With the printing of the Futurist poem “Zang Tumb Tuuum” in 1914, modern art had taken a typographic twist: “words in freedom” (parole in libertà) were now a major part of the art world. The avant garde followed suit. Niedermann Grotesk is based on the everyday type that appeared in early modernist collages, journals and manifestos. It is a peculiar style of lettering—which was originally inspired by the Sachplakat (object poster) work of Lucian Bernhard—and adapted for hot metal in 1908 by Heinz Hoffmann. 100 years ago, the style became a workhorse of the German printing industry. Niedermann Grotesk is an updated variant, referencing the original poster art, each letter carefully drawn with an old brush. Bumpy, bold and blunt—with a suite of alternate characters and a few dingbats—Niedermann Grotesk is perfect for advertising, packaging, poetry, art, protests and retro homage.

This family, in normal and bold weights, is based on Advertisers Gothic, designed by Robert Wiebking for Barnhart Brothers & Spindler in 1917. The original might be considered a transitional design between Art Nouveau and Art Deco; this version accentuates the Deco traits, adding a thick-and-thin treatment not found in the original. The large x-height and short descenders allow for compact, commanding headlines with a carefree charm, a.k.a. bell'agio. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

What’s the good word? This elegant, stylish typeface, based on an early twentieth-century Barnhart Brothers & Spindler release, named simply "Engravers Upright Script". Based on French ronde letterforms, this version is bolder—which makes it suitable for text settings, even at smaller sizes—and has more pronounced stroke contrast—which makes it suitable for headlines. Versatile, handsome and charming, this typeface is an invaluable addition to any type repertoire. Both versions of the font contain the complete Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

Commercial Script is a sophisticated copperplate script design. Its capitals are elaborate initials, and the lowercase letters join together in the style of real handwriting. Commercial Script's elegant refinement makes it a classic and ever-popular typeface. The spark behind this typeface comes from centries-old English Spencerian copperplate calligraphy. In 1985, the American typefoundry Barnhart Brothers & Spindler released a typeface in this style. This was redesigned by ATF's Morris Fuller Benton in 1906, and ATF released Commercial Script" in 1908. In 1994, Letraset' released this digital version of the typeface."

Cooper Black The Cooper Black font should be used in display sizes only. Cooper Blacks serifs are rounded and the counters are small. Cooper Black was designed by Oswald B. Cooper for Barnhart Brothers & Spindler in 1921 for advertising and posters. The capital O and Q of the Cooper Black font are tilted back; in the lowercase, the dot on the I and j become elliptical. The extra bold Cooper Black font has a remarkable personality and reproduces well in sizes over 18 point in titles, subheadings and generally short sentences.

Commercial Script is a sophisticated copperplate script design. Its capitals are elaborate initials, and the lowercase letters join together in the style of real handwriting. Commercial Script's elegant refinement makes it a classic and ever-popular typeface. The spark behind this typeface comes from centries-old English Spencerian copperplate calligraphy. In 1985, the American typefoundry Barnhart Brothers & Spindler released a typeface in this style. This was redesigned by ATF's Morris Fuller Benton in 1906, and ATF released Commercial Script" in 1908. In 1994, Letraset' released this digital version of the typeface."

In 1899, Robert Wiebking (who worked for a number of foundries in his time) designed an all-caps typeface named Engravers Roman (see Engravers #2). American Type Founders, Inc. (ATF) released a heavier variant in 1902, Engravers Bold, designed by Morris Fuller Benton. Engravers Bold was also released by the Barnhart Brothes & Spinder foundry. Today, Linotype's Engravers brings turn-of-the-century elegance directly to your keyboard. Use the Engravers typeface on any formal piece -- from table cards, to menus, invitations, or advertising work. Engravers is similar to Copperplate Gothic, Sackers Gothic and Nicolas Cochin.

