Introducing Walnut—the graffiti typeface that packs a punch! This font was not designed for the faint of heart. It’s tough, rugged and unapologetic. Walnut’s gritty spray-painted look will add a raw edge to your designs that will have people taking notice. With its realistic style, Walnut looks like it just sprang off the wall, ready to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting public. It’s the perfect typeface for any design project that requires a touch of vandalism. From posters to album covers, Walnut will give your work that extra edge that will make it stand out from the crowd. But what really sets Walnut apart are its unique combos. With OpenType ligatures support, Walnut will create custom letter combinations that will appear like they were created on the fly with a can of spray paint. Each character has a distinct personality, making this font perfect for creating custom logos or headlines that demand attention. So why settle for a boring, predictable typeface when you can unleash the power of Walnut? It’s time to take your designs to the next level and make a statement with this tough and gritty typeface. Get ready to make some noise with Walnut! Most Latin-based European writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kurdish (Latin), Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec Zulu and Zuni.

Travel back in time with Yellande, the typeface that captures the essence of Montreal’s rich architectural history. Inspired by the wrought-iron ornamentation that adorns the city’s urban landscape, Yellande is a font that will transport you to a bygone era of grandeur and romance. With its elegant and sophisticated design, Yellande is the perfect typeface for any project that requires a touch of class and refinement. Whether you’re creating a travel brochure for a luxury hotel, designing a wedding invitation, or crafting a menu for a high-end restaurant, Yellande will add a touch of elegance and sophistication to your work. The swash style of Yellande is reminiscent of the flowing curves and intricate details of Montreal’s wrought-iron architecture. Its fancy capital letters will make any headline or title stand out, adding a touch of glamour and elegance to your design. So why settle for ordinary when you can elevate your design with Yellande? Let this typeface take you on a journey through Montreal’s rich history and inspire your creativity with its curled wrought-iron look. Yellande is the perfect choice for anyone looking to add a touch of elegance and sophistication to their design. Most Latin-based European writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kurdish (Latin), Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec Zulu and Zuni.

Introducing Graveblade, the heavy metal typeface that’s sharp as a knife and just as deadly. With its blackletter shapes and brutal angles, Graveblade is the perfect typeface to give your message a sense of forceful aggression that will leave a lasting impression. Featuring blade-like forms and a menacing edge, Graveblade exudes the power and intensity of heavy metal music. This typeface is not for the faint of heart—it’s for those who are bold, daring, and unafraid to make a statement. Whether you’re promoting a metal band, creating a dark and edgy poster, or designing a logo for a horror movie, Graveblade is the typeface that will take your designs to the next level. Its sharp and knifelike design will cut through the noise and make your message stand out from the crowd. So get ready to unleash the power of Graveblade and take your designs to new heights of brutal beauty. You’ve got another thing coming if you think you can ignore the force of Graveblade. Are you ready to embrace the darkness? Then grab Graveblade today and let the heavy metal typeface speak for itself. Most Latin-based European writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kurdish (Latin), Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec Zulu and Zuni.

Rev up your designs with the bold power of Hemi-Head, the square industrial typeface inspired by the classic muscle cars of the 60s and 70s. Its audacious letterforms and stylish gaps will give your message a commanding presence, instantly conveying authority and technologically superior design. With its sleek, constructivist squareness, Hemi-Head is the perfect typeface for any project that demands strength, speed, and raw power. From high-performance automotive advertising to cutting-edge tech branding, Hemi-Head delivers the perfect blend of style and substance. Available in 8 versatile weights and italics, Hemi-Head offers a wide range of options for any project. Choose the style that best suits your needs, from the light and nimble to the heavy and powerful, and add a touch of italicized style for even more visual impact. So whether you’re looking to create a design that demands attention, or simply want to add a touch of muscle car style to your next project, Hemi-Head is the perfect typeface for the job. Embrace the bold, square industrial aesthetic of the 60s and 70s, and let your designs roar with power and precision. Most Latin-based European writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kurdish (Latin), Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec Zulu and Zuni.

Picture this: you’re in the heart of a lush, vibrant rainforest. The leaves rustle in the breeze, and the vibrant colors of the flora and fauna surround you. That’s exactly the feeling you’ll get when you use Rainforest, our small caps display typeface inspired by the Jurassic Park logo. Rainforest is a nod to the classic typefaces of the early 20th century, like Rudolph Koch’s Neuland and Monotype’s Othello. These fonts captured the spirit of the Art & Crafts movement with their woodcut prints, and they were particularly popular in themes depicting jungles and tropical islands. But Rainforest takes that classic style to the next level with its sleek and modern design. The typeface can be used in a variety of ways: plain, outlined, or as a separate thin-line layer. It’s versatile, stylish, and sophisticated—perfect for any project that needs a touch of class. Whether you’re designing a poster for a tropical vacation or creating an eye-catching logo, Rainforest will make your work stand out from the crowd. Its candid, natural style will transport you straight to the heart of the rainforest—all while maintaining an air of elegance and sophistication. Give Rainforest a try today and see the difference for yourself! Most Latin-based European writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kurdish (Latin), Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Vietnamese, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec Zulu and Zuni.

