, minds and the manual ability of its designers… As tradition demands, uppercase, numerals and punctuation are used in combination with italics – the same solution adopted by Francesco Griffo when he cut his first italic for the Virgil, the first of the octavo series printed and published in Venice by Aldus Manutius in 1501. Rialto dF comes in two optical weights: Piccolo, for up to 14 pt, and Grande for 16pt and above. Alternate characters and various dingbats are also provided and these are available through OpenType features developed by type designer and technician Karsten Luecke.

Acuta is a new all-purpose text serif with a good readability and a contemporary, robust look thanks to its low-medium contrast. The differences between thicks and thins are less strongly marked than in oldstyle text faces; yet the diagonal stress needed to facilitate reading is partly provided by the letter shape itself: sharp angles and italic construction give the right dynamism to the text. Acuta becomes very distinctive as a headline, while its big x-height makes it suitable for texts at rather small sizes too. The family consists of seven weights & correspondent italics, with a large character set. The Book and Medium weights, relatively close to each other, can both be used as “plain” weight depending on the size of the text, background color or backlighting. Small caps, oldstyle and tabular figure alternates, superiors and inferiors and ligatures are available in all styles through OpenType features. The real italics include unobtrusive swash alternates to emphasise the written feeling. Please find a specimen of Acuta (PDF) in the Gallery section.

HD Anomie is a modern geometric sans built in 18 styles with variable support and is brought to you by HyperDeluxe®. Its subtle forms and nuanced curves create a simple structure that could be perceived as mundane, but our goal was to create a typeface that is both mechanical and organic in its forms so it seamlessly fits within the environment it is placed. It's clean, minimal approach gives it a wide array of offline uses such as branding, editorial & print, but its modern design and detailed build makes it perfect for UI & digital applications. The clean visual structure of the letter forms give it great readability at smaller sizes, while also being happy to be shown off at larger sizes. Built to be robust and as versatile as possible we have around 1150 Glyphs per weight including extended Latin & Cyrillic support as well as basic Greek. Anomie also features extras such as 2 arrow sets, circled numbers as well as stylistic alternates and case sensitive forms. Find beauty in the Mundane. Meet HD Anomie.

The Dalecarlian runes, or dalrunes, was a late version of the runic script that was in use in the Swedish province of Dalarna until the 20th century.The province has consequently been called the "last stronghold of the Germanic script. When Carl Linnaeus visited Älvdalen in Dalarna in 1734, he made the following note in his diary: The peasants in the community here, apart from using rune staves, still today write their names and ownership marks with runic letters, as is seen on walls, corner stones, bowls, etc. Which one does not know to be still continued anywhere else in Sweden. The Dalecarlian runes were derived from the medieval runes, but the runic letters were combined with Latin ones, and Latin letters would progressively replace the runes. At the end of the 16th century, the Dalecarlian runic inventory was almost exclusively runic, but during the following centuries more and more individual runes were replaced with Latin characters. In its last stage almost every rune had been replaced with a Latin letter, or with special versions that were influenced by Latin characters.

Guilloches were – in the old days – used to make the falsification of banknotes more difficult. The engraving of these intricate lines was done by a highly specialized mechanical machine, which was operated by an equally highly specialized engraving artist. Once the settings for a specific curve were changed back to zero it was very difficult, if not impossible to set them back to the old design. I have designed a useful set of Guilloches that join to form ribbons that create a kind of op-art 3d effect. Under the keys A-U and a-u you find joining pieces. Under the keys V-Z and v-z I placed start- and endpieces. 0-4 are different lenght straight extensions and 5-9 are not quite so straight extensions. All other keys are corner pieces that can be used as stand-alones or put in rows to make for superb decoration. With a little bit of experimentation and maybe colored overlays you can achieve super-phantastic designs. Your elegant type designer Gert Wiescher.

The typeface Belwe, created in 1926 by German typographer and teacher Georg Belwe, has an uncommon style that is difficult to describe. It is a synthesis of many different genres: it is a slab serif with Art Nouveau style but also with many blackletter influences. The angled serifs on the ascenders and the calligraphic flourishes on the the upper and lowercase V, W, and Ys reference marks made by pens. There are also many other special characters that are unlike any other designs. Have a look at the fun lowercase a, the quirky lowercase f and g, and the unique C, F, L, and R for the uppercase. This design works especially well for display sizes, but is also good for short amounts of text. The mood and image suggested by this typeface is great for menus, invitations, and signs when you want to send a personal and friendly message. It's Art Nouveau roots also give it a place in history for designs from the Victorian period up through the 1920's and 30's