What intrigued me about Buslingthorpe was the virtuoso challenge it presented, of designing a typeface that would, despite a ridiculously tiny x-height, still possess a coherent harmony betwen upper and lower case, and read confortably. At the same time, beyond pure plastic formality, I was aware that there are strong connotations of historicism in this noble style, with overtones of regal magnificence, on account of the extravagant leading and generous point size required for adequate visibility—in traditional letterpress printing such proportions, with so few characters per square inch, were pricey and devoured resources. There are two iconic early 20th century designs in the genre: Koch Antiqua (Rudolf Koch, Klingspor Foundry, 1922) and Lucian (Lucian Bernhard, Bauer Foundry, 1925). Both these have x-heights smaller than fifty percent of ascender height, which nominally defines the category. So I made these my benchmarks, and determined to outdo them in dramatic fashion. —Nick Shinn, Orangeville, March 2021

This elegant typeface was suggested to me by type critic Daniel Will-Harris. Jensen Arabique is based on a set of capital letters drawn by Gustav Jensen that included the word "ARABIQUE" at the top of the first page, therefore the name. Daniel Will-Harris has this to say about Jensen Arabique: "I found an example of this unexecuted Gustav Jensen typeface in a type sample book from 1933, and Jason Castle lovingly digitized it with all its rare and unusual curves intact." Uppercase with alternates, numerals and some punctuation.

Youthful Fontsmith received a brief to develop a font that would form part of the broadcast identity for the UK’s first digital Freeview channel – E4. It needed to work seamlessly in text and display, both in print and on-screen, and please the eye of the target audience, 18-34-year-olds. So, young, fresh and informal. No problem. Except for one thing: the timing. Daughter As he worked on FS Maja, Jason Smith was occupied by another imminent deadline: the birth of his third child. The pressure was mounting, but rather than let it get to him, Jason embraced the challenge and made light of the tension, fashioning a bright, bubbly, entertaining type with a personality made for memorable headlines. Beautifully random FS Maja’s soft, rounded shapes and assured, fluent lines encompass lots of notable features that contribute to its warm, fun-loving personality, including: a very large x-height; a short, rounded serif to allow for close spacing and give texture to body text; a slight convexity, or bulge, in the stroke terminals; a calligraphic fluidity in the entry to the down-stroke of most lowercase letters; open, generous curves, especially in the “B”, “P” and “R”; and a “w” made of two “u”s.

A Historic Revival with a Sophisticated Rustic Edge Pennyroyal began as a Barnhart Brothers & Spindler typeface called Plymouth Bold, first cut in 1900. What began as a straightforward rustic typestyle has been revived to include a more extensive character set. But this font wasn’t just revived, it has come alive with character and personality. Pennyroyal includes 564 characters. The expanded SmallCaps option for gives the typestyle a more sophisticated look, expanding on the original typeface inspiration. Opentype features include: A collection of ligatures. Smallcaps. Full set of Inferiors and Superiors. Proportional figures and Oldstyle figure sets

Mia is a 1 year old. She likes animals. But not just any old barnyard variety animals, she likes cute and fun, pseudo-animals that nobody else knows about. Now she is willing to share her favorite “pets” with the world in this exclusive symbol font designed by 10four. Originally conceived as wall graphics for Mia's bedroom, Mia Pets has been expanded to include 62 distinct icons. A collection of friendly creatures, now set free from Mia's bedroom and ready for whatever mischief you can find for them... great for wall vinyl, web graphics, or T-shirt graphics!

Francis is a design previously offered by the Lanston Type Co. in the early 1990s. It is a revival of a 1955 Günther Gerhard Lange design, but with a heavier overall weight. Coming out of retirement, it has been fully reworked and refined with elegant curves and an expanded character set. This font works well at small sizes and larger display sizes for everything from wine labels to personal stationery. This type evokes the elegant sophistcation of the Jazz age and pairs well with a Martini and a fine selection of charcuterie.

This family takes its inspiration from two early Art Deco faces from Germany. The Normal version is based on Dynamo, designed by K. Sommer for Ludwig & Mayer in 1930, while the Narrow version is based on Stadion, designed by Erhard Grundeis for Die Schriftguß AG in 1929. Their common design motifs epitomize the Age of Streamline. Both versions include the complete Latin 1252, Central European 1250 and Turkish 1254 character sets, with localization for Lithuanian, Moldovan and Romanian.