Many typefaces are distinctive or attractive at the expense of legibility and versatility. Not so the Optima® family. Simultaneously standing out and fitting in, there are few projects or imaging environments outside of its range. Although Optima is almost always grouped with sans serif typefaces, it should be considered a serifless roman. True to its Roman heritage, Optima has wide, full-bodied characters – especially in the capitals. Only the E, F and L deviate with narrow forms. Consistent with other Zapf designs, the cap S in Optima appears slightly top-heavy with a slight tilt to the right. The M is splayed, and the N, like a serif design, has light vertical strokes. The lowercase a and g in Optima are high-legibility two-storied designs. Optima can be set within a wide choice of line spacing values – from very tight to very open. In fact, there are few limits to the amount of white space that can be added between lines of text. Optima also benefits from a wide range of letter spacing capability. It can be set quite tight, or even slightly open – especially the capitals. If there are any guidelines, Optima should be set more open than tight. It’s not that readability is affected that much when Optima is set on the snug side; it’s just that the unhurried elegance and light gray typographic color created by the face are disrupted when letters are set too tight. Optima is also about as gregarious as a typeface can be. It mixes well with virtually any serif design and a surprisingly large number of sans serif faces. The Optima family is available in six weights, from roman to extra black, each with an italic counterpart. In addition, the family is available as a suite of OpenType® Pro fonts, providing for the automatic insertion of small caps, ligatures and alternate characters, in addition to offering an extended character set supporting most Central European and many Eastern European languages. When you’re ready to find its perfect pairing, browse these fantastic matches: Monotype Century Old Style™, Dante®, Frutiger® Serif, Joanna® Nova, Malabar™, and Soho®.

A type designed in a grid, like on display panels Type is not only printed. There were always and still are a number of forms of type versions which function completely differently. Even very early in the history of script there were attempts to combine a few single elements into the diverse forms of individual characters and also efforts to construct the forms of letters within a geometric grid system. The “instructions” of Albrecht Dürer are probably most well-known. But although designers of past centuries assumed the ideal to basically be an artist’s handwritten script, the idea which developed in the course of mechanization was to “build” characters in a building block system only by stringing together one basic element — the so-called grid type was discovered, represented most commonly today by »pixel types.« But even before computers, there were display systems which presented types with the help of a mechanical grid display, like the display panels in public transportation (bus, train) or at airports and train stations. In a streetcar, I met up with a modern variation of this display which reveals the name of each tram stop as it is approached. This system was based on a customary coarse square grid, but the individual squares were also divided again diagonally in four triangles. In this way it is possible to display slants and to simulate round forms more accurately as with only squares. The displayed characters still aren’t comparable to a decent typeface — on the contrary, the lower case letters are surprisingly ugly — but they form a much more legible type than that of ordinary [quadrate] grid types. DeDisplay from ingoFonts is this kind of type, constructed from tiny triangles which are in turn grouped in small squares. The stem widths are formed by two squares; the height of upper case characters is 10, the x-height 7 squares. DeDisplay is available in three versions: DeDisplay 1 is the complex original with spaces between the triangles, DeDisplay 2 forgoes dividing the triangles and thus appears somewhat darker or “bold,” and DeDisplay 3 is to some extent the “black” and doesn’t even include spaces between the individual squares.

Quentin Schmerber’s Temeraire serif font family was not designed to be invisible. It is a typographic exploration meant to be seen — with its beauty, one could even say beheld. While some fonts aim to be as easily ignored as possible, Temeraire is offered as a gift to wide-eyed readers with its anything-but-boring character and its conspicuous inconsistency in styles. Most type families increase the weight of each character to expand the family. Instead, research into 17th century sources produced Temeraire’s wide range of letterforms, from the predictable to the odd and loosely related through time. Each style is designed to work alongside the others but are also standalone homages to specific parts of English lettering tradition: gravestone cutting, writing masters’ copperplates, Italiennes, and others. Temeraire’s Regular style is a contrast-loving Transitional Serif with vertical stress, making it great for period and classic works, ironic pieces, and modern throwbacks. The weight of the Bold squares off the ends of each glyph to give it stability, and the italic style rings true: flowing, contrasting, and purposefully inconsistent. Temeraire’s Display Black style is one salvaged from expressive gravestone artistry. The details most easily noticed are the ‘g’ with its descending bowl that has been pressed back up in the centre, and the additional serif on the ‘t’ crossbar that holds its neighbouring character at bay. (The ‘g’ and ‘Q’ have loopless alternates.) The final style is the Italienne, the horizontally stressed counterpoint to the family. By design its characters flow and bend in ways not in step with the rest of the family. All the weight has been pushed to either hemisphere within each glyph, resulting in a display style that demands space and peacefulness around it so its presence can impress. As with all TypeTogether families, Temeraire meets the current designer’s needs. Not only does its five styles shine in print work, it includes alternates for when the defaults are too boisterous and has been expertly crafted for screens. The Temeraire serif font family is resurrected from echoes in time and finds its family relation through impeccable taste.

DIN Stencil Pro on Behance. DIN Stencil Pro: Specimen Manual PDF. Despite the fact that over the years several designers have manually created stencil lettering based on DIN for various projects, there had never been a professional digital stencil version of a DIN-based typeface until 2010 when the original DIN Stencil was first released. The Pro version was released in 2014 and adds multiscript support for Cyrillic and Greek. DIN Stencil Pro was based on its original counterpart DIN Text Pro and was particularly designed to address contemporary projects, by incorporating elements and weights which are akin to industries such as fashion, music, video, architecture, sports and communications. Traditionally, stencils have been used extensively for military equipment, goods packaging, transportation, shop signs, seed sacks and prison uniforms. In the old days, stencilled markings of ownership were printed on personal possessions, while stencilled signatures on shirts were typical of 19th century stencilling. Two companies dominated the market in the mid-twentieth century: the Marsh Stencil Machine Company in the United States and the Sächsische Metall Schablonen Fabrik in Germany. Ever since the late 1930s, it was the German Sächsische Metall Schablonen Fabrik which used heavily the new DIN 1451 standard font (introduced in 1936), attempting to overthrow the reign of the Didot-style modern roman which was at the time the most common stencil letter in Germany. These letters were manufactured mainly as individual zinc stencils which could be ordered in sizes between 10 and 100mm. The DIN Stencil family manages to preserve several traditional stencil features, but introduces additional modernities which enhance its pleasing characteristics which make it an ideal choice for a large number of contemporary projects. Furthermore, the spacing attributes of the glyphs were redefined and legibility was improved by revising the shape of the letterforms. The DIN Stencil Pro family is an enhanced version of the popular DIN Stencil. It consists of 8 diverse weights from the elegant Hairline to the muscular Black and supports Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Eastern European, Turkish and Baltic. The new version 3.0 includes several additions such the recently unicode encoded character of the German uppercase Eszett (ẞ), the Russian currency symbol for Rouble (₽), Ukrainian Hryvnia (₴), Azeri and Kazakh letterforms.

