Originally designed in 1928, Plak is something of a lost gem in the type world. Despite being drawn by Futura creator Paul Renner, it never achieved the same popularity and spent decades lacking a much-needed digital revival. Monotype designers Linda Hintz and Toshi Omagari have taken its existing three weights and, after extensive research into the original wood type, extended them into the vast Neue Plak family. The typeface is available in 60 weights that stay true to Renner’s intentions, and offer the same blend of “quirky” details and “German stiffness” – as Hintz describes it. The design is an unusual mixture, bringing together a defiant outer appearance that’s counteracted by more playful details found in the lowercase r, and the large dots of the lowercase i. Other distinctive details include open or strikethrough counters, and a set of hairline widths that reduce Renner’s original design to its bare bones. Neue Plak’s display weights are crying out to be used in editorial, on packaging or in logos, while its text weight works well in both print and digital environments. Neue Plak Text Variables are font files which are featuring one axis and have a preset instance from Thin to Black

Artisan Paris, a true embodiment of Parisian finesse and grace, is a mesmerizing display font crafted with a delicate and aesthetic feminine style. Characteristics: Aesthetic Feminine Style: Artisan Paris showcases a refined, feminine aesthetic that speaks of sophistication and beauty. Its design embraces the elegance synonymous with Parisian artistry. Intricate Craftsmanship: The font is meticulously designed, with every character bearing intricate details reminiscent of the craftsmanship seen in the heart of Paris. Delicate curls and ornate elements define this font, showcasing the skilled artistry of Parisian artisans. Two Weights: Artisan Paris provides versatility with two distinct weights – Regular and Italic. The Regular weight exudes a balanced and poised demeanor, while the Italic weight adds a playful and dynamic touch, enhancing your creative expressions. Usage: Artisan Paris is the font of choice when you want to infuse your designs with the grace and allure associated with Parisian artistry. Ideal for headlines, titles, branding, invitations, and any design project seeking an elegant and feminine touch. Designer: Artisan Paris was meticulously designed by a team of dedicated artists and designers, drawing inspiration from the chic and timeless femininity of Paris. Every element in this font reflects their passion for capturing the essence of Parisian artisans.

Etrusco Now is the revival of a lead typeface originally cast in lead by Italian foundry Nebiolo in the early 1920s. Heavily inspired by the design of the Medium weight of Schelter & Giesecke's Grotesk, Etrusco was, like Cairoli, an early precursor of the modernist grotesque superfamilies: a solid, multi-purpose "work-horse" typeface family that could solve a wide range of design problems with its range of widths and weights. When designing the new incarnation of Nebiolo's Etrusco, the Italiantype team directed by Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini and Mario de Libero decided to extend the original weight and width range to keep this "superfamily" approach. Etrusco Now has twenty-one styles widths in three widths of seven weights each, with matching italics; the original weights for the typeface have been collected in the Etrusco Classic subfamily. Etrusco Now new widths allowed the team to include in the design many nods and homages to other vintage classics of Nebiolo. The lighter weights of the normal width have been heavily influenced by the modernist look of Recta, while the heavy condensed and compressed widths refer to the black vertical texture of Aldo Novarese's Metropol. This infuses the typeface with a slightly vintage mood, making Etrusco at the same time warmly familiar and unexpected to eyes accustomed to the formal and cold look of late modernist grotesques like Helvetica. Contemporary but rich in slight historical quirks, Etrusco Now is perfect for any editorial and branding project that aims to be different in a subtle way. Etrusco Now's deviations from the norm are small enough to give it personality without affecting readability, while its wide range of open type features (alternates, stylistic sets, positional numbers) and language coverage make it a problem solver for any situation. Like its cousin Cairoli, Etrusco is born out of love for lost letterforms and stands like its lead ancestor from a century ago, at the crossroads between artsy craftsmanship and industrial needs.

