Geometric sans fonts in the Bauhaus tradition were the inspiration for the design of FF Mark®, for example the Universal font by Herbert Bayer, Erbar® Grotesk, Kabel®, Neuzeit Grotesk and of course Paul Renner's Futura®. From an aesthetic point of view, FF Mark is a descendant of these classics of German typeface design that intends to meet the needs of modern communication. Hannes von Döhren and Christoph Koeberlin had the support of the entire FontFont Type Department in the design of FF Mark, including Erik Spiekermann, who took over the artistic direction of the project. The teamwork resulted in carefully planned, balanced forms, which are responsible for the harmonious overall impression of the font. The capitals are not based on Roman square capitals; rather, they have a uniformly wide letter form in a comfortable ratio to the x-height. Thanks to the x-height, which is significantly larger compared to the historical models, FF Mark is also very legible in small sizes. This makes it a very flexible font in terms of its range of applications. A contrast in the stroke width is barely noticeable. At the same time, light modulation supports readability, especially in the bold styles in small sizes. The uniform line ends are obvious for a contemporary sans family nowadays (unlike some of the historical precedents, which evolved over years). Other details from the predecessors are consciously maintained and provide for added individuality in FF Mark. For example, the limbs in the uppercase "K" and "R" are offset slightly from the stem. Alternative characters with crossbars are available for the numbers "0", "1", "7" and the uppercase "Z" and the lowercase "a" also has an alternative with an open form. German typesetters have the option of uppercase umlauts with points that are set lower, as well as a long "s" from the Fraktur. And last but not least, FF Mark has the very characteristic ft-ligature of Futura. FF Mark is available in ten finely tuned weights ranging from Hairline to Black. A Book style for text setting further emphasizes the well-rounded features of this contemporary typeface. When the font was published, it also included ten carefully designed cursives for all weights. Users also have the option of various numeral sets with old-style and uppercase numbers as well as small capitals. FF Mark also has some geometric shapes and arrows based on the features of Futura. FF Mark is a modern, full-featured, geometric sans serif that you can use without hesitation for large projects in headlines as well as in texts. FF Mark's design is a nod to the historical models and transports their charm, elegance and in some cases unusual design applications into a modern font family equipped with the most current typographical features. NEW: the new FF Mark W1G versions features a pan-European character set for international communications. The W1G character set supports almost all the popular languages/writing systems in western, eastern, and central Europe based on the Latin alphabet and also several based on Cyrillic and Greek alphabets.

Kirshaw is not your grandfather's sans serif from the 1950s and 1960s. All those old classics like Helvetica, Futura, Franklin Gothic, and Univers are showing their age like an old Elvis Presley song. Kirshaw is a clean, rounded design with sharp contrasting edges. Like those classics, Kirshaw is easy to read in small body copy and captions, plus it's delightfully modern and stylish for headlines and logos. I designed Kirshaw and Kirkly while undergoing cancer treatment at Stanford Medical Center. Font design was always in the back of my mind and now I had extra time. Kirshaw is a distinctive, modern, easy-to-read sans serif family consists of 14 weights (including italics). It’s an Adobe Latin 3 Character Set containing 350 glyphs per style (including special characters).

Virginia has a proven track-record. Unashamedly geometric, starkly simple with a touch of art deco/bauhaus/rococo about her, she was the most popular headline face around, at least in my home town in the year of her release circa 1970. That was the year my five-weight design won the inaugural (and only) Lettergraphics International Alphabet design competition and shut out 5000 competitors. Alas, Lettergraphics ceased to trade from its LA studios after the mid-80s and Virginia's two-inch film fonts were left to collect dust on the cutting room floor. Until my recent decision to revive her along with some subtle tweaking, a few additional glyphs and Opentype features, supported by an abundance of kern pairs making Virginia suitable for text or the largest display type.