FF Infra™ is a fresh take on the robust sans serif typefaces of the early 20th century. Drawn by Gabriel Richter, it’s a friendly, inviting – and multi-talented family. Whether long blocks of editorial text, or snackable copy in web pages and blog posts, FF Infra’s 20 typefaces are easy on the eyes in both print and digital environments. The design also performs as well at petite sizes, as it does at supersized display settings. Pair FF Infra with an old style or Didone serif design and you’ll have powerful and distinctive typographic pages! FF Infra is available in 10 weights, ranging from a delicate light to a commanding black, each with an italic companion. OpenType® Pro fonts of FF infra have an extended character set supporting most Central European and many Eastern European languages, in addition to providing for the automatic insertion of ligatures and fractions. Each font also contains four sets of figures and a bevy of arrows that are ideal for wayfinding and similar info-graphic projects. A generous lowercase x-height, open counters and subtle graduations between family weights, make for a family that is at home in a wide range of sizes, and comfortable in everything from large signage, content for mobile apps, product manuals and full-scale branding projects. In addition, to provide design diversity, Richter drew alternate designs for the a, G and ß. Richter first became interested in fonts and the art of creating typefaces while studying communication design at Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences. His first designs were experimental, but these lead a position at FontShop International in 2013, where he developed his typeface design skills. A strong background in font production, hinting and font marketing were also part of his FontShop experience. Richter worked as freelance graphic and type designer until he founded übertype in 2017. He also invests back into the type community through the type design courses he teaches at his alma mater. FF Infra is Richter’s first commercial design for Monotype. We’re sure that you’ll find it as versatile and powerful as we do.

Alias Vertical is a sans serif typeface with a vertical cut-off point for letter endings. The vertical cut-offs bend round characters (b, c, o, etc) into a squarish, high-shouldered shape, suggesting Roger Excoffon’s Antique Olive. In mid-weights, the typeface mixes Antique Olive with typefaces such as Gill or Johnston, for example the shape of the t, the l borrowing Johnston’s flick. Vertical has the same minimal difference in weight between verticals and horizontals as Gill and Johnston, and the same sharp connection point where curves meet straight lines. Like Antique Olive, Vertical has a narrow connection point here, adding contrast and definition. The overall effect feels austere at lighter weights and strident and graphic at bolder weights, and sharp and incised throughout. In the Bold and Black weights, the squarish and top heavy shape of Antique Olive is most noticeable. For example the wide uppercase, with the B having almost-even width between top and bottom curves, and the almost-overhang of the top curve of the G. But Vertical does not have as extreme an aesthetic or square shape as Antique Olive. As well as its wide design, the upper case is given extra authority by being a slightly heavier weight than the lower case. This is a device borrowed from Gill, and other ‘old’ typefaces, where the upper case is presented as a titling design. Modern sensibilities are more focussed on an even colour between upper and lower case. Vertical was originally intended as a sister typeface to Ano, like AnoAngular or AnoStencil. Vertical developed into a similar but separate design. Ano was designed for use in Another Man — in its modular, circle-base design, and the way there aren’t the amendments usually made in bolder weights to ensure letter clarity. This is for layouts where different weights are used together in different sizes so that the overall letter weight is the same, a feature of the magazine. Where Ano is simple and graphic, Vertical has nuance and texture. It is a pragmatic, utility design. In the balance between graphic and typographic, its focus is the latter.

Rufina was as tall and thin as a reed. Elegant but with that distance that well-defined forms seem to impose. Her voice, however, was sweeter, closer, and when she spoke her name, like a slow whisper, one felt like what she had come to say could be read in her image. Rufina’s story can only be told through a detour because her origin does not coincide with her birth. Rufina was born on a Sunday afternoon while her father was drawing black letters on a white background, and her mother was trying to join those same letters to form words that could tell a story. But her origin goes much further back, and that is why she is pierced by a story that precedes her, even though it is not her own. Maybe her origin can be traced back to that autumn night in which that tall man with that distant demeanor ran into that woman with that sweet smile and elegant aspect. He looked at her in such a way that he was trapped by that gaze, even though they found no words to say to each other, and they stayed in silence. Somehow, some words leaked into that gaze because since that moment they were never apart again. Later, after they started talking, projects started coming up and then coexistence and arguments, routines and mismatches. But in that chaos of crossed words in their life together, something was stable through the silence of the gazes. In those gazes, the silent words sustained that indescribable love that they didn’t even try to understand. And in one of those silences, Rufina appeared, when that man told that woman that he needed a text to try out his new font, and she saw him look at her with that same fascination of the first time, and she started to write something with those forms that he was giving her as a gift. Rufina was as tall and thin as a reed, wrote her mother when Rufina was born. Photo (Fragilité): Karin Topolanski / Post: Raw (www.raw.com.uy) - María Pérez Gutiérrez