Eclectic FS Siena is a typeface with history, and not just in the sense of having its origins in classical Roman lettering. Fontsmith founder Jason Smith first committed it to tracing paper while still at college, instinctively redrawing letterforms based on Hermann Zapf’s Optima according to ‘what felt right’. When Krista Radoeva took up the challenge to edit and extend the typeface, she and Jason were determined to preserve its subtly nonconformist and eclectic spirit. Like a great dish, there are individual components throughout the character set that all add flavour, and need to be balanced in order to work together. The smooth connection of the ‘h’ ‘m’ ‘n’ and ‘r’ contrasts with the corners of the ‘b’ and ‘p’. The instantly recognisable double-storey ‘a’ – the starting point of the design – contrasts with the single-storey ‘g’ and the more cursive ‘y’. And only certain characters – ‘k’, ‘w’, ‘v’ and ‘x’ in the lowercase and ‘K’, ‘V’, ‘W’, ‘X’ and ‘Y’ in the caps – have curved strokes. Transitional FS Siena is a contrasted sans-serif typeface, blending classical elegance and modern simplicity. Its construction and proportions are descended from classical broad-nib calligraphy and humanist typefaces, with a high contrast between the thick and thin strokes. The angle of the contrast, though, is vertical, more in the character of pointed-nib calligraphy and modernist typefaces. This vertical stress helps to give FS Siena a strong, cultured presence on the page. Idiosyncratic italics The italics for FS Siena were developed by Krista to complement the roman upper and lower-case alphabets first drawn by Jason. Many of the letterforms are built differently to their roman counterparts: there’s a single-tier ‘a’, a looped ‘k’ and connections more towards the middle of stems, such as in the ‘m’, ‘n’ and ‘u’. These distinctions, along with generally much narrower forms than the roman, give the italics extra emphasis within body copy, where the two are side-by-side. In editorial, especially, the combination can be powerful. To cap it all… In his original draft of the typeface, Jason found inspiration in Roman square capitals of the kind most famously found on Trajan’s Column in Rome. In keeping with those ancient inscriptions, he intended the capitals of FS Siena to also work in all-upper-case text, in logotypes for luxury consumer brands and property developments, for example. A little added space between the upper-case letters lets the capitals maintain their poise in a caps-only setting, while still allowing them to work alongside the lower-case letterforms. The caps-only setting also triggers a feature called case punctuation, which adapts hyphens, brackets and other punctuation to complement the all-caps text.

SchmalfetteCP is the result of another collaboration between designers Jason Walcott and Rob King. King suggested that Walcott revive this wonderful and somewhat forgotten sans serif typeface from the mid 1950s. Originally designed by Walter Haettenschweiler in 1954, Schmalfette Grotesk was used for many years in the German magazine "Twen". The typeface was notoriously hard to acquire at the time and graphic designers in the USA often resorted to cutting letters from the Twen magazines and reusing them in their own designs. Later, when digital type came along several typefaces very similar were created that claimed to be digital revivals of Schmalfette Grotesk. However, they are actually only loosely based on the original. The proportions are different and in some cases a lower case was added. The original font was all caps. At Rob King's suggestion, Jason Walcott has strived to recreate the most faithful digital revival possible of the original Schmalfette Grotesk with the new version of SchmalfetteCP. In some cases small changes were made to accommodate today's digital needs (e.g. web fonts), but anyone who has ever searched for this typeface now has a version available that most closely resembles Haettenschweiler's original work. Schmalfette CP comes in OpenType format in both .ttf and .otf files and offers support for all Latin based and Eastern European languages.

Elliptical The squareness of curves. That was the elliptical – in more than one sense – notion being explored in the making of FS Hackney. The squareness of curves and vertical terminals to create a gentle, soft sans serif, with a little bit of magic. A momentary thought – “It doesn’t have to be like this” – provided the spur to explore the verticals and skeletons of letterforms beyond conventional type design limits. A 12-month gestation period gave rise to a font with a larger-than-usual character set, including non-lining figures, small caps and superior and inferior numbers. It’s a collection that speaks confidently for itself. Assertive It was the Hackney carriage – the black London cab – that gave this font its name, not the north London neighbourhood. Solid, dependable, effective and built to last, FS Hackney was honed to perform in all conditions. Cool, compelling lines and a satisfying overall simplicity lend FS Hackney its assertive air. Assured, versatile and effective; just like a black cab (but without the grumbling). Machined Over a string of meetings, Jason Smith and FS Hackney designer Nick Job worked out how to infuse Nick’s sketched letterforms with Fontsmith’s familiar geniality. “Nick is very meticulous and produces very clean design work,” says Jason. “Hackney is ideal for branding as it’s very clear and its quirks are sensible ones, not odd ones, that don’t distract from the message.”

