The Bitstream version of Melior, a twentieth century modern face commissioned by Stempel and designed by Hermann Zapf in 1952. It is based on Zapf’s thoughts about the squared-off circle known as a super-ellipse. The type was originally intended as a newspaper text face by Linotype. Hermann Zapf’s Melior exhibits a robust character through classic and objective forms. Versatile and extremely legible, it can be used for a variety of texts and point sizes. Cyrillic version was developed by Natalya Vasilyeva and licensed by ParaType in 2002.

Iowan Old Style was designed for Bitstream in 1990 by noted sign painter John Downer. Iowan Old Style is a hardy contemporary text design modeled after earlier revivals of Jenson and Griffo typefaces but with a larger x-height, tighter letterfit, and reproportioned capitals. Cyrillic letters were designed by Natalia Vasilyeva in 2016. Iowan Old Style Cyrillic was released by Paratype in 2017.

Chianti was designed at Bitstream by senior designer Dennis Pasternak in 1991 and initially released in 1995. The intent behind the design was to provide a humanist sanserif of high readability at a wide range of sizes and weights. Humanist sanserifs (others that fall into this category are Linotype’s Frutiger and Optima, and Monotype’s Gill Sans) are an attempt to improve the readability of sanserifs by applying classical roman structure to the letterforms. To enhance its versatility, Mr. Pasternak designed a wide variety of alternate characters, rare ligatures, ornaments and swashes. Chianti is a friendly sanserif useful for a broad range of typographic needs.

Chianti was designed at Bitstream by senior designer Dennis Pasternak in 1991 and initially released in 1995. The intent behind the design was to provide a humanist sanserif of high readability at a wide range of sizes and weights. Humanist sanserifs (others that fall into this category are Linotype’s Frutiger and Optima, and Monotype’s Gill Sans) are an attempt to improve the readability of sanserifs by applying classical roman structure to the letterforms. To enhance its versatility, Mr. Pasternak designed a wide variety of alternate characters, rare ligatures, ornaments and swashes. Chianti is a friendly sanserif useful for a broad range of typographic needs.

The Bitstream version of Englische Schreibschrift by H. Berthold, 1970–72. An unconnected copperplate script of the English nineteenth-century fashion, so-called Spencerian. Based on pressure pointed quill calligraphy. Unlike other copperplate scripts, the letters in this face do not link up. For use in advertising and display typography in relatively small sizes. Cyrillic version was developed at ParaType in 2000 by Vladimir Yefimov.

Old Dreadful No. 7 is truly a unique typeface design. Bitstream’s designers and other employees all contributed individual letterforms to the character set. This typeface is definitely not recommended for long blocks of texts! David Robbins expanded his contribution of the capital I into a complete typeface, Eyeballs.

Horizon was inspired by the style of the lettering used in the original Star Trek TV series. Quite fittingly, this font was used 21 years later in the film Star Trek: Into Darkness. In keeping with the digital experimentation of the 90s, Horizon has a space-age look—with sharp, unexpected angles that were achieved sharply with digital tools. It was designed in 1992 by Bitstream staff designers.

Candy Bits was originally designed at Bitstream as a custom project for a large printer manufacturer. Released in 1997, Candy Bits was designed by Jim Lyles. The typographic characters were fashioned after a well known American candy. The balance of the characters in the font are designed to enhance the 3D illusion by appearing to recede into the page. Soon after its completion, Mr. Lyles joined a local health club.

A personal calligraphic series commissioned by Bitstream from Gudrun Zapf von Hesse. Although Carmina BT is a neutral design, optimized for use in digital publishing, Zapf von Hesse’s unique calligraphic spirit is still quite visible in the family’s letterforms. This is not surprising, as all of Zapf von Hesse’s typefaces are calligraphic in nature. Yet Carmina BT is suitable for almost any conceivable digital text application, from book design up through signage use.

Aldine 401 is a Bitstream version of Bembo type family. It was designed on the base of artwork of Francesco Griffo for Aldus Manutius. Originally the font appeared in “De Aetna” in 1495 — the book by Pietro Bembo about his journey to Mount Etna. Griffo’s design was one of the first old style typefaces followed by Garamond. It was the forerunner for the standard text types in Europe for the next two centuries. A modern version of Bembo was designed at Monotype under the supervision of Stanley Morison in 1929. Aldine 401 is still very popular in book design due to its well-proportioned classic letterforms and lack of peculiarities. Italic was based on the handwriting of Giovanni Tagliente. Books and other texts set in Aldine 401 can encompass a large variety of subjects and formats because of its classical beauty and high readability. Cyrillic version was developed by Isabella Chaeva and released by ParaType in 2008.

oook is a sans serif variable font designed to be used at very low size but it works with great personality also as display font. Uppercases and lowercase heights ratio is designed to improve readability at very very small texts. A feature that can’t be ignored in the smartphone era. With its wide eyes on letters and numbers you’ll be surprised by the improved readability of Excel or LibreOffice spreadsheets.