I love geometric sans serifs, their crispness and rationality. Le Havre taps into this style, but for a while, I've wanted to create a font recalling the printed Futura of the 1940s, which seems to have an elusive quality all its own. After seeing an old manual on a World War II ship, I developed a plan for "Le Havre Metal" but chose to shelve the project due to Le Havre's small x-height. That's where Steagal comes in. When Robbie de Villiers and I began the Chatype project in early 2012 (a project which led one publication to label me the Edward Johnston of Chattanooga!), we started closely studying the vernacular lettering of Chattanooga. During that time, I also visited Switzerland, where I saw how designers were using a new, handmade aesthetic with a geometric base. I was motivated to make a new face combining some of these same influences. The primary inspiration for the new design came from the hand-lettering of sign painters in the United States, circa 1930s through 1950s. My Chatype research turned up a poster from the Tennessee Valley Authority in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which exhibited a number of quirks from the unique hand and style of one of these sign artists. Completing the first draft of Steagal, however, I found that the face appeared somewhat European in character. I turned then to the work of Morris Fuller Benton for a distinctly American take and discovered a number of features that would help define Steagal as a "1930s American" vernacular typeface--features I later learned also inspired Morris Fuller Benton's Eagle. The overall development of Steagal was surprisingly difficult, knowing when to deliberately distort optical artifacts and when to keep them in place. Part of type design is correcting optical illusions, and I found myself absentmindedly adjusting the optical effects. In the end, though, I was able to draw inspiration from period signs, inscriptions, period posters, and architecture while retaining just enough of the naive sensibility. Steagal has softened edges, which simulate brush strokes and retain the feeling of the human hand. The standard version has unique quirks that are not too intrusive. Overshoots have almost been eliminated, and joins have minimal corrections. The rounded forms are mathematically perfect, geometric figures without optical corrections. As a variation to the standard, the “Rough” version stands as the "bad signpainter" version with plenty of character. Steagal Regular comes in five weights and is packed with OpenType features. Steagal includes three Art Deco Alternate sets, optically compensated rounded forms, a monospaced variant, and numerous other features. In all, there are over 200 alternate characters. To see these features in action, please see the informative .pdf brochure. OpenType capable applications such as Quark or the Adobe Creative suite can take full advantage of the automatically replacing ligatures and alternates. Steagal also includes support for all Western European languages. Steagal is a great way to subtly draw attention to your work. Its unique quirks grab the eye with a authority that few typefaces possess. Embrace its vernacular, hand-brushed look, and see what this geometric sans serif can do for you.

Adi Stern’s Noam Text shows that typographic progress is often in the small things — in the perfecting of familiar traditions and in staying loyal to the spirit of what came before. It can’t really be called progress unless it honours its history. In this way, TypeTogether is happy to introduce Noam Text: A Hebrew and Latin serif font that builds on its heritage with the twin tools of honour and progress. Since 1908, the Frank-Rühl fonts have dominated the Hebrew book and newspaper market. Noam Text’s design goal was to create a coherent family with both Latin and Hebrew serif text typefaces, each authentic to its own script, and which would serve as an alternative to last century’s predecessor. In short order, users will recognise Noam Text as a source of progress in its bilingual abilities. Hebrew and Latin have opposite reading directions, creating many issues: opposing directionality of the open counters; vertical stress in Latin, but horizontal in Hebrew; fewer extenders in Hebrew; and no Hebrew capital letters. All these have been taken into account in Noam Text’s modern design. Of unique importance — all punctuation marks have a Hebrew version, which makes each script complete and uncompromising. Among other technologically advanced details, Noam Text was programmed for all expected scenarios of mixing Hebrew, Latin, figures, and punctuation. Noam Text is intended mostly for setting long texts, so it strives to achieve maximum legibility in minimum space with its large x-height, short and fairly condensed Latin capitals, large and open counters, and low contrast. Originally derived from the Hebrew, the shallow horizontal curves and strong baseline serifs provide dynamism and enhance the reading flow. Noam Text Latin’s italic is rounded and reading friendly, is condensed to generate a lighter texture than the roman, and has a flowing stance. These virtues help it endure harsh printing conditions and subpar inks and paper. Noam Text’s three total weights provide a proper solution for integrating texts in both scripts, as well as a contemporary alternative for use in books, newspapers, and magazine design. Aligned with TypeTogether’s commitment to produce high-quality type for the global market, the complete Noam Text family displays an impressive amount of discretion, applying to wide use-cases by not edging too close to religious motifs or imbibing in secular indulgence. This means Noam Text can be the go-to family across the board and capitalise on the desire for clear typographic progress in this modern age.