Patricia Gothic is a Midwestern take on the traditional American sans serif style. It has been designed as a legible workhorse typeface family with just the right amount of character to add liveliness to your text. A hybrid of the gothic style and contemporary geometrics, its design has also been influenced by everything from vernacular signage, antique hand-lettered ads, early 20th century posters, and type used on mason jars. Its thinner weights can appear elegant, refined, and modern. Its regular weights set nicely legible text. And the heavier weights, especially the small caps, evoke vintage poster lettering. Download the Patricia Gothic PDF specimen

This family was inspired by an engraved plate from Diderot & Dalembert's Encyclopedia (publication beginning in 1751), illustrating the chapter devoted to letter engraving techniques. The plate bears two engravers names : "Aubin" (may be one of the four St Aubin brothers ?)and "Benard" ( which name is present below all plates of the Encyclopedia printed in Geneva ). It seems to be a transitional type, but different from Fournier or Grandjean. Small caps are included in fonts for TTF and OTF version, separate files are included in the family sets of the Mac TT version.

This typeface was inspired strongly by one of Ernhardt Ratdolt’s (1442-1528?) many beautiful typefaces. Mr. Ratdolt was a printer from the city of Augsburg, who had also worked for several years as a printer in Venice. He made many advances in printing technique and technology, including the decorated title page. Early books have a mysterious rhythm to the appearance of the text, due to small variances in letters caused by casting irregularities and ink transfer from the press. This supposed defect, which is present in this typeface, gives a pleasing effect when compared to the sterile regularity of modern printing technology. This font has been released as version 2.0 with over two hundred additional characters and improved metrics.

I am a HUGE fan of Bernard Cornwell’s ‘The Saxon Stories’. Ever since a television series has been made, the series of books is also know as ‘The Last Kingdom’. I have read them all, at break-neck speed and I can’t wait for the next book!! Wintanceastre (Winchester) is based on a 10th century Latin manuscript. I have tried to stay close to the original letters, but since Latin does not have all modern glyphs, I found myself designing the missing ones. So, before you scold me for having made a font that is historically inaccurate: it was never meant to be an exact replica, nor would anyone want an exact replica, as it would be useless for modern texts and designs. Wintanceastre comes with a whole bunch of ligatures and alternate glyphs. Use it for any design that needs a little ‘Dark Ages’ look!

CHICAGO MOONSHINE is an Art Deco serif All Caps display font. Please note that this is primarily for headlines, logos posters in large size. The character set contains Western and Eastern European latin languages, basic symbols and punctuation. The Capital letters has geometric patterns and in place of lowercase letters there are filled in Capitals. Inquiries, feedback, customisation requests and/or extra characters please contact@rolandhusedesign.com or via rolandhuse.com * * * Background image (taken from Unsplash) credits: Chicago at night : Prafulla Chandra https://unsplash.com/@prafulla90 Moon I photoshopped onto the night skyline: Jason Darrell https://unsplash.com/@zebedeerox Moonshine Enjoy & Cheers : bartender holding a shot of liquor by Joel Herzog from unsplash https://unsplash.com/@joel_herzog Street Sign: Bruno Martins https://unsplash.com/@brunus

Linotype Flamingo, from German designer Michael Leonhard, is part of the TakeType Library, chosen from the entries of the Linotype-sponsored International Digital Type Design Contest 1999 for inclusion on the TakeType 3 CD. The figures of this font have pieces missing, the curve of an a, the stroke of an n. The eye fills in the gaps, allowing the designer to present a unique font with reductionist forms which can still communicate written ideas to the reader. A small number of forms come together to create the alphabet and the 'missing pieces' make a light and airy overall impression. Linotype Flamingo should be used in point sizes of 18 and larger and because of reduced legibility should be used only for very short texts.

Bitstream Cooper was designed at Bitstream in 1986 by means of adding light, medium, and bold styles, with the corresponding italics, to the existing black ones. Based on Cooper Black, 1919, by Oswald Bruce Cooper, which was firstly released as a hand composition font in 1922 by Barnhart Brothers & Spindler of Chicago and later spread by ATF. Cooper Black is an extra bold face based on Cooper Old Style. Bitstream Cooper is an old style face with rounded serifs and tilted back ovals. For use both in text (normal weights) and in advertising and display typography (heavy weights). Cyrillic version was developed for ParaType in 2000 by Manvel Shmavonyan and based on TM Oswald face of TypeMarket, 1996, by Victoria Grigorenko.

Carlton is based on a typeface designed by Prof. F. H. Ehmcke. In 1908, Ehmcke released his Ehmcke-Antiqua design through the Flinsch typefoundry in Germany. Ehmcke-Antiqua was later distributed by the Bauer typefoundry in Frankfurt am Main. The Caslon Letter Foundry in England discovered the design and released their own typeface based upon the model, which they named Carlton. Carlton entered the Stephenson Blake program after they acquired the Caslon Letter Foundry in the late 1930s. As hot and cold metal typesetting became outdated technologies, Carlton and Ehmcke-Antiqua fell out of general use. In the 1990s, Letraset revived this classic design, distributing it under its English name, Carlton. Carlton's clean and generous capitals, as well as its understated yet detailed lower case, have found popularity again in recent years. The elegance of Carlton is best used for displays with large letter and word spacing. Carlton shows all of the hallmarks of a delicate serif typeface design; its forms capture a distinct moment that was common within Central European type design during the first third of the 20th Century. Carlton is similar to several other expressive typefaces from the early 1900s, including Bernhard Modern, Koch Antiqua, Locarno, and Nicolas Cochin."

A nice, black display face - for a retro/western poster look. I have kept the quirky “t”, increased the dot above “i” and “j” slightly, improved the spacing/kerning and modified/added all the usual diacritics. A pretty easy reworking of a good quality font. Nick Curtis says: "An old favorite, Bernhard Antique Bold Condensed, cleaned up and fattened up. Warm, charming, personable … suitable for any occasion." ALL fonts from CheapProFonts have very extensive language support: They contain some unusual diacritic letters (some of which are contained in the Latin Extended-B Unicode block) supporting: Cornish, Filipino (Tagalog), Guarani, Luxembourgian, Malagasy, Romanian, Ulithian and Welsh. They also contain all glyphs in the Latin Extended-A Unicode block (which among others cover the Central European and Baltic areas) supporting: Afrikaans, Belarusian (Lacinka), Bosnian, Catalan, Chichewa, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Esperanto, Greenlandic, Hungarian, Kashubian, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Maori, Polish, Saami (Inari), Saami (North), Serbian (latin), Slovak(ian), Slovene, Sorbian (Lower), Sorbian (Upper), Turkish and Turkmen. And they of course contain all the usual “western” glyphs supporting: Albanian, Basque, Breton, Chamorro, Danish, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish, French, Frisian, Galican, German, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish (Gaelic), Italian, Northern Sotho, Norwegian, Occitan, Portuguese, Rhaeto-Romance, Sami (Lule), Sami (South), Scots (Gaelic), Spanish, Swedish, Tswana, Walloon and Yapese.

An industrial strength slab-serif inspired by Detroit itself, Motor City is a heavyweight titan of type that breathes diesel and exudes brawn. Defined by its trapezoidal serifs that were characteristic of many Detroit-centric sign-painters during the dawn of the 20th century, this typeface is a modern adaption of a classic aesthetic. This typeface can be layered with the outline version to add levels of detail quickly and easily making an already strong statement even more powerful and prominent. This uppercase only typeface comes with a set of true small capitals that is certain to add an extra level of style to your next project. Features Include: Over 330 glyphs Uppercase Only Small CapsSupports 75+ Latin Languages OTF files Designed and Developed by Jason Carne

Robust, towering, and geometrically refined, Skyward is a surefire classic cocktail of equal parts utility and elegance. This typeface carries a set of over 300 glyphs across 8 distinct faces. With Deco-era sensibilities and a touch of modern refinement + an all new alternative set of characters, Skyward is exceedingly effective in a diverse spectrum of situations. Skyward is the perfect selection for modern, chic, luxury products and packaging as well as bold ad campaigns, window signage, magazine headlines or the classic branding project. Skyward works best as display text. 12 styles Sans-Serif, Serif, and Rounded styles Select Stylistic alternates Upper & lowercase Numerals & punctuation   330+ glyphs per style Supports 75+ Latin based languages OTF files Designed by Jason Carne

The rather wide, caps-only Monotype Engravers family imitates scripts that evolved from copperplate and steel plate engravers hands of the nineteenth century, which were a quite expressive medium! Monotype Engravers' letters show a strong contrast between thick and thin strokes and have sharply cut serifs. In 1899, Robert Wiebking (who worked for a number of foundries in his time) designed an all-caps typeface named Engravers Roman."" Shortly thereafter, American Type Founders, Inc. (ATF) released another successful ancestor of this design in 1902, ""Engravers Bold,"" designed by Morris Fuller Benton. Engravers Bold was also released by the Barnhart Brothes & Spinder foundry. Also made available by Lanston Monotype at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Engravers faces soon became a popular choice for letter heads, advertising and stationery.

The rather wide, caps-only Monotype Engravers family imitates scripts that evolved from copperplate and steel plate engravers hands of the nineteenth century, which were a quite expressive medium! Monotype Engravers' letters show a strong contrast between thick and thin strokes and have sharply cut serifs. In 1899, Robert Wiebking (who worked for a number of foundries in his time) designed an all-caps typeface named Engravers Roman."" Shortly thereafter, American Type Founders, Inc. (ATF) released another successful ancestor of this design in 1902, ""Engravers Bold,"" designed by Morris Fuller Benton. Engravers Bold was also released by the Barnhart Brothes & Spinder foundry. Also made available by Lanston Monotype at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Engravers faces soon became a popular choice for letter heads, advertising and stationery.

Pompeian Cursive is a calligraphically-inspired display typeface featuring a limited number of alternate characters and a handful of graceful ligatures. A lively set of non-lining numerals accompanies, as well as a few calligraphically-inspired flourishes for ornament. The history of this typeface: Oswald Cooper’s relationship with the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler foundry was one instigated under the auspices of creating new styles of type in lieu of following stylistic trends. In 1927, BB&S requested that Cooper create a script-like cursive typeface design in step with Lucien Bernhard’s Schoenschrift and ATF’s similarly-styled Liberty typeface. In response to BB&S’s desire to emulate instead of innovate, Cooper wrote to Mcarthur, “I am desolated to see Barnhart’s hoist the black flag. Your own efforts through the years to boost the foundry into a place in the sun as an originator seem wasted.” Still, Cooper took up the task at hand, creating a delicate, sophisticated type design which he named Pompeian Cursive. The typeface featured a limited number of alternate characters and a handful of graceful ligatures. A lively set of non-lining numerals accompanied, as well as a few calligraphically-inspired flourishes for ornamenting the end of lines of type accompanied the typeface, as well. By reviewing the few remaining original drawings for the type, as well as copious samples of Pompeian Cursive from both Cooper & BB&S' proofing process and period-specific type specimens, Wordshape presents the first digital version of this classic hybrid script/sans typeface, complete with all original alternate characters and ornaments. Pompeian Cursive has been intensively spaced and kerned for the finest setting for weddings, announcements, and general display work. - What was the inspiration for designing the font? While researching a biographic essay for Japan’s IDEA Magazine, I came across the original proofs and drawings for Pompeian Cursive. While a number of foundries have released interpretations of Cooper’s assorted typefaces, they stray from the original rather dramatically in parts. Cooper is without a doubt my favorite type and lettering designer, and to bring a refined return to his original intentions is an immense gift. - What are its main characteristics and features? Pompeian Cursive is a typeface which functions as both a display face and a limited text face. It features classy, thoughtful, and delicate swash capitals and rugged lowercase characters with a low x-height and gracefully long ascenders and descenders. - Usage recommendations: Display type or text-setting. Perfect for newspaper work, editorial design, materials intended to invoke an "old-timey" flavor, or just about anything in need of personality.

Inspirited as much by nature and the elements as it was by the decorative and ornate alphabets of early sign-painting and lettering books, Alchemist aspires to become the next surefire, go-to staple in the display type community. This semi-condensed, high contrast, and stylish take on classic Roman forms is certain to stand out in your arsenal.Alchemist lends itself adeptly to signage, headlines, cinematic and gaming titles, packaging design and much more. This protean display face can shift and adapt to your every need with over 100 alternate characters and more than 40 ligatures. Explore this massive 500+ character font today and see what you can create with it. 100+ Stylistic Alternates Standard & Discretionary Ligatures Uppercase & Lowercase Numerals & Punctuation 500+ glyphs Supports 75+ Latin based languages OTF file Design by Jason Carne

Born in the 70s Personal influences are unavoidable in type design and usually find their way through into finished fonts. At Fontsmith, one period in particular provides inspiration, according to FS Pimlico designer, Fernando Mello. “Jason and Phil have always known that I’m very into the visual language of the 70s. I know that Jason shares my love of the 70s and Phil will sometimes admit to being a fan, too. I think that’s the reason they were both so supportive in the development of this font. “And, of course, we all share an interest in good-humoured and intelligent design. We like to think it’s a Fontsmith characteristic.” Back from black FS Pimlico started in an unusual place: with a tubby, penguin-like lowercase “a” that Fernando Mello had been sketching. From “a” grew the rest of the alphabet – a bubbly, fat, friendly family with a brush-written quality that became FS Pimlico Black. The black weight certainly isn’t the normal starting point for creating a regular and bold weight, but Fernando pressed on, driven by a glut of influences: brush-writing; Letraset and early digital systems catalogues; the type of Herb Lubalin and Tony di Spigna; 70s clothes and vinyl; and 70s revival disco nights in London’s Pimlico and Vauxhall. Natural or flourished Not often do fonts come along that seem to span the ages. FS Pimlico is at home in an office environment providing a fresh clear identity in communications or providing text that’s clear and easy to read. But it likes to party, too, 70s style. With the OpenType features switched on, a designer can totally change the look of their work, and create point-of-sale, headlines and titles that stand out and get noticed.

Born in the 70s Personal influences are unavoidable in type design and usually find their way through into finished fonts. At Fontsmith, one period in particular provides inspiration, according to FS Pimlico designer, Fernando Mello. “Jason and Phil have always known that I’m very into the visual language of the 70s. I know that Jason shares my love of the 70s and Phil will sometimes admit to being a fan, too. I think that’s the reason they were both so supportive in the development of this font. “And, of course, we all share an interest in good-humoured and intelligent design. We like to think it’s a Fontsmith characteristic.” Back from black FS Pimlico started in an unusual place: with a tubby, penguin-like lowercase “a” that Fernando Mello had been sketching. From “a” grew the rest of the alphabet – a bubbly, fat, friendly family with a brush-written quality that became FS Pimlico Black. The black weight certainly isn’t the normal starting point for creating a regular and bold weight, but Fernando pressed on, driven by a glut of influences: brush-writing; Letraset and early digital systems catalogues; the type of Herb Lubalin and Tony di Spigna; 70s clothes and vinyl; and 70s revival disco nights in London’s Pimlico and Vauxhall. Natural or flourished Not often do fonts come along that seem to span the ages. FS Pimlico is at home in an office environment providing a fresh clear identity in communications or providing text that’s clear and easy to read. But it likes to party, too, 70s style. With the OpenType features switched on, a designer can totally change the look of their work, and create point-of-sale, headlines and titles that stand out and get noticed.

A couple of years before the second World War, Marcel Jacno, the popular French graphic designer who in the 1930s designed iconic posters for Gaumont and Paramount and famously illustrated the Gaulish helmet that first adorned the Gauloises cigarette packs in 1936, was asked by Deberny & Peignot to design a calligraphic typeface for the advertising market. Jacno's Scribe design, billed by D&P as a "virile ad writing" typeface, was released to some great fanfare in 1937, enjoyed some time of French spotlight, and was ready to make waves in the rest of Europe before the war broke out and snuffed its chances at international recognition. However, samples of it can still be found in some specialty post-war publications as an example of a trend that lasted a couple of decades, when Western European type manufacturers commissioned famous visual artists to design typefaces in order to capitalize on the artists' fame - the trend that brought us standards like Futura and the long list of Lucien Bernhard and Imre Reiner faces. This exclusive digital version of Jacno's design expands on the original concept with a large character set that includes plenty of alternates, a couple of different ways for seamless lowercase connections, three sets of figures, and extended Latin language support, adding up to over 540 characters in a one big, contextually-programmed font.