The market for humanistic sans serif type families is saturated, so what can a new release add, and what does it take to stand out from the crowd? Asterisk Sans Pro (named after my favourite glyph to make) aims to be a highly versatile type family; massively useful due to its pan-European language support and bounty of OpenType features which make it the ideal choice for demanding typography. The look is contemporary; details which give the fonts character at large sizes all but disappear when small, making the middle weights suitable for large chunks of text. The family ranges from a hairline ultra light to a pretty weighty black – a must in a new typeface. Asterisk Sans Pro supports Latin, modern Greek and Cyrillic, with localized forms for Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian to boot. This is rare enough, but to have small caps for all these scripts in both upright and italic fonts is a big plus. Your client may not need all this language support right now, but this typeface gives them the option to grow while keeping a consistent look, and at a similar price point to families with a much narrower scope. The ability to customize Asterisk Sans Pro through the use of Stylistic Sets in OpenType savvy layout programs means you are really in control. Want more italic forms in the uprights? Go for it. A more Roman italic? Easy! The spurless m, n, r and u, accessible through SS13 give a graphic, almost bauhaus feel. The Dutch IJ glyph can be changed to a much cooler thing using SS14, and the family even supports ij-acute. Other OpenType features include a wealth of numeral styles (tabular and proportional, lining and oldstyle, plus small cap figures, numerators, denominators, subscript and superscript) and automatic fractions. There are also case-sensitive forms for all caps settings, a bunch of useful arrows, and superscript lower case Latin letters. All in, there are well over 1200 glyphs per font, making Asterisk Sans Pro an invaluable tool in your typeface arsenal, great for everything from corporate identities to editorial work, apps to cookbooks.

TT Hazelnuts useful links: Specimen PDF | Graphic presentation | Customization options About TT Hazelnuts: TT Hazelnuts is a display sans-serif font family containing a set of elegant and delicate decorative elements. Initially the family was designed for highly specialized areas, but we've decided to extend the number of typefaces and to make the family more universal. Despite its geometric essence, TT Hazelnuts reflects a touch of human hand—you can take a calligraphic tool and, by turning it, draw pretty much the whole font. TT Hazelnuts font family is perfect for small text arrays, for instance, for fashion or advertising industries, and will also fit perfectly into layout of longer and more complex typographic systems thanks to a large variety of font weights (Thin, ExtraLight, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, ExtraBold, Black, Heavy) and its true italics. It has already become a good tradition to include broad support of OT features into our new fonts. TT Hazelnuts is not an exception, it uses a large number of useful features: ordn, sinf, sups, numr, dnom, tnum, onum, frac, case. FOLLOW US: Instagram | Facebook | Website TT Hazelnuts language support: Acehnese, Afar, Albanian, Alsatian, Aragonese, Arumanian, Asu, Aymara, Banjar, Basque, Belarusian (cyr), Bemba, Bena, Betawi, Bislama, Boholano, Bosnian (cyr), Bosnian (lat), Breton, Bulgarian (cyr), Cebuano, Chamorro, Chiga, Colognian, Cornish, Corsican, Cree, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Embu, English, Erzya, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Gaelic, Gagauz (lat), Galician, German, Gusii, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiri Motu, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Innu-aimun, Interlingua, Irish, Italian, Javanese, Judaeo-Spanish, Judaeo-Spanish, Kalenjin, Karachay-Balkar (lat), Karaim (lat), Karakalpak (lat), Kashubian, Khasi, Khvarshi, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kongo, Kumyk, Kurdish (lat), Ladin, Latvian, Laz, Leonese, Lithuanian, Luganda, Luo, Luxembourgish, Luyia, Macedonian, Machame, Makhuwa-Meetto, Makonde, Malay, Manx, Maori, Mauritian Creole, Minangkabau, Moldavian (lat), Montenegrin (lat), Mordvin-moksha, Morisyen, Nahuatl, Nauruan, Ndebele, Nias, Nogai, Norwegian, Nyankole, Occitan, Oromo, Palauan, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rheto-Romance, Rohingya, Romanian, Romansh, Rombo, Rundi, Russian, Rusyn, Rwa, Salar, Samburu, Samoan, Sango, Sangu, Scots, Sena, Serbian (cyr), Serbian (lat), Seychellois Creole, Shambala, Shona, Slovak, Slovenian, Soga, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Sundanese, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Swiss German, Swiss German, Tagalog, Tahitian, Taita, Tatar, Tetum, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Tsonga, Tswana, Turkish, Turkmen (lat), Ukrainian, Uyghur, Vepsian, Volapük, Võro, Vunjo, Xhosa, Zaza, Zulu.

Laima is the brush-formed stencil from Bogidar Mascareñas that will create an ovation for branding, album art, upscale venues, and packaging. If wide appeal, attention to detail, or international reach is necessary for your brand, consider Laima’s high-calibre design as your personal ambassador. The general font user is accustomed to stencil typefaces that have a brute look to them — industrial, mechanical, restrictive, or even militarised. Stencils are commonly used because they serve a function, like spray-painting over template letters, giving the reader a warning that must be heeded for safety, or a command to follow immediately. Wooden crates and grunge art are the medium and black or red paint are the norm. Laima, instead, creates a stencil from the world of calligraphy to turn all this on its head. Laima’s 12 stencil styles (six roman and six italic) use the junctures of calligraphic strokes as an opportunity to achieve an uncommon stencil effect, shifting to create unexpected shapes and the illusion of twisted, disconnected overlaps. Inspired by “Arte Nueva de Escribir”, an engravings book published by Francisco Palomares in 1776, Laima progressed well beyond its beginning as a Type and Media Master’s project at KABK, The Hague (NL). It sometimes required completely new character shapes to accommodate the space needed for clear diacritic marks, and was further enhanced with flourishes and alternates for liveliness and variety in individual or branded work. Laima’s italic begins with swashes and uses OpenType features to automatically turn them off with more than two successive capital letters. Use one swashed character for a drop cap, two for ligatured fun, turn them on or off at your discretion, or change the ascender length and swash shape to suit your creative need. With two styles of numerals and stylistic sets for final forms, Laima’s 12 styles and hundreds of Latin-based languages can turn simple words into an occasion that would immediately benefit high-class brands and special uses. Set that article title, release that new product, code your best-looking UI yet, letterpress that business card, and print that gourmet label. Whatever is next, Laima is the unexpected stencil partner to introduce it to an expectant world.

