Generous curves above and below the straight-sided Railroad Gothic parallel those of Figgins’s elephantine Grotesques, lending to both British and American series their monumental qualities. Shrinking the center strokes and counters to emphasize a massive periphery, David Berlow has used this curious similarity to suspend a complete family of sanserifs between the two forms, a manly series of great dignity and presence; FB 1997

BLOCK CAPITALS is a square, geometric, small caps display face that avoids fashionable foibles and exudes the neutral, unpretentious functionality of time-honoured block lettering. The family has three widths (Narrow, Normal and Wide), and the Bold weights are loosely based on well-used squared nets – 3x5, 4x5 and 5x5. However, the typeface escapes its grid origins whenever necessary with slightly modulated stroke weights, sensitive spacing and careful kerning. The aim is to retain the strength and simplicity of strictly geometric characters while introducing barely perceptible refinements that add elegance and usability. That said, letters and numbers line up horizontally without overlapping the capline or baseline, even the tail of the Q does not descend below the Baseline. Diacritics are modesty proportioned, accented characters extending no farther than necessary, allowing the leading on multiple lines of text to be kept to a minimum.