Alpha is an intuitive, clean and modern sans serif typeface crafted to depict change, the new normal, and unbridled opportunities. It has excellent legibility and is ideal for usage in displays, headlines, labels, and website design.

Unusual decorative capitals from embroidery work in a German church. Upper case has a diamond-shaped frame around each letter; lower case is just the letters without the diamond frame; and the ampersand gives just the diamond frame so you can use a different colour from the letter.

Our eye is able to join missing parts of worn letters back into undisturbed shapes. We tend to see things better than they really are. Thanks to this ability we ignore faults of those close to us as we can’t accept the fact that every once in a while we convene with an impaired entity. Typography is merely a man’s invention, hence imperfection and transience, albeit overlooked, are its key features. This typeface is based on worn-out letterings on tombstones in the St. Croce basilica in Florence. For hundreds of years, microscopic particles of marble are being taken away on the soles of visitors: the embossed figures become fossilised white clouds, fragments of inscriptions are nearing the limits of legibility. First missing are thin joins and serifs, then the main strokes finally slowly diminish into nothingness over time. Unlike an archaeologist, for whom even completely featureless stele is valuable, the typographer must capture the proper moment of wear, when the type is not too “new” but also not too much decimated. Such typeface is usable for catalogue jackets, invitations and posters. Calligraphy is a natural human trait. To write is to create characters of reasonable beauty and content, according to the nature of the writer. A natural characteristic of architecture is to create an aesthetic message very similar to the alphabet. A doric column, the gabled roof, the circle of the well plan: these are the basic shapes from which all text typeface is derived.

The Vtg Stencil fonts from astype are based on real world stencils from several countries. The Italian stencils that I chose as a model for this font are roughly based on classic French stencil letters. Please compare the figures (numbers) with their French counterparts. However, the Italian stencils are made with a different production technique. The design of the letters is clearly not punch-cut into the plates, maybe they are drilled, milled or etched. Details such as the serifs look bold and clumsy, and when using the stencils as they are meant, with viscous sign paint, smaller details easily fade away. So I took my freedom to design a font close to the original design but adding several typographic tweaks to let it shine, hoping to get closer to the intended design idea of these Italian stencils. Enjoy the vintage!