The x factor How do you make a font like FS Albert unique, distinctive? “When designing a font I try to question every letter,” says Jason Smith, “but all you need is a few that have an x factor. With FS Albert, they’re the lowercase ‘a’ and ‘g’ and the uppercase ‘I’ and ‘J’. “I remember a friend saying, ‘Why on earth have you designed the ‘a’ like that? Isn’t it too friendly for this kind of font?’ And, in a way, that’s what I wanted – honesty and warmth, because a lot of big brands at the time really needed to show a more human side.” Range of weights and styles FS Albert is a charismatic type: a warm, friendly sans serif face with a big personality. Open, strong and amenable, and available in a wide range of weights and styles, FS Albert suits almost every task you put it to. Fontsmith has crafted five finely-tuned upright Roman weights and four italic weights, as well as a special Narrow version to provide the best coverage and give headlines and text an easy-going character. The chunky kid “FS Albert was inspired by – and named after – my son, who was a bit of a chunky kid,” says Jason Smith. “I designed an extra bold weight because I always felt that the really big font heavy weights had the most personality. “I recently told Albert this story. He laughed, and forgave me for thinking he was a fat baby. He liked the big personality bit, though.” 1000s of glyphs Not content with a character set that covered Europe and the whole of the Western world, the studio decided to go further afield. There are now FS Albert character sets that cover western and eastern European languages, including those of Russia, as well as Cyrillic, Arabic and Greek scripts. In fact, the font now covers more than 100 languages, making it ideal for bringing a consistent typographic style to the communications of global brands.

Bely is the first design by French newcomer Roxane Gataud. Too many typefaces are either governed by fear and never accomplish what they could, or are unrestrained which results in their frenetic dangling like a leaf caught in a spider’s web. Bely’s strength is that it has both restraint and freedom throughout the text weights and into the unique display weight. There is no fear in this type family, but only great respect for both the tradition of reading and the opportunity to make an impression. Bely is a high-class throwback containing four text weights which were built upon classical proportions to capitalise on reading familiarity. Bely Text features balanced capitals and a play between large, triangular serifs at the top and thick, bracketed, rectangular serifs at the bottom. The family is capped by a radical, expressive French-style display weight which pushes the rules of the text weights to their logical extreme. Bely Display, truly daring with its monstrous and angled contrast, exploits the features which make an impression at larger sizes. In the end, Bely Display is adventurous when used in packaging, identities, and headlines with attitude, while Bely Text’s calm baseline and piercing ascenders give paragraphs texture and familiarity. Bely covers the Latin A Extended glyph set and brings its sense of confidence to your projects with its two text weights, matching italics, and unique display style. Bely’s satisfying OpenType features allow for the implementation of typographic niceties such as small caps, both tabular and proportional lining and oldstyle figures, ligatures, alternate characters, case-sensitive variants, and fractions. The complete Bely family, along with our entire catalogue, has been optimised for today’s varied screen uses. Awards – Selected for TypeTogether’s Typeface Publishing Incentive Programme scholarship in 2014. – Selected by French magazine Étapes for the 2014 Diploma Issue. – Selected for the 2014 exhibition “TransFormations” at Centre Pompidou. — Received the SOTA catalyst Award 2016

The x factor How do you make a font like FS Albert unique, distinctive? “When designing a font I try to question every letter,” says Jason Smith, “but all you need is a few that have an x factor. With FS Albert, they’re the lowercase ‘a’ and ‘g’ and the uppercase ‘I’ and ‘J’. “I remember a friend saying, ‘Why on earth have you designed the ‘a’ like that? Isn’t it too friendly for this kind of font?’ And, in a way, that’s what I wanted – honesty and warmth, because a lot of big brands at the time really needed to show a more human side.” Range of weights and styles FS Albert is a charismatic type: a warm, friendly sans serif face with a big personality. Open, strong and amenable, and available in a wide range of weights and styles, FS Albert suits almost every task you put it to. Fontsmith has crafted five finely-tuned upright Roman weights and four italic weights, as well as a special Narrow version to provide the best coverage and give headlines and text an easy-going character. The chunky kid “FS Albert was inspired by – and named after – my son, who was a bit of a chunky kid,” says Jason Smith. “I designed an extra bold weight because I always felt that the really big font heavy weights had the most personality. “I recently told Albert this story. He laughed, and forgave me for thinking he was a fat baby. He liked the big personality bit, though.” 1000s of glyphs Not content with a character set that covered Europe and the whole of the Western world, the studio decided to go further afield. There are now FS Albert character sets that cover western and eastern European languages, including those of Russia, as well as Cyrillic, Arabic and Greek scripts. In fact, the font now covers more than 100 languages, making it ideal for bringing a consistent typographic style to the communications of global brands.