Inspired by early grotesque typefaces such as Akzidenz Grotesk and Venus, Werksatz is our contemporary interpretation of this beloved genre. Some things are timeless. These are the things that only get better with use. The aforementioned typefaces certainly belong into this category. Rediscovered by designers from every generation again and again, they are here to stay. However, as tools evolve and technology moves on, even a well-tried design has to adapt to this evolution continuously in order to stand the test of time. Werksatz is such an adaptation, taking the best from the invincible classics and infusing them with the warm blood of today’s tech. With 10 weights from Thin to Black, each with painstakingly fine-tuned obliques, and more than 940 characters per style, this font family is ready for the future. Its Extended Latin support ensures you won’t miss a letter in any of hundreds of languages. Special glyphs like three variations of arrows and additional shapes will make your design work so much easier—for well-structured forms as well as radical editorial layouts. Among a treasure trove of OpenType features, you’ll find essentials such as Capital Spacing, Case-Sensitive Forms, and Ligatures, but also advanced functions like Small Caps, Subscript and Inferior figures and letters, plenty figure sets (Lining Figures, Tabular Figures, Old-Style Figures, circled and squared figures, figures for small caps … you get the idea), Slashed Zero, and more. You’ll discover that Werksatz is less formalistic and rigid than your average neogrotesk typeface. Sure, you can use it for serious business—whether in corporate design, branding, editorial design, publication design, or web design for industries and topics ranging from politics, government, management, or law to technology, entrepreneurship, commerce, or finance. However, Werksatz is much more versatile than that. Its more human appearance also allows for effective use in culture, fashion, art, entertainment, sports, exhibitions, leisure, and luxury. It’s an excellent choice for wayfinding applications, apps, packaging, and all kinds of nonfiction books. Other Grotesks with big names are left behind outdated by their proprietors, but Werksatz is here to stay. The classic industrial warmth of these letterforms will age like fine wine.

TT Bells useful links: Specimen PDF | Graphic presentation | Customization options About TT Bells: TT Bells combines the elegant softness of antiqua with a complex and daring temper reflected in straight stroke terminals and arrowheaded serifs. The family is based on broad nib, which was typically used for old style fonts and creates these hallmark terminals and serifs. We've taken the best from old style fonts created before the digital age and added sharp and contemporary geometric shapes to the traditional style. That’s how TT Bells refers the spectators and font enthusiasts to the origins and, at the same time, reminds us that we live in the digital era when geometry and screens rule the world. TT Bells is suited for different types of text–from the shortest headings to large text arrays. When the font size is decreased, the boldness and sharpness of the font soften, it becomes more classic. The font family is created according to the traditional TypeType formula (Thin, Light, Regular, Bold, Black & Italics). FOLLOW US: Instagram | Facebook | Website TT Bells OpenType features: tnum, onum, pnum, numr, dnom, frac, case, ordn, subs, sups. TT Bells language support: Acehnese, Afar, Albanian, Alsatian, Aragonese, Arumanian, Asu, Aymara, Banjar, Basque, Belarusian (cyr), Bemba, Bena, Betawi, Bislama, Boholano, Bosnian (cyr), Bosnian (lat), Breton, Bulgarian (cyr), Cebuano, Chamorro, Chiga, Colognian, Cornish, Corsican, Cree, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Embu, English, Erzya, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Gaelic, Gagauz (lat), Galician, German, Gusii, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiri Motu, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Innu-aimun, Interlingua, Irish, Italian, Javanese, Judaeo-Spanish, Judaeo-Spanish, Kalenjin, Karachay-Balkar (lat), Karaim (lat), Karakalpak (lat), Kashubian, Khasi, Khvarshi, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kongo, Kumyk, Kurdish (lat), Ladin, Latvian, Laz, Leonese, Lithuanian, Luganda, Luo, Luxembourgish, Luyia, Macedonian, Machame, Makhuwa-Meetto, Makonde, Malay, Manx, Maori, Mauritian Creole, Minangkabau, Montenegrin (lat), Mordvin-moksha, Morisyen, Nahuatl, Nauruan, Ndebele, Nias, Nogai, Norwegian, Nyankole, Occitan, Oromo, Palauan, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rheto-Romance, Rohingya, Romansh, Rombo, Rundi, Russian, Rusyn, Rwa, Salar, Samburu, Samoan, Sango, Sangu, Scots, Sena, Serbian (cyr), Serbian (lat), Seychellois Creole, Shambala, Shona, Slovak, Slovenian, Soga, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Sundanese, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Swiss German, Swiss German, Tagalog, Tahitian, Taita, Tatar, Tetum, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Tsonga, Tswana, Turkish, Turkmen (lat), Ukrainian, Uyghur, Vepsian, Volapük, Võro, Vunjo, Xhosa, Zaza, Zulu.

Ana is a chromatic typeface consisting of 26 uppercase Latin characters, inspired by arabesque patterns from the nineteenth century. Programmed to enable users to easily create multicolored drop caps and initials, this decorative display typeface features a different ornament for every letterform, which fits perfectly with its glyph shape. This ornament is usually more luxurious on the left side of the letter, while on the right it is scarce, so that the body text can be placed close to the initial. These initials are valuable for use in large sizes, like posters, magazines, packaging design, fairy tales, and so on. The final forms of the initials consist of 5 parts which can be individually colored. There are 5 font files named Ana Layer A, Ana Layer B, and so on. A font user can manually create a multicolored initial with these font files, if there is no possibility to use the Contextual Alternates option. To do that, it is necessary to make 5 layers in the page layout software. Then, the corresponding character should be placed on each layer, so that Ana Layer A is on the lowest layer and Ana Layer E is on the highest one. Note that the glyph shapes are contained in the lower case positions. In contrast, the font file named Ana is programmed, so it is possible to create a multicolored initial with the Contextual Alternates command. There is no need for additional layers, everything happens on a single layer. First, the Contextual Alternates command (usually under OpenType menu) should be disabled. Then, using lower case key, type the desired character 5 times and apply color to them. Select them all and turn on the Contextual Alternates. Also, the font file Ana comes with a set of ‘black’ initials that can be used just like any other non-color typeface. The ornamental versions are contained in the uppercase positions, while the letters without the ornaments are in the lower case. With the font file Ana Monochrome one can only get the monochrome initials. Ornamental letters are contained in the upper case positions, while the letterforms without the ornaments are in the lower case.

Oktah Neue is an extended version of a more limited Oktah family. Since its release in 2019, Oktah Neue received two major updates, the most recent in June 2022. The latest version of Oktah Neue is comes in 22 styles as well as one variable font. Oktah Neue inherits the best traits of Oktah—great legibility, simple geometric letters shapes, low contrast across all styles—but also introduces what Oktah fell short of: extensive language support and enhanced OpenType features. While working on Oktah Neue, we strove to create a neutral typeface that would be a workhorse for designers, typographers and other font users alike. Building onto the familiar shapes of Oktah, we tried to make them more neutral, at the same time preserving the unique character of the typeface. Certain characters remained the same, others have undergone a complete transformation, which left them better tailored for the wide implementation range of Oktah Neue. Over the past years the size of the character set in Oktah Neue was significantly expanded (currently standing at 2500+ characters). In addition to Extended Latin, new language systems (Extended Cyrillic, Greek — both Basic and Polytonic — and Hebrew) were introduced. The already vast Cyrillic set also includes localised forms for such languages as Bulgarian, Serbian and many others. Oktah Neue is OpenType friendly: it knows how to do alternatives, contextual alternatives, switch various between stylistic sets and adjust the height of punctuation and symbols as you type. Small Caps include all listed languages as well as numerals and symbols. Oktah Neue comes equipped with various styles of numerals — from standard Proportional Lining figures to Oldstyle, Tabular Oldstyle. Sub- and Superscript, Fractions and two sets of circled numbers. Oktah Neue is well-kerned with more than 3000 kerning pairs and automatically hinted. Oktah Neue comes in 22 styles (11 uprights and 11 italics), two of which — Ultra Light and Black Italic — can be downloaded free of charge to get a firsthand experience of what Oktah Neue is ready to offer. The latest update of Oktah Neue introduced a fully variable option: now, both axes (Slant and Weight) can be accessed in the same file for utmost convenience.

Many typefaces are distinctive or attractive at the expense of legibility and versatility. Not so the Optima® family. Simultaneously standing out and fitting in, there are few projects or imaging environments outside of its range. Although Optima is almost always grouped with sans serif typefaces, it should be considered a serifless roman. True to its Roman heritage, Optima has wide, full-bodied characters – especially in the capitals. Only the E, F and L deviate with narrow forms. Consistent with other Zapf designs, the cap S in Optima appears slightly top-heavy with a slight tilt to the right. The M is splayed, and the N, like a serif design, has light vertical strokes. The lowercase a and g in Optima are high-legibility two-storied designs. Optima can be set within a wide choice of line spacing values – from very tight to very open. In fact, there are few limits to the amount of white space that can be added between lines of text. Optima also benefits from a wide range of letter spacing capability. It can be set quite tight, or even slightly open – especially the capitals. If there are any guidelines, Optima should be set more open than tight. It’s not that readability is affected that much when Optima is set on the snug side; it’s just that the unhurried elegance and light gray typographic color created by the face are disrupted when letters are set too tight. Optima is also about as gregarious as a typeface can be. It mixes well with virtually any serif design and a surprisingly large number of sans serif faces. The Optima family is available in six weights, from roman to extra black, each with an italic counterpart. In addition, the family is available as a suite of OpenType® Pro fonts, providing for the automatic insertion of small caps, ligatures and alternate characters, in addition to offering an extended character set supporting most Central European and many Eastern European languages. When you’re ready to find its perfect pairing, browse these fantastic matches: Monotype Century Old Style™, Dante®, Frutiger® Serif, Joanna® Nova, Malabar™ and Soho®.

I was inspired to create the Rainier type family during my summer back home in the Pacific Northwest. The concept behind it may be simple - a hand crafted font family - but what it delivers is quite complex! Here is a breakdown of everything you get: FONT FAMILIES: Two sub-families with unique styles - Rainier North and Rainier West WEIGHTS: 4 weights per family, broken down numerically - 100 (light), 300 (regular), 500 (bold), 700 (black) OPENTYPE: In each family, there are tons of OpenType options, offering lots of customizable opportunities (in order to access all these goodies, you must be using Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign or Publisher). Because Rainier is 100% handmade, contextual alternatives allow each letter has three subtle variations, this way it keeps that authentic hand-drawn look. Additionally, a full alphabet with special descending swashes, as well as start and end swashes for capitals and small caps. Titling alternatives offer a full character set just to help with readability! Meant for captions or smaller text, these letterforms are easy on the eye and a great complement to the regular alphabet. Stylistic Alternatives add a little fun, providing a unified cap height, no matter what case you are using (all caps, small caps or lowercase.) Discretionary Ligatures are created only for capitals, and takes specific letter pairs and creates a unique ligature between them To get a better understanding of everything, please check out the quicker user guide (http://bit.ly/1W0Bfma) and print if you so desire (http://bit.ly/23W9ZV6) that helps you navigate your way around and get the most out of Rainier! Unfortunately those links aren't working right now and soon I will have them fixed. So sorry! ORNAMENTS: In addition to the font, you get a set of awesomely rustic ornaments designed and drawn to go specifically with Rainier! - Rustic Northwest Illustrations - Banners & Flags - Frames - Flourishes - Lines & Line Breaks - Arrows There are a lot of extras packed in this set, so make sure you check out the Ornaments User Guide to get the most out of it! Check it out here: http://bit.ly/1rRVJRx And that’s all folks! Hope you enjoy Rainier!

We've upgraded TT Hoves Pro with 20 new fonts and Vietnamese! TT Hoves Pro useful links: Specimen | Graphic presentation | Customization options Please note! If you need OTF versions of the fonts, just email us at commercial@typetype.org TT Hoves Pro is the studio's bestseller, one of the top three universal sans serifs along with TT Norms® Pro and TT Commons™️ Pro. TT Hoves Pro has a neutral yet recognizable character suitable for use in any modern project. The font has a large character set, including extended Cyrillic and Latin, as well as a large number of styles. TT Hoves Pro was already perfect, but we made it even more functional! Updated TT Hoves Pro: supports more than 200 languages, including Vietnamese; contains 4 widths: Compact, Normal, Condensed, Expanded; consists of 83 styles, 20 of which are new Compact fonts; includes upright and italic Outline fonts, each with 672 characters; contains an improved variable font that varies in weight, width and slope; includes 1573 characters in each style, except for Outline versions; contains 41 OpenType features, including many ligatures and stylistic alternatives. The geometry of the TT Hoves Pro has remained unchanged. The font lacks pronounced contrast, all terminals are on the same level, and there are wide horizontal strokes in triangular characters. TT Hoves Pro is ideal for web design and use in applications. Perfect for branding, packaging design and printing. TT Hoves Pro OpenType features list: aalt, ccmp, locl, subs, sinf, sups, numr, dnom, frac, ordn, tnum, onum, lnum, pnum, c2sc, smcp, dlig, liga, salt, calt, case, zero, ss01, ss02, ss03, ss04, ss05, ss06, ss07, ss08, ss09, ss10, ss11, ss12, ss13, ss14, ss15, ss16, ss17, ss18, ss19 TT Hoves Pro language support: English, Albanian, Basque, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Maltese, Moldavian (lat), Montenegrin (lat), Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian (lat), Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Swiss German, Valencian, Azerbaijani, Kazakh (lat), Turkish, Acehnese, Banjar, Betawi, Bislama, Boholano, Cebuano, Chamorro, Fijian, Filipino, Hiri Motu, Ilocano, Indonesian, Javanese, Khasi, Malay, Marshallese, Minangkabau, Nauruan, Nias, Palauan, Rohingya, Salar, Samoan, Sasak, Sundanese, Tagalog, Tahi- tian, Tetum, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Uyghur, Afar, Afrikaans, Asu, Aymara, Bemba, Bena, Chichewa, Chiga, Embu, Gusii, Jola-Fonyi, Kabuverdianu, Kalenjin, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kongo, Luba-Kasai, Luganda, Luo, Luyia, Machame, Makhuwa-Meetto, Ma- konde, Malagasy, Mauritian Creole, Morisyen, Ndebele, Nyankole, Oromo, Rombo, Rundi, Rwa, Samburu, Sango, Sangu, Sena, Seychellois Creole, Shambala, Shona, Soga, Somali, Sotho, Swahili, Swazi, Taita, Teso, Tsonga, Tswana, Vunjo, Wolof, Xhosa, Zulu, Ganda, Maori, Alsatian, Aragonese, Arumanian, Belarusian (lat), Bosnian (lat), Breton, Colognian, Cornish, Corsi- can, Esperanto, Faroese, Frisian, Friulian, Gaelic, Gagauz (lat), Galician, Interlingua, Judaeo-Spanish, Karaim (lat), Kashubian, Ladin, Leonese, Manx, Occitan, Rheto-Romance, Romansh, Scots, Silesian, Sorbian, Vastese, Volapük, Võro, Walloon, Welsh, Karakalpak (lat), Kurdish (lat), Talysh (lat), Tsakhur (Azerbaijan), Turkmen (lat), Zaza, Aleut (lat), Cree, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Innu-aimun, Karachay-Balkar (lat), Karelian, Livvi-Karelian, Ludic, Tatar, Vepsian, Nahuatl, Quechua,, Russian, Belarusian (cyr), Bosnian (cyr), Bulgarian (cyr), Macedonian, Serbian (cyr), Ukrainian, Gagauz (cyr), Moldavian (cyr), Kazakh (cyr), Kirghiz, Tadzhik, Turkmen (cyr), Uzbek (cyr), Azerbaijan, Lezgian, Abazin, Agul, Archi, Avar, Dargwa, Ingush, Kabardian, Kab- ardino-Cherkess, Karachay-Balkar (cyr), Khvarshi, Kumyk, Lak, Nogai, Rutul, Tabasaran, Tsakhur, Altai, Buryat, Dolgan, Enets, Evenki, Ket, Khakass, Khanty, Komi-Permyak, Komi-Yazva, Komi-Zyrian, Manci, Shor, Siberian Tatar, Tofalar, Touva, Aleut (cyr), Alyutor, Even, Koryak, Nanai, Negidal’skij, Nivkh, Udege, Ulch, Bashkir, Chechen (cyr), Chukchi, Chuvash, Erzya, Eskimo, Kryashen Tatar, Mari-high, Mari-low, Mordvin-moksha, Nenets, Nganasan, Saami Kildin, Selkup, Tatar Volgaic, Udmurt, Yakut, Uighur, Rusyn, Karaim (cyr), Montenegrin (cyr), Romani (cyr), Dungan, Karakalpak (cyr), Shughni, Mongolian, Adyghe, Kalmyk, Talysh (cyr), Russian Old, Vietnamese

Compendium is a sequel to my Burgues font from 2007. Actually it is more like a prequel to Burgues. Before Louis Madarasz awed the American Southeast with his disciplined corners and wild hairlines, Platt Rogers Spencer, up in Ohio, had laid down a style all his own, a style that would eventually become the groundwork for the veering calligraphic method that was later defined and developed by Madarasz. After I wrote the above paragraph, I was so surprised by it, particularly by the first two sentences, that I stopped and had to think about it for a week. Why a sequel/prequel? Am I subconsciously joining the ranks of typeface-as-brand designers? Are the tools I build finally taking control of me? Am I having to resort to “milking it” now? Not exactly. Even though the current trend of extending older popular typefaces can play tricks with a type designer’s mind, and maybe even send him into strange directions of planning, my purpose is not the extension of something popular. My purpose is presenting a more comprehensive picture as I keep coming to terms with my obsession with 19th century American penmanship. Those who already know my work probably have an idea about how obsessive I can be about presenting a complete and detailed image of the past through today’s eyes. So it is not hard to understand my need to expand on the Burgues concept in order to reach a fuller picture of how American calligraphy evolved in the 19th century. Burgues was really all about Madarasz, so much so that it bypasses the genius of those who came before him. Compendium seeks to put Madarasz’s work in a better chronological perspective, to show the rounds that led to the sharps, so to speak. And it is nearly criminal to ignore Spencer’s work, simply because it had a much wider influence on the scope of calligraphy in general. While Madarasz’s work managed to survive only through a handful of his students, Spencer’s work was disseminated throughout America by his children after he died in 1867. The Spencer sons were taught by their father and were great calligraphers themselves. They would pass the elegant Spencerian method on to thousands of American penmen and sign painters. Though Compendium has a naturally more normalized, Spencerian flow, its elegance, expressiveness, movement and precision are no less adventurous than Burgues. Nearing 700 glyphs, its character set contains plenty of variation in each letter, and many ornaments for letter beginnings, endings, and some that can even serve to envelope entire words with swashy calligraphic wonder. Those who love to explore typefaces in detail will be rewarded, thanks to OpenType. I am so in love with the technology now that it’s becoming harder for me to let go of a typeface and call it finished. You probably have noticed by now that my fascination with old calligraphy has not excluded my being influenced by modern design trends. This booklet is an example of this fusion of influences. I am living 150 years after the Spencers, so different contextualization and usage perspectives are inevitable. Here the photography of Gonzalo Aguilar join the digital branchings of Compendium to form visuals that dance and wave like the arms of humanity have been doing since time eternal. I hope you like Compendium and find it useful. I'm all Spencered out for now, but at one point, for history’s sake, I will make this a trilogy. When the hairline-and-swash bug visits me again, you will be the first to know. The PDF specimen was designed with the wonderful photography of Gonzalo Aguilar from Mexico. Please download it here http://new.myfonts.com/artwork?id=47049&subdir=original

I spend a lot of time following two obsessions: packaging and hand lettering. Alongside a few other minor obsessions, those two have been my major ones for so many years now, I've finally reached the point where I can actually claim them as “obsessions” without getting a dramatic reaction from the little voice in the back of my head. When you spend so much time researching and studying a subject, you become very focused, directionally and objectively. But of course some of the research material you run into turns out to be tangential to whatever your focus happens to be at the time, so you absorb what you can from it, then shelf it — like the celebrity bobblehead that amused you for a while, but is now an almost invisible ornament eating dust and feathers somewhere in your environment. And just like the bobblehead may fall off the shelf one day to remind you of its existence, some of my lettering research material unveiled itself in my head one day for no particular reason. Hand lettering is now mostly perceived as an American art. Someone with my historical knowledge about lettering may be snooty enough to go as far as pointing out the British origins of almost everything American, including lettering — but for the most part, the contemporary perspective associates great lettering with America. The same perspective also associates blackletter, gothics and sans serifs with Germany. So you can imagine my simultaneous surprise and impatience when, in my research for one of my American lettering-based fonts, I ran into a German lettering book from 1953, by an artist called Bentele. It was no use for me because it didn't propel my focus at that particular time, but a few months ago I was marveling at what we take for granted — the sky is blue, blackletter is German, lettering is American — and found myself flipping through the pages of that book again. The lettering in that book is upbeat and casual sign making stuff, but it has a slightly strange and youthful experimentation at its heart. I suppose I find it strange because it deviates a lot from the American stuff I'm used to working with for so long now. To make a long story short, what’s inside that German book served as the semilla, which is Spanish for seed, for the typeface you see all over these pages. With Semilla, my normal routine went out the window. My life for a while was all Bezier all the time. No special analog or digital brushes or pens were used in drawing these forms. They're the product of a true Bezier process, all starting with a point creating a curve to another point, which draws a curve to another point, and so on. It’s a very time-consuming process, but at the end I am satisfied that it can get to pretty much the same results easier and more traditional methods accomplish. And as usual with my fonts, the OpenType is plenty and a lot of fun. Experimenting with substitution and automation is still a great pleasure for me. It is the OpenType that always saves me from the seemingly endless work hours every type designer must inevitably have to face at one point in his career. The artful photos used in this booklet are by French photographer and designer Stéphane Giner. He is very deserving of your patronage, so please keep an eye out for his marvelous work. I hope you like Semilla and enjoy using it. I have a feeling that it marks a transition to a more curious and flexible period in my career, but only time will tell.