Rooted Rooted in 1960s Brit modernism and infused with a fresh, contemporary spirit, FS Elliot is a future-proof, workhorse sans serif, well-suited to any assignment. Open and harmonious, its clear, fluid shapes lend words a distinctive and optimistic bounce. Britishness FS Elliot came out of a desire to create something squarely in the British modernist tradition, drawing on influences such as Design Research Unit’s portfolio of type for famous British brands and products, and Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir’s work on the British road sign system. Nick Job took the openness and simplicity of that style and injected warmth and wide appeal, coming up with a highly practical, multi-purpose family of faces. Enduring appeal “The great thing about having an eye on the future,” says designer Nick Job, “is that most of it is unknown. It’s what encourages us to take risks. And it leaves an uncertainty which, I believe, gives the best work its enduring appeal.” FS Elliot is available in a Pro version with full language support and a full range of Roman, Cyrillic and Greek weights.

Éric de Berranger likes to multitask, and often works on two typeface families at once. Such was the case with Mosquito, a jaunty sans that was developed at the same time he was creating the more traditional Maxime. Mosquito represented a sort of recreation," says de Berranger. "When I grew tired of working on one design I could work on the other and then come back to the first, full of courage and desire!" Mosquito is built from simple, straightforward shapes, but its distinctive stroke terminals and slight oblique weight stress distinguish the design from more conventional sans serif faces. The relatively large x-height and open counters add to the legibility of the design. The capitals are straightforward (with just a hint of Peignot), while the lowercase has a softer, more inviting demeanor. "I drew Mosquito with the hope that it would be pleasant to look at and to read," says de Berranger. "I think the end result is almost feminine." Mosquito comes in three weights, with complementary italic designs and a suite of small caps, old style figures and alternate characters."

Mayonez is a typeface with rational structure and axis but softened with rounded contours and cupped serifs, getting as result a balance between seriousness and friendliness. The shapes have a soft appearance but without lacking definition. A more fluid structure influenced by calligraphy is proposed for the italic variants, in this case the uppercase letters adopted a simplified semiserif structure that works better with the lowercase letters. Also the figures are very different from the roman version and follow more faithfully the italic style. In an attempt to give Cyrillic lowercase romans a fresh look, symmetrical serifs inherited from the versal tendency are mostly avoided thus getting simpler structures closer to the latin forms. This type is good for commercial and editorial uses like advertising, packaging and pages with showy headlines where a warm touch wants to be given. The character set includes a group of figures and currency symbols with standard height and another suited to match better with lowercase letters. Mayonez was selected to be part of the Communication Arts Typography annual in 2015.

Labyrindo is inspired on the classic Labyrinth. The oldest known labyrinth is 3200 years old and is to be found in Greece. The mythological king Minos held the monstrous son of his wife ‘Minotaurus’ prison in a labyrinth. Much later the labyrinth made his appearance in the medieval churches, this time as a pattern on the church floor. During the Italian renaissance the multiple gate labyrinth came in fashion. Paths led trough green hedges in beautiful palace gardens. These hedges where perfectly cut in rectangular shapes. Mainly meant as an aesthetic statement. Besides the origin of the physic labyrinth, it has always been a great source of story-telling and myths. I mention a few personal favourites (film) like, Pan’s Labyrinth (a journey to the underworld), Labyrinth (with David Bowie) and the Shining with Jack Nicholson (where a horrific scene takes place in a labyrinth). Not the most cheerful stories but fascinating and intriguing. A Labyrinth is mind boggling and mysterious but wonderful. I made graphic translation in this typeface.

A little more flower and a little less power, please. Fun, friendly, fashionable, and feminine to a fault, Jojo takes display typography to a whole new level, where eyes can’t help but appreciate the day and the design at hand. It takes a graphic designer very little imagination to see these letters on posters, book covers, clothes, and craft paraphernalia. Or how about a sign over a bakery? A music sleeve? A romantic comedy titling? Cosmetics products? Pretty much anywhere! Jojo takes its name from a Beatles song about getting back to where we once belonged. It also takes most of its shapes from vintage photo-setting days, when an art nouveau typeface called Spring, by B. Jacquet, was putting happy times back where they belonged, which was everywhere. The original photo-setting face came in just 26 letters and 10 numerals. This digital retooling optimizes the original forms and expands on them, for a full character set of over 430 glyphs, including ligatures and stylistic alternates, and support for the majority of Latin languages.

Inspired by the interior of a now defunct Mosler Safe Company bank vault door located inside of what is now an Irish Pub in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Mosler is a typeface that is impenetrability incarnate. This all uppercase, slab-serif brawny beauty comes in four weights - Safe, Strongbox, Vault, and Fortress, and each one is more powerful than the last. Each weight has 450 glyphs included, making for a whopping 1800 glyphs for the full family, complete with small capitals, total support for nearly 80 different languages, decorative word glyphs, and a handful of select alternates. Ranging from the low contrast of the "Safe" weight to the extreme contrast of the "Fortress" weight, Mosler is effective in a wide array of applications but serves best as a titling, headlining, or display face that need to make a mammoth statement. Features Include: 4 Weights Uppercase Only with Small Capitals Numerals, Punctuation & Symbols 450 Characters per Style Stylistic Alternates and Word Glyphs Supports 75+ Latin Languages OTF files Designed and Developed by Jason Carne

Some years ago, a good friend and typophile, Gonzalo García Barcha, approached me with the idea of designing a typeface for his editorial project Blacamán Ediciones. He had just came across an hitherto unknown manuscript by Luis Lagarto, a colonial illuminator and scribe, working in Mexico City and Puebla in the late 1500s. The manuscript calligraphy was incredible and stunningly original. It featured three different hands by the scribe, intermingled in the text: a kind of baroque «Roman» roundhand; a very ornate, lively «Italic»; and some sort of irregular, playful, even funny «small caps». All imbued with an eccentric, convoluted zest and vivacious rhythm. Lagarto is the final result of translating these extraordinary hands into a digital type family. Since the manuscript had no numerals, math signs and many other characters now in use, part of the fun of the job was to infer them from the stylistic peculiarities of Luis Lagarto's calligraphy. Lagarto received an Award of Excellence at the Type Directors Club of New York annual competition.

The typeface Belwe, created in 1926 by German typographer and teacher Georg Belwe, has an uncommon style that is difficult to describe. It is a synthesis of many different genres: it is a slab serif with Art Nouveau style but also with many blackletter influences. The angled serifs on the ascenders and the calligraphic flourishes on the the upper and lowercase V, W, and Ys reference marks made by pens. There are also many other special characters that are unlike any other designs. Have a look at the fun lowercase a, the quirky lowercase f and g, and the unique C, F, L, and R for the uppercase. This design works especially well for display sizes, but is also good for short amounts of text. The mood and image suggested by this typeface is great for menus, invitations, and signs when you want to send a personal and friendly message. It's Art Nouveau roots also give it a place in history for designs from the Victorian period up through the 1920's and 30's

This typeface appears to be straight out of a science fiction movie thriller. Mingo is a slightly condensed, somewhat vain gothic with thick vertical strokes proudly tapering downward. Capitals which are normally completely round are now square inside with curving outside corners. Lowercase letters carry the same design traits. And, in the capital A and H, crossbars extend on both sides helping give the face a pronounced retro look. Mingo Gothic is a close cousin to Raleigh Gothic and is an excellent choice for book covers and large display settings. Small caps, fractions, and alternate characters have also been developed for greater layout versatility. Mingo Gothic Bold is now available in the OpenType format. Some new characters have been added to this OpenType version as stylistic alternates, historical forms, small caps, oldstyle figures, ornaments, and f-ligatures. These advanced features work in current versions of Adobe Creative Suite InDesign, Creative Suite Illustrator, and Quark XPress. Check for OpenType advanced feature support in other applications as it gradually becomes available with upgrades.

Ragazza Script isn’t just another display typeface. It honors the greatest handwriting skills but in a different way. Although It doesn't represent any traditional calligraphy style, it is still part of that expressive world. With more than 1000 glyphs, and taking advantage of the Opentype features, Ragazza is full of personality. When in use, it gives a feel very close to ornamental Copperplate mixed with some kind of modern 'high-contrast' typeface. Lots of alternates, swashes and initial capitals are the spine of this face, assuring almost infinite combination possibilities. The early forms that would eventually lead to what Ragazza is today, began as a college project –around 2006– in the context of the 'Hyperfuente' exercise developed during Typography 2, chair E. Longinotti, at the University of Buenos Aires. But that seed would never stop growing. Since then a lot of work had been made to take that initial project to a professional quality level. Ragazza Script is perfect for headlines and short phrases. It is the brand new modern script, designed by Guille Vizzari and published by Latinotype.

Magnirum Serif is a serif typeface with a medieval flair. Drawing inspiration from historic Roman typography and medieval design, Magnirum Serif is a timeless creation that exudes beauty and elegance. While its serifs and ornaments echo the intricacies of ancient manuscripts, the typeface is designed for modern legibility and regular usage. It combines the best of both worlds, offering a unique blend of historic charm and contemporary readability. Add symbol # after any letter to place a crown on top of it. Example: Cro#wn Magnirum Serif is built with advanced OpenType functionality and has a guaranteed top-notch quality, containing stylistic and contextual alternates, ligatures, and more features; all to give you full control and customizability. It has extensive lingual support, covering all Latin-based languages, and includes all the characters and symbols you'll ever need. Behind this captivating creation is Mans Greback. Renowned for his skill in marrying historical elements with modern utility, Greback has crafted Magnirum Serif to be a versatile yet nostalgic typeface. His portfolio showcases his ability to bring stories and emotions into the realm of type design.

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.

Chercán is a spirited typeface created with a delicate sense of how readability doesn't need to be dull. Chercán wears a uniquely friendly voice, and its mature design makes it highly legible in small bodies as well as in the distance. Its balanced rhythm is the result of a slow pairing of qualities found in old classics admired by Gálvez, such as Copperplate by Frederic Goudy (1905) and Antique Olive by Roger Excoffon (1962). Chercán occupies a unique place in the contemporary type design shelf, by exquisitely combining versatility and elegance. Due to the delicate grey colors it gains within long texts, Chercán is good for immersive reading, where one wants to avoid readers’ eyes fatigue. It can be a great choice for setting texts that require a slightly informal atmosphere without losing authority. Chercán is the Chilean name for the melodious little bird Troglodytes aedon usually found all across the Americas. Available in Std and Pro versions with all the usual OT features, Chercán addresses all modern needs of the demanding typographer.

Debacle is a super bold contrastive display face built upon pure geometric shapes. Sharp, angular lines are countered against obtuse rounded forms creating a striking visual discord. Select inner corners are rounded, giving characters dual attributes, while linear round-end counters simultaneously contrast and compliment the square-ended punctuation and symbols. Stylistically, Debacle’s prominent letterforms effortlessly create type-as-image text settings. Its style relates to the lush display typefaces from the seventies, yet is highly contemporary in its refinement and finish. Features include: Precision kerning Basic Ligature set including ‘f’ ligatures (ae, oe, fi, fl, ffi, ffl, ff, fh, fj, ft, tt, th, ct, st, la, aj, fa, ls, es, ev, ew, tz, lv, lw, ti, it, ea, kv, ka, ky, yx, xy, yy, km, yw, wy, yv, vy, kw) Alternate characters (O, Q, _, $, ®, •) Slashed zero Full set of numerators/denominators Automatic fraction feature (supports any fraction combination) Extended language support (Latin-1 and Latin Extended-A) *Requires an application with OpenType and/or Unicode support.

An American Scotch remixed in 27 fonts Mencken has twenty seven styles, divided into three widths, three optical sizes, romans and italics. Generally, optical size typeface families belong to a same common construction. It falls into the same category of type classification, while presenting different x-heights or contrasts. Mencken is unique because it is designed according to different axis and optical sizes. Firstly, Mencken Text is a low-contrast transitional typeface, designed on an oblique axis, asserting horizontal with featuring open counters. Its capitals follow Didots to better harmonize the rest of the family. On the other side of the spectrum, Mencken Head (and narrow variations) is designed on a vertical axis, high contrast, in a contemporary Didot style. The Mencken is therefore a typeface answering to different sorts of uses, whose design is different according to its uses: from oblique axis in small size to vertical axis in large sizes. Vertical proportions (x-height, capitals height, etc.) were calibrated to be compatible with many Typofonderie typeface families. Lucie Lacava and I followed the idea launched by Matthew Carter few years ago for some of his typefaces intended for publications. From Baltimore Sun’s project to Typofonderie’s Mencken It is a bespoke typeface for American newspaper The Baltimore Sun started at the end of 2004 which marks the beginning of this project. The story started with a simple email exchange with Lucie Lacava then in charge of redesigning the American East Coast newspaper. As usual, she was looking for new typeface options in order to distinguish the redesign that she had started. At the time of its implementation, a survey of the newspaper’s readers has revealed that its previous typeface, drawn in the mid-1990s, was unsatisfactory. The Mencken was well received, some reader responses was particularly enjoyable: “It’s easier to read with the new type even though the type is designed by a French.” Why it is called Mencken? The name Mencken is a tribute to H. L. Mencken’s journalistic contributions to The Sun. According to the London Daily Mail, Mencken ventured beyond the typewriter into the world of typography. Because he felt Americans did not recognize irony when they read it, he proposed the creation of a special typeface to be called Ironics, with the text slanting in the opposite direction from italic types, to indicate the author’s humour. Affirming his irreverence, the Mencken typeface does not offer these typographic gadgets. Henry Louis Mencken (1880 — 1956) was an American journalist, satirist, cultural critic and scholar of American English. Known as the “Sage of Baltimore”, he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the twentieth century. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians and contemporary movements. Creative Review Type Annual 2006 Tokyo TDC 2018

The island of Fuerteventura is more known for its white sand beaches and windsurf-friendly constant winds than for its typographic marvels. Still, it's on the walls of a ballroom next to its white-sand beaches that Debora Manetti found the hand-painted letterforms that she took as inspiration for her typeface Sala de Fiestas. The resulting font was a condensed sans serif full of curious details and a jumpy latino vibe that many years after still keeps its freshness and vernacular charme. Francesco Canovaro took the original typeface as a starting point for a grand tour into sign-painter aesthetics, developing a reboot of the original into a new type family: Salad. While being faithful to the original proportions and feeling, Salad provides extreme versatility through its five-weights range, its extended charset and its set of Open Type features including stylistic sets, alternates, positional numerals, small capitals and case sensitive forms. While the roman family with its italic counterpart provide a good workhorse tool for informal branding, packaging and editorial projects, the interlocking and the inline weights add additional possibilities for display purposes. This is enriched by the inclusion in the typeface of a set hand-drawn decorative dingbats that further complement the sign painting vibe of the family. All Zetafonts expertise in handmade lettering, typographic design and water sports has been put to test to assure Salad is the best typographical alternative to a a trip to Canary Islands!

The font Speech Bubbles offers a convenient way to integrate text and image. While the font can be used to design comics, it also gives the typographer a tool to make text speak – to give words conversational dynamics and to emphasize visually the sound of the message. The font includes a total of seventy outlines and seventy bubble backgrounds selected from a survey of historic forms. What follows is a discussion of my process researching and developing the font, as well as a few user suggestions. My work on the Speech Bubbles font began with historic research. My first resource was a close friend who is a successful German comic artist. I had previously worked with him to transform his lettering art into an OpenType font. This allowed his publishing house to easily translate cartoons from German to other languages without the need to use another font, like Helvetica rounded. My friend showed me the most exciting, outstanding and graphically appealing speech bubbles from his library. I looked at early strips from Schulz (Peanuts), Bill Waterson (Calvin & Hobes), Hergé (TinTin), Franquin, as well as Walt Disney. The most inspiring was the early Krazy Kat and Ignatz (around 1915) from George Herriman. I also studied 1980’s classics Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen, Frank Miller’s Ronin and Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vandetta. Contemporary work was also a part of my research—like Liniers from Macanudo and work of Ralf König. With this overview in mind I began to work from scratch. I tried to distill the typical essence of each author’s or era’s speech bubbles style into my font. In the end I limited my work down to the seventy strongest images. An important aspect of the design process was examining each artist’s speech bubble outlines. In some cases they are carefully inked, as in most of the 80’s work. In others, such as with Herriman, they are fast drawn with a rough impetus. The form can be dynamic and round (Schultz) with a variable stroke width, or straight inked with no form contrast (Hergé). Since most outlines also carry the character of the tool that they are made with, I chose to separate the outline from the speech bubble fill-in or background. 
This technical decision offers interesting creative possibilities. For example, the font user can apply a slight offset from fill-in to outline, as it is typical to early comic strips, in which there are often print misalignments. Also, rather than work in the classic white background with black outline, one can work with colors. Many tonal outcomes are possible by contrasting the fill-in and outline color. The Speech Bubbles font offers a dynamic and quick way to flavor information while conveying a message. How is something said? Loudly? With a tint of shyness? Does a rather small message take up a lot of space? The font’s extensive survey of historic comic designs in an assembly that is useful for both pure comic purposes or more complex typographic projects. Use Speech Bubbles to give your message the right impact in your poster, ad or composition.

SIAS opens a new chapter in Irish vernacular typography: the Andron-2-Irish font family. The genes of the insular typographic heritage have been blended with the timeless classical style of the versatile Andron series. Whereas most Irish-style fonts available more or less stick to ancient designs, Andron-2-EIR is different: it’s an entirely new design in which Irishness meets the beauty of a matured Venetian Roman text face. Envision a new horizon for setting Irish text in its own visual mode! Now you can utilize Italics, Semibold and Small capitals for Irish just as you have been doing in other languages for a long time. But the icing on the cake is the fifth font: Andron Irish Middlecase honours the rich medieval tradition of Ireland by a special uncial-style glyph set. It corresponds to the Andron MC series. Last but not least the Irish type connoisseur will relish this font package for it’s unique utilization of Opentype functionality. In Opentype-aware applications, by just ticking a box you can switch to the special insular forms of s and r. By ticking another box you can transform the text from modern-day orthography to the traditional spelling with lenited consonants. This built-in intelligence has never been implemented in any Irish font before. Briefly, the Opentype substitution features are: [Ligatures] – default basic f-ligatures; [Descretionary Ligatures] – more ligatures for typographic reason, mainly t- and long-s-combinations; [Style set 1] – turns all lowercase r and s into their insular glyph variants; [Style set 2] – replaces all consonant-h digraphs by dotted consonants (ḃċḋḟġṁṗṡẛṫ, ḂĊḊḞĠṀṖṠṪ), works for lowercase, uppercase and upper-lowercase alike; [Style set 3] – provides another range of additional special ligatures (for Regular and Italic only); [Oldstyle figures] – turns the default lining figures into proportional oldstyle figures. Andron Irish will also perfectly combine with every other Andron product in mixed settings. For an overview please go to the SIAS main page. For a quick reference go to Andron Latin, Andron Greek, Andron English or Andron MC. For more wonderful new Irish fonts look at Hibernica and Ardagh!

The name of this font brings back memories of an old fried chicken restaurant in Willow Springs Illinois circa 1960’s and 1970’s, my family would all get in the car and take a long drive down to an old country road Illionis Rt 171 through a forest preserve where we’d come upon the old Willowbrook motel with a bar and restaurant next door. The restaurant was called Kegal’s, when you entered the building you had to walk through the smoky bar first to get to the restaurant, I can still see the hard wood floors with all the finish worn off from decades of foot traffic. Up until the mid 1960’s Kegal’s used to raise their own chickens behind the restaurant, back then fried chicken in the Midwest was either coated in flour or bread crumbs, Kegal’s was covered in a beautiful layer of golden bread crumbs. Before your meal arrived they’d bring a basket of dinner rolls along with crackers, bread sticks and country butter, on the side they’d serve coleslaw with a vinegar sauce, which is very common in the Midwest, the first time you try it your face puckers up like you just sucked on a lemon but you get used it over time. After waiting for what seemed like forever to a child the waitress comes out of the kitchen with a huge tray of that golden deliciousness and your mouth begins to water, in her other hand was another tray filled to overflowing with crinkle cut french fries all made by hand, I’d eat a hole handful of those french fries first then take a bite of that tender juicy farm raised chicken. Today a fine Italian restaurant occupies the old Kegal’s building and the motel is long gone, only my fond memories remain. Fast forward to 2020 and FontMesa has just made some Fried Chicken as an eight weight type font family with alternates. With the Fried Chicken slab serif font family we’ve broken some rules by removing a few of the slabs on certain letters for a unique homemade look. Fried Chicken is perfect for your next product label, t-shirt design, logo, headline or cookbook cover. Treat yourself to some good ol’ Fried Chicken today.

Varidox, a variable typeface design, allows users to connect with specific design combinations with slightly varied differences in style. These variations in design enable the user to reach a wider scope of audiences. As the name suggests, Varidox is a paradox of sorts--that is, a combination of two disparate forms with two major driving influences. In the case of type design, the conflict lies in the age-old conundrum of artistic expression versus marketplace demand. Should the focus center primarily on functionality for the customer or err on the side of advancing creativity? If both are required, where does the proper balance lie? Viewed as an art, type design selections are often guided by the pulse of the industry, usually emphasizing unique and contemporary shapes. Critics are often leading indicators of where the marketplace will move. Currently, many design mavens have an eye favoring reverse stress. However, these forms have largely failed to penetrate the marketplace, another major driving factor influencing the font world. Clients now (as well as presumably for the foreseeable future) demand the more conservative forms of monoline sans serifs. Typeface designers are left with a predicament. Variable typefaces hand a great deal of creative control to the consumers of type. The demands of type design critics, personal influences of the typeface designer and the demands of the marketplace can all now be inserted into a single font and adjusted to best suit the end user. Varidox tries to blend the extremes of critical feature demands and the bleeding edge of fashionable type with perceptive usability on a scalable spectrum. The consumer of the typeface can choose a number between one and one-thousand. Using a more conservative style would mean staying between zero and five hundred, while gradually moving higher toward one thousand at the high end of the spectrum would produce increasingly contemporary results. Essentially, variable fonts offer the ability to satisfy the needs of the many versus the needs of the few along an axis with a thousand articulations, stabilizing this delicate balance with a single number that represents a specific form between the two masters, a form specifically targeted towards the end user. Practically, a user in some cases may wish to use more conservative slab form of Varidox for a more conservative clientele. Alternatively, the same user may then choose an intermediate instance much closer to the other extreme in order to make a more emphatic statement with a non-traditional form. Parametric type offers a new options for both designers and the end users of type. In the future, type will be able to morph to target the reader, based on factors including demographics, mood or cultural influences. In the future, the ability to adjust parameters will be common. With Varidox, the level of experimentality can be gauged and then entered into the typeface. In the future, machine learning, for example, could determine the mood of an individual, their level of experimentality or their interest and then adjust the typeface to meet these calculated parameters. This ability to customize and tailor the experience exists for both for the designer and the reader. With the advent of new marketing technologies, typefaces could adjust themselves on web pages to target consumers and their desires. A large conglomerate brand could shift and adapt to appeal to a specific target customer. A typeface facing a consumer would be more friendly and approachable, whereas a typeface facing a business to business (B2B) customer would be more businesslike in its appearance. Through both experience, however, the type would still be recognizable as belonging to the conglomerate brand. The font industry has only begun to realize such potential of variable fonts beyond simple visual appearance. As variable font continues to target the user, the technology will continue to reveal new capabilities, which allow identities and layouts to adjust to the ultimate user of type: the reader.

Agatized Formal is a chunky stencil typeface with slightly condensed letterforms and tight spacing. Designed primarily for display use, it’s ideal for posters, logos, advertising, book cover designs or small chunks of text such as pull-out quotes. It exudes authority without taking itself seriously, like a plump jolly uncle in charge of a brass band. Agatized Formal is a big, bold typeface with a charismatic presence that commands attention – in a friendly way, of course. But what really makes this typeface come alive is its arsenal of alternative characters and ligatures. There is a saying: Use sparingly. Whoa! Not here, no, no, no. Make your Glyphs palette earn its money. Flex your OpenType muscles: get stylized, contextualized, indulge in some ligaddiction. This typeface is a peacock that likes to put on a show, spread its plumage and strut around in all its blazing glory. Agatized, according to Wiktionary, means: A living thing converted into the form of agate; fossilized. I felt the name suited the solid, almost rock-like letterforms, but most of all I just wanted a typeface name that began with the letter A. Although Agatized Formal is a single-weight typeface it has a sibling, Agatized Informal, an older, more casual brother, rougher round the edges with craggy good looks and an altogether more jaunty style.

The problem with scripts in general, and brush scripts in particular, is that the majority of them cannot be set in all-caps words or sentences. So as a rule of thumb most designers try to avoid brush scripts when they know they will be entering an all-cap zone. But here comes Bruschetta, so you won’t need to reduce your design options. Bruschetta is a great flowing brush script that can be attractively used in upper-lower, lower-lower, or upper-upper settings. Bruschetta also has so much variety in its design features – original, funny, natural, friendly, legible, and even somewhat psychedelic – it just may be the most versatile brush script ever made. Bruschetta also has an historical value as the revival of the Helmut Matheis’ Contact design from 1963. Why it hasn’t been digitized until this point is beyond us! So we digitized it from original specimen, expanded the character set to completion, and even added a few built-in alternates. Bruschetta’s versatility allows it to be used in a variety of applications. It is great for signage, posters, product labels, menus, book covers, and pretty much anywhere where a friendly bold brush type is needed. Get yourself a copy and show your friends and clients why the overused Choc and Cooper aren’t the last word in cool!

Delirian Script & Ornaments Delirian is elegant script with contemporary mood and perfect forms, inspired by immortal classic calligraphy. Not too thin and not too thick, good balanced and variable, born for luxury and beauty. In my examples I show how this script can be used. It's great for logotypes, branding, wedding invitations, romantic cards, alcohol labels, packaging, spelling of names and others. Delirian Script comes with beautiful Uppercase and Lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation. In addition to the main character set, there are 158 alternates characters, 36 ligatures and 10 lengths of end-swashes. You also get Ornament set of 26 elements which harmoniously complements original script. Multilingual Support Script support Western European characters and works with following languages: English, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Faroese, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish. OpenType Stylistic Alternates works on the principle of simple combinations with activated Standard Ligatures option in OpenType panel (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator). To get alternate just add for example number 2 (two) after any letter. Every Uppercase has 1-2 variations and Lowercase about 3-4 alternate characters. For example: A2 A3 - Uppercase; a2 a3 a4 - Lowercase; a.1 a.2 - Lowercase with underline. _1 _2 _3 - End-swashes Ligatures works with activated Discretionary Ligatures option in OpenType panel. This special features don't work in Microsoft Word.

More than a century ago, Frank H. Atkinson presented this hand lettered style as Broken Poster. It was one of a hundred styles he demonstrated in his manual on sign painting. Even before his book was published (and certainly after), Broken Poster was a favorite with sign painters and letterers. It has graced show cards and movie posters, signs and windows displays, and advertisements of all varieties. We presented the our first digital revival of this classic in 2000. It is long overdue for an upgrade. Broken Gothic expands the basic Broken Poster to four weights, two specialty formats and some cool layed effects. The language base includes Greek, Cyrillic, Latin A, and some of Latin B and Latin Extended. There are also some nice alternates and ligatures. All weights are quite suited to posters, headlines, display copy, web headers, etc. At first glance, Broken Gothic may seem to have limited uses. Give it a chance and it will surprise you. Broken shouts out that there is a sale, a giant monster or the end of the world. Broken Gothic is comfortable in a wide range of themes and applications from zombie movie titles to salsa jar labels. While I can't recommend it for text, Broken is great for headers, banners, signs, titles, product presentation and other display applications. When you need a rough customer, Broken Gothic fills the bill.

Pershal is something of an oddball, and that's the point. Dynamic and fast, Pershal attracts interest. Its architecture evokes growth and progress. Inspired by the futuristic styles of the 1990s, Pershal started on an aircraft ride as a sketch on a napkin. I set the concept aside for almost a decade before I went back to play with the typeface. Pershal is planned to complement applications in consumer finance, technology firms or biotechnology. As such, it has a complete set of both tabular and proportional figures. For the lowercase, Pershal features a distinctive shape that emphasizes its x-height. Its horizontal movement is highlighted by some of its other features, such as its crossbars. To emphasize growth, acceleration and inventiveness, crossbars and other elements are cut at a dynamic angle. It's a sans serif without a lot of contrast. Another unique feature of this typeface is the vast number of OpenType alternates. If you prefer a more conventional appearance to your sans, with stylistic alternates, you have that option. Altogether, there are more than seven separate sets of stylistic alternates and about 250 alternates for characters. This enables you to mix-and-match and create your own personal typeface. For branding, this makes it very useful. For your next project that requires a dynamic and technological appearance, give Pershal a shot.

Now even more design possibilities with the popular DIN Next. With its technical and neutral character, DIN Next has earned a permanent place in contemporary typography. Now, DIN Next Slab expands the font family further, offering new design potential. Now comes the next step, DIN Next Slab, also produced under the direction of Akira Kobayashi. On a team with Sandra Winter and Tom Grace, Kobayashi is creating the new font variant based on the optimized shapes of DIN Next. The expansion will make the popular font all the more flexible and versatile. Apart from that, the geometric slab serifs underline the technical and formal nature of the font and emphasize a central design element of DIN Next. However, the team did have some challenges to overcome. While it is relatively easy to imagine DIN Next Light with slab serifs, the amount of available space quickly disappears when it comes to the Black styles. Winter explains that many tests and trials were necessary to find a compromise between space, letters and the serif shapes. Experiments with modified contrast in the weight or only one-sided serifs were quickly abandoned. The central, technical and powerful character of the font changed too much. Nevertheless, it was necessary to simplify slightly the shape of some letters, such as the ‘k’ or ‘x’, for example. These changes, first developed in the Black styles, were applied to all weights in order to lend the font a consistent appearance. Like DIN Next, DIN Next Slab also has seven weights, which cover the range from Ultralight to Black, each with matching italic. There are various character sets in all of the styles and the four middle weights have small capitals available. DIN Next Slab harmonizes perfectly with the styles of DIN Next: the basic letterforms and weights are identical. Both versions of the font can work together perfectly, not just in headlines and body text, but also within a text; they complement each other very well as design variations. With the new DIN Next Slab, Monotype expands the DIN Next super family consistently. With DIN Next Slab, you can underscore the technical and formal nature of the understated font not only in headlines, but in texts, as well. In this way, you have new and diverse potential for application, thanks to the way the different styles of DIN Next combine perfectly.