Koufiya is designed by Nadine Chahine in 2003 as part of her MA project at the University of Reading, UK and later released by Linotype in 2007. It is the first typeface to include a matching Arabic and Latin designed by the same designer at the same time with the intention of creating a harmonious balance between the two scripts. The Arabic part is based on the Early Kufi style popular in the 7th to 10th century AD. It is characterized by a strong horizontal baseline, horizontal stacking order, clear and open counters, and a general open feeling. Though based on the earliest styles on Arabic manuscript, the design paradoxically appears quite modern and fresh. The Latin part of Koufiya recalls a Dutch influence in its shallow top arches and rather squarish proportions. Both Arabic and Latin parts have been carefully designed to maintain the same optical size, weight, and rhythm. However, no sacrifices were made to make them appear closer to each other. They are designed so that they work well together on the printed page, and to make sure that the two scripts are harmonious when they are mixed together even if within the same paragraph. The font includes support for Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. It also includes proportional and tabular numerals for the supported languages.

Sydonia Atramentiqua is a strange creation. The inspiration was the first releases of "Malleus Maleficarum" (actually the typography used there). I decided I wanted something strange, so Sydonia came into being. Like a blood of all witches who were being hunted down by Malleus Maleficarum's "fans" for their skills and beliefs. Why Sydonia? Sydonia von Borck was a witch from my area. It was probably the last woman executed for witchcraft. The genesis of the name. Sydonia was THE WITCH, and by the name I added "Atramentiqua". It is a combination of the words "Ink" (polish "ATRAMENT") + "Antiqua". The idea of ​​spilling a font is historical. The former Zecer composition was not perfectly sharp. As it was a "wet job", there were always light exits behind the lines. Who supported me? The GENEALOGIA project has been carried out for several years in cooperation with the Academy of Art in Szczecin and the National Museum in Szczecin. The project's supervisors are prof. Waldemar Wojciechowski and MA Patrycja Makarewicz, who runs the Visual Communication Studio. Some information: Sydonia was like that! This is not an everyday font. It is a stylized font, used to imitate old prints made by Zecer. The first version of Sydonia Atramentiqua was created in 2018 for the purposes of the exhibition at the National Museum in Szczecin. Base inspiration: Malleus Maleficarum & Caslon.

The Eskapade font family is the result of Alisa Nowak’s research into Roman and German blackletter forms, mainly Fraktur letters. The idea was to adapt these broken forms into a contemporary family instead of creating a faithful revival of a historical typeface. On one hand, the ten normal Eskapade styles are conceived for continuous text in books and magazines with good legibility in smaller sizes. On the other hand, the six angled Eskapade Fraktur styles capture the reader’s attention in headlines with its mixture of round and straight forms as seen in ‘e’, ‘g’, and ‘o’. Eskapade works exceptionally well for branding, logotypes, and visual identities, for editorials like magazines, fanzines, or posters, and for packaging. Eskapade roman adopts a humanist structure, but is more condensed than other oldstyle serifs. The reason behind this stems from the goal of closely resembling the Fraktur style to create harmony in mixed text settings. Legibility is enhanced by its low contrast between thick and thin strokes and its tall x-height. Eskapade offers an airy and light typographic colour with its smooth design. Eskapade italic is based on the Cancellaresca script and shows some particularities in its condensed and round forms. This structure also provided the base for Eskapade Fraktur italic. Eskapade Fraktur is more contrasted and slightly bolder than the usual darkness of a regular weight. The innovative Eskapade Fraktur italic, equally based on the Cancellaresca script previously mentioned, is secondarily influenced by the Sütterlin forms — an unique script practiced in Germany in the vanishingly short period between 1915 and 1941. The new ornaments are also hybrid Sütterlin forms to fit with the smooth roman styles. Although there are many Fraktur-style typefaces available today, they usually lack italics, and their italics are usually slanted uprights rather than proper italics. This motivated extensive experimentation with the italic Fraktur shapes and resulted in Eskapade Fraktur’s unusual and interesting solutions. In addition to standard capitals, it offers a second set of more decorative capitals with double-stