A no-nonsense modern sans serif design, the ITC Conduit type family embodies an earnest vernacular spirit. Its designer, Mark Van Bronkhorst, explains: “It’s the kind of lettering you might find on boilers, assembly diagrams, and desiccant packets,” he explains. “It’s plain, grid-based, visually incompetent, yet legible and direct.” Brilliantly assembled from a typographic kit of parts, ITC Conduit's letterforms project a coolness, without feeling austere or unapproachable. It's an excellent choice for publication, packaging, or even wayfinding design systems. The ITC Conduit collection is available in 14 styles, with weights from extra light to black—all with matching italic designs. An easy, efficient way to bolster your go-to typographic arsenal, add it to your type library today!

A rough handlettered font.

My kids like to read Donald Duck magazine. They have boxes full of old editions that we bought second hand. Most of the comics are well-used, but there are some in near mint condition. I thought it would be nice to create a font that mimics the lettering found in comics. Mint condition is a very nice, very friendly handmade comic book font that comes with extensive language support (including Vietnamese and Cyrillic), plus two sets of alternate glyphs.

When Ray Larabie donated some font work files to the Stella Roberts font project, he suggested that whenever possible the design get reworked to reflect some update and change. Jeff Levine overhauled the original design and made numerous changes to end up with Seminar SRF and its oblique version. A friendly, clean sanserif with a nod to the classic Optima, this text face can easily fit into word copy or hold its own in headlines. The net profits from my font sales help defer medical expenses for my siblings, who both suffer with Cystic Fibrosis and diabetes. Thank you.

ITC Eras font is the work of French designers Albert Boton and Albert Hollenstein. It is a typical sans serif typeface distinguished by its unusual slight forward slant and subtle variations in stroke weight. ITC Eras is an open and airy typeface inspired by both Greek stone-cut lapidary letters as well as Roman capitals.

ITC Cerigo is the result of a challenge which designer Jean-Renaud Cuaz set for himself: to create a typeface with the grace of Renaissance calligraphy but different from the numerous Chancery scripts. He calls Cerigo a 'vertical italic' and based it on 15th century calligraphic forms. The weights are carefully designed to complement each other and are made more flexible by a number of italic swash capitals. The flexible ITC Cerigo is suitable for both text and display.

ITC Photoplay is another gem from Nick Curtis. Unearthed from the 1927 edition of Samuel Welo's Studio Handbook for Artists and Advertisers, the design's original suggested use was for title and caption cards for silent movies. A monoweight design that bridges the gap between turn-of-the-century decorative type and Art Deco, ITC Photoplay is both casual and stylish. And, yes, the cap S" is supposed to look that that. To expand this already handy typeface's versatility, a Black weight has been added to the original design. Curtis has also created an array of alternate characters, a couple of conjunctions, and a handful of "bishop's fingers" to help make your point. ITC Photoplay is eminently suitable for all those occasions when you need to say, "Unhand that fair damsel, you dastardly cad!", and really mean it."

ITC Johnston is the result of the combined talents of Dave Farey and Richard Dawson, based on the work of Edward Johnston. In developing ITC Johnston, says London type designer Dave Farey, he did “lots of research on not only the face but the man.” Edward Johnston was something of an eccentric, “famous for sitting in a deck chair and carrying toast in his pockets.” (The deck chair was his preferred furniture in his own living room; the toast was so that he’d always have sustenance near at hand.) Johnston was also almost single-handedly responsible, early in this century, for the revival in Britain of the Renaissance calligraphic tradition of the chancery italic. His book Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering (with its peculiar extraneous comma in the title) is a classic on its subject, and his influence on his contemporaries was tremendous. He is perhaps best remembered, however, for the alphabet that he designed in 1916 for the London Underground Railway (now London Transport), which was based on his original “block letter” model. Johnston’s letters were constructed very carefully, based on his study of historical writing techniques at the British Museum. His capital letters took their form from the best classical Roman inscriptions. “He had serious rules for his sans serif style,” says Farey, “particularly the height-to-weight ratio of 1:7 for the construction of line weight, and therefore horizontals and verticals were to be the same thickness. Johnston’s O’s and C’s and G’s and even his S’s were constructions of perfect circles. This was a bit of a problem as far as text sizes were concerned, or in reality sizes smaller than half an inch. It also precluded any other weight but medium ‘ any weight lighter or heavier than his 1:7 relationship.” Johnston was famously slow at any project he undertook, says Farey. “He did eventually, under protest, create a bolder weight, in capitals only ‘ which took twenty years to complete.” Farey and his colleague Richard Dawson have based ITC Johnston on Edward Johnston’s original block letters, expanding them into a three-weight type family. Johnston himself never called his Underground lettering a typeface, according to Farey. It was an alphabet meant for signage and other display purposes, designed to be legible at a glance rather than readable in passages of text. Farey and Dawson’s adaptation retains the sparkling starkness of Johnston’s letters while combining comfortably into text. Johnston’s block letter bears an obvious resemblance to Gill Sans, the highly successful type family developed by Monotype in the 1920s. The young Eric Gill had studied under Johnston at the London College of Printing, worked on the Underground project with him, and followed many of the same principles in developing his own sans serif typeface. The Johnston letters gave a characteristic look to London’s transport system after the First World War, but it was Gill Sans that became the emblematic letter form of British graphic design for decades. (Johnston’s sans serif continued in use in the Underground until the early ‘80s, when a revised and modernized version, with a tighter fit and a larger x-height, was designed by the London design firm Banks and Miles.) Farey and Dawson, working from their studio in London’s Clerkenwell, wanted to create a type family that was neither a museum piece nor a bastardization, and that would “provide an alternative of the same school” to the omnipresent Gill Sans. “These alphabets,” says Farey, referring to the Johnston letters, “have never been developed as contemporary styles.” He and Dawson not only devised three weights of ITC Johnston but gave it a full set of small capitals in each weight ‘ something that neither the original Johnston face nor the Gill faces have ‘ as well as old-style figures and several alternate characters.

The Algerian designer Taouffik Semmad created the fonts in 1997. Taouffik Semmad grew up speaking Algerian-Arabic dialect and French, studied Russian, and is now living in Montreal. This could perhaps explain his current passion, to "find a universal writing", which he admits is a Utopian idea. Created with brush and Chinese ink, the characters of ITC Atmosphere came from Semmad's hand but only after they were fully formed in his mind's eye.

Mark Jamra based the design for Jamille on the forms of the 18th century Modern Face fonts of Didot and Bodoni, but was also influenced by the work of artists like Adrian Frutiger, who reworked such fonts to adapt to the demands of modern technology. A very legible font, Jamille will give text a classic, elegant feel.

The Clearface types were originally designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1907. Their forms expressed the Zeitgeist of the turn of the 20th century; typical and distinguishing characteristics are the forms of the a" and the "k." The ATF version did not include an accompanying Italic. In 1978, ITC's Victor Caruso was licensed by ATF to develop a new serif typeface and matching italic based on the forms of Clearface. The result was ITC Clearface, a serif typeface with marked stroke contrast and italic weights. The teardrop-formed endings of the lowercase a, c and f (also found in Caslon) define the character of the face. The type's design is also distinguished by its small -- almost slab -- serifs, a large x-height, and little stroke contrast. ITC Clearface, with its historical touch, is good for both texts and headlines, but its slightly condensed nature performs at its best when it is allowed its space.

Vienna designer Viktor Solt has a love affair with handwriting. “Usually” he says “when I start with a specific calligraphic style I take some historic specimens and try to integrate their main features into my own handwriting.” Although there are hints of various 18th-century calligraphic styles in Ballerino it was not based on any historical model. The swash ascenders and descenders on the lowercase are all slightly different; this and the rough texture of the edges gives Ballerino a distinctly hand-written feel. The swash caps are meant to be used only in conjunction with the lowercase not to be combined with each other.

ITC Newtext was designed by Ray Baker, who created a well designed and legible typeface and built into it every design refinement which could optimize its usefulness. The expanded shapes are generous and legible and the economical vertical set results in more lines to the page.

Mixage font is the work of Italian designer Aldo Novarese, who cleverly combined the character shapes and proportions like those of Syntax and Antique Olive with the grace and warmth of a calligraphic typeface. Mixage font is a good alternative to more traditional sans serif designs.

Drawn by Tony Stan, ITC Garamond was first released in 1975 in Book and Ultra weights only. These were intended as display faces to complement existing text designs from other foundries. (In fact, many of ITC’s interpretations of traditional typefaces began as display counterparts for existing text designs.) These first weights of ITC Garamond became so popular, however, that ITC released the Light and Bold weights and a suite of condensed faces in 1977. Now, the complete ITC Garamond family features sixteen members: four weights of roman and italic in normal width and four weights of roman and italic in companion condensed versions. The family resemblance is there, but ITC Garamond’s unique provenance gives it an unmistakable, one-of-a-kind appeal.

This calligraphic typeface, designed by Kris Holmes in 1989, manages to look both confident and relaxed, while showing great intricacy and beauty upon closer inspection; it is named after the dancer Isadora Duncan.

The name Angryhog came out of nowhere out of free association. "When you're working on a typeface on the Mac it demands a name from you which I find a bit confrontational" says Donaldson. ITC Angryhog brings together Roman and Gothic influences in a quirky and sophisticated display face. Characteristic of this typeface are its sharp, pointed forms, especially noticeable in the serifs, which give ITC Angryhog a restless, almost aggressive feel. It is as though the letters have a mind of their own and ignore all rules and regulations. ITC Angryhog is a perfect typeface for comics or satire, best suited to short to middle length texts and headlines.

ITC Kallos is the work of British designer Phill Grimshaw, a text typeface family with traditional calligraphic flair. It is the result of Grimshaw's first experiments with text typeface design. The long ascenders and descenders of the lowercase alphabet lend them a look of sophisticated elegance. The capitals display the unmistakable influence of the pen and the proportions of classic inscriptional forms.

The talented designer of the well-known Formata typeface, Bernd Möllenstädt was born on February 22, 1943 in Germany. He has lived in Westfalia, Berlin and Munich, Germany, and now permanently resides in Munich. From his earliest years he was interested in typography, first studying as a typesetter (1961-64) and then a student of graphic design (1964-1967). In 1967 Möllenstädt joined the Berthold typefoundry and his career as one of the leading type personalities began. One year after joining Berthold, he became the head of the type design department. For 22 years he worked as the head of that department, under the leadership of Günter Gerhard Lange. Upon Lange’s retirement in 1990, Möllenstädt ascended to the type directorship of Berthold where he was responsible for type design and font mastering. Möllenstädt designed two typeface for the Berthold Exklusiv Collection, Formata (1988) and Signata (1994). Under license from Berthold, Adobe marketed Formata as part of the Adobe Type Library. Formata is now one of the most successful sans serifs in the world, used both in American and European magazines, as well as newsletters in the Far East (Gulf New Kuwait). Formata also was chosen as the corporate typeface of Postbank, Allianz, VW Skoda, Infratest Burke, etc. In addition to his work for Berthold, Möllenstädt has lectured at local Munich schools on typography and graphic design, and designed corporate type identities and diverse logos for major corporations, including Allianz, Commerzbank, Mauser Officer and Hoepfner. Möllenstädt continues his association with Berthold as a designer. He most recently completed small caps and fractions for Formata. He also has substantially contributed to Berthold's Euro symbol program (e.g. adding the Euro symbol design-specific to the most popular families). Möllenstädt currently is working on a new Berthold Exklusiv design.

Tony Wenman designed the display typeface Bottleneck in the early 1970s and its figures reflect the spirit of the times. Its distinguishing characteristic is the extreme heaviness of the serifs in the lower third of the characters, a trait which the viewer could associate with the plateau shoes of the 1970s. Bottleneck is a carefree, playful typeface which can be found even today on entertainment fliers and retro advertisements. When used sparingly in headlines and slogans, it is a real eye-catcher. Similar typefaces are Julia Script, by David Harris, and Candice, by Alan Meeks.

ITC Stenberg was designed by Tagir Safeyev based on the forms characteristic of the Constructivism in the early days of the USSR. The brothers Vladimir and Georgii Stenberg were two of the creative artists of this movement who were turning older forms to revolutionary use. ITC Stenberg has a caps and small caps alphabet and is available in a bold and an inline version.

Some words from the designer, Frantisek Storm... Designed by Josef Tyfa in 1959, digitalized by F. Storm in 1996. This Roman and Italic are well-known perhaps to all Czech graphic artists and typographers ever since their release. Although this type face in some details is under the sway of the period of its rise, its importance is timeless, in contradistinction to other famous types dating from the turn of the sixties which were found, after some time, to be trite. The italics live their own life, only their upper-case letters have the same expression as the basic design. Thin and fragile, they work excellently, emphasizing certain parts in the text by their perfect contrast of expression. When seen from a distance they are a little bit darker than the Roman face. Tyfa Roman was released in 1960 by Grafotechna in Prague for hot setting. Later on, Berthold produced letter matrices - "rulers" for Staromat devices, used for manual photosetting of display alphabets. In the eighties it was available on dry transfers of Transotype and today it is offered also by ITC. The meticulously executed designs of the individual letters in the 288 point size are arranged into a set of signs on a cardboard of about B2 in size. The yellowed paper reveals retouches by white paint on the ink. Blue lines mark the baseline, the capital line, the ascender and descender lines and the central verticals of the letters. With regard to the format of the flat scanner, the designs had to be reduced, with the use of a camera, to the format A4, i.e. to the upper-case letter height of about 30 mm. These were then scanned in 600 dpi resolution and read as a bitmap template to the FontStudio programme. The newly created bold type faces derive from Tyfa's designs of the letters "a", "n", "p", the darkness of which was increased further, approximately by 3%, to enhance their emphasizing function. The text designs have hairstrokes thickened by one third; the contrast between thin and thick strokes has been modified, in order to improve legibility, in sizes under 12 points. We have used electronic interpolation to produce the semi-bold designs. Josef Tyfa himself recommends to choose a somewhat darker design than the basic one for printing of books.

The ITC Franklin™ typeface design marks the next phase in the evolution of one of the most important American gothic typefaces. Morris Fuller Benton drew the original design in 1902 for American Type Founders (ATF); it was the first significant modernization of a nineteenth-century grotesque. Named in honor of Benjamin Franklin, the design not only became a best seller, it also served as a model for several other sans serif typefaces that followed it. Originally issued in just one weight, the ATF Franklin Gothic family was expanded over several years to include an italic, a condensed, a condensed shaded, an extra condensed and, finally, a wide. No light or intermediate weights were ever created for the metal type family. In 1980, under license from American Type Founders, ITC commissioned Victor Caruso to create four new weights in roman and italic - book, medium, demi and heavy - while preserving the characteristics of the original ATF design. This series was followed in 1991 by a suite of twelve condensed and compressed designs drawn by David Berlow. ITC Franklin Gothic was originally released as two designs: one for display type and one for text. However, in early digital interpretations, a combined text and display solution meant the same fonts were used to set type in any size, from tiny six-point text to billboard-size letters. The problem was that the typeface design was almost always compromised and this hampered its performance at any size. David Berlow, president of Font Bureau, approached ITC with a proposal to solve this problem that would be mutually beneficial. Font Bureau would rework the ITC Franklin Gothic family, enlarge and separate it into distinct text and display designs, then offer it as part of its library as well. ITC saw the obvious value in the collaboration, and work began in early 2004. The project was supposed to end with the release of new text and display designs the following year. But, like so many design projects, the ITC Franklin venture became more extensive, more complicated and more time consuming than originally intended. The 22-font ITC Franklin Gothic family has now grown to 48 designs and is called simply ITC Franklin. The new designs range from the very willowy Thin to the robust Ultra -- with Light, Medium, Bold and Black weights in between. Each weight is also available in Narrow, Condensed and Compressed variants, and each design has a complementary Italic. In addition to a suite of new biform characters (lowercase characters drawn with the height and weight of capitals), the new ITC Franklin Pro fonts also offer an extended character set that supports most Central European and many Eastern European languages. ITC Franklin Text is currently under development.

ITC Musclehead is the work of type designer Timothy Donaldson, a robust, densely packed handwriting typeface. It almost looks like brushwork but was in fact made with a ruling pen which Donaldson had bought from a company in Salem, Massachusetts. He says, The world's gone ruling-pen mad at the moment [late 1990s] and I was beginning to tire of all the skinny splashiness of the letters that most people were making with them. I wanted to do something heavy and robust with the tool, so that's what I did.""

Part of the first typeface release package from ITC in 1970, Busorama melds Art Deco and 70s flower-power into a delightful sans serif design. Designed by Tom Carnase, this three-weight sans serif family still turns heads.

Tom Carnase and Ronne Bonder’s freewheeling ITC adaptation of ATF’s turn-of-the-century Caslon boldfaces.

It's been said that creativity requires ten parts to perspiration to one part inspiration. But not always. According to its creator, Mira Vucko, ITC Needlescript was designed in one breath." An accomplished lettering artist, Vucko was sketching letters one afternoon. "I was using a calligraphy nib and was drawing the alphabet without much thought," she recalls. "When I allowed the down strokes of a couple of letters to fall below the baseline, I realized that I had created the impression of movement. I kept drawing letters in this fashion and did the same with horizontal lines. I added a firm ending to the descenders. Instead of dots above the 'i' and 'j,' I placed strokes in the opposite direction." In this way, the first characters that were to become ITC Needlescript emerged. The finished design is a lively, distinctive alphabet that produces a striking texture on the page. Letters intertwine and overlap to create a sense of movement and graphic intensity, especially when reversed out of a dark background. Vucko lives, works and was educated in Zagreb, Croatia. She lived in France and Sweden while in her twenties, but then returned to Croatia to work as a graphic designer for the country's largest newspaper. It was here that her passion for type and typography was born. Vucko has since gone on to become one of Croatia's leading graphic designers, and has won many awards for her advertising and packaging design. Vucko recommends that ITC Needlescript be used for "titling, lively but 'thorny' content, and anywhere that a little typographic drama is called for.""

Some words from the designer... Like a tree rooted in ancient philosophy with branches reaching into the new age, ITC Holistics encompasses 82 pictographs of astrology, healing, magic, nature and spirituality. In an illustration style that originates from hand-carved rubber stamps, west coast designer Teri Kahan shines new light on these timeless symbols. ITC Holistics is functional collectively and individually for graphics and logos. As with Teri's companion font ITC Connectivities, ITC Holistics can also be used as a divining tool. Just type your name in caps and lower case and see what the images tell you!

ITC Belter was designed by Andreu Balius in 1996. Out of a purposely limited form repertoire Balius created a constructed typeface with a cool and technical character. A distinguishing characteristic of this font is the cross at the ends of many strokes. The figures seem to be products of mass production, which heightens the mechanical feel of the font. Belter is meant for point sizes of 10 and larger in headlines and shorter texts and must be set with generous spacing.

ITC Aspera is the product of graphic experimentation. Olivera Stojadinovic, who designed the face, recalls, Over the last 15 years, I have made several small prints using Cyrillic characters. Often, I made my first sketches with a special pointed brush which was difficult to manipulate well, but once tamed, gave me interesting results." Stojadinovic decided to see if she could reproduce the unique brush quality in digital form. "The idea was to preserve the look of strokes made by my brush, so I kept the scanned shapes as close as possible to the originals, making interventions just to maintain consistent proportions, slope and weight." While this typeface is not a connecting script, Stojadinovic did create a number of letters, such as the 'o' and 's' that are natural connecting characters. She also drew a set of ligatures and matching ornaments to accompany the design."