Write like the inventor of the diesel engine — it’s possible with the Diesel Rudolf Script (patterned after the original handwriting of Rudolf Diesel)... In 2008 the city of Augsburg and the MAN Group celebrated the 150th birthday of Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the diesel engine which was named after him. With the help of a few preserved original letters, it was possible to create a convincing digital version of Rudolf Diesel’s personal handwriting. The engineer and inventor Rudolf Diesel was born in Paris in 1858 and also went to school there. In1870 his family moved to England and Rudolf was sent to relatives in Augsburg where he continued going to school. Later, after completing his studies in Munich, he began working as an engineer in the machine factory Linde. Alone this part of his life makes clear why Rudolf Diesel’s handwriting was so ”jerky,“ hesitant and inconsistent. He learned to write according to the French style, that is, Latin cursive — completely different from the very correct and neat German handwriting taught at that time which he had to learn at 13 years of age. These circumstances explain why his handwriting is ”messy“ (especially for those days) with its mixtures of letter forms within a text, even within individual words. Plus, he obviously did not attach much importance to ”pretty writing.“ Sometimes the characters are wide, then narrow, sometimes large and clear and then again crammed and primitive. The individuality is emphasized with characteristics derived from quill and ink. The diversified images of the font Diesel Rudolf Script make more than 80 ligatures and stylistic alternates possible which can be selected with help from the OpenType functions Ligatures and Discretional Ligatures.

IMPORTANT – Please consider the superior Carrig Pro before making a purchase decision. Carrig started its life in 1998. I was working for a design agency in Cork, Ireland and was given a new brand identity project for a lakeside hotel in County Kerry. While visiting the hotel I made various sketches of the surroundings and upon returning to the studio, it was clear that my strongest ideas for the identity would be based on these freehand drawings. I wanted a classic, rough, hand-drawn typeface to complement this style but at that time, the studio didn’t have anything suitable, so I decided to draw my own. I found a Trajan-esque typeface that I really liked the look of in an old calligraphy workbook. I set about drawing my own version and then digitised it. Once the client had seen and approved my design, I began working on creating a complete all caps typeface to use for the hotel’s stationery. With ‘carrig’ being the Gaelic word for ‘rock’, my new typeface was all the more appropriate as it had the appearance of letterforms that had been carved into stone and weathered by time. With the project completed and the client happy, Carrig then sat in my unused fonts folder for several years... but there was always a nagging feeling at the back of my mind that I should do something more with it. So, in the autumn of 2014, I finally set about doing just that and created the font family you now find at MyFonts. Carrig’s form and structure was influenced by a hybrid of Classic Roman and Garalde typeface designs. The original calligraphic elements from the 1998 version of Carrig have been retained to add personality—as can be seen in the serifs, strokes, spurs, terminals and open bowls. Perhaps its most distinctive trait is a high x-height combined with relatively short ascenders. I wanted Carrig to immediately resonate with the reader and have designed it to be familiar and friendly. I imagine designers might choose Carrig as an alternative to such typefaces as Trajan, Garamond and Baskerville. I see Carrig as primarily a display typeface for titles/headlines in printed materials. I would also love to see it being used for branding, packaging and promotional material and am keen to hear from designers who use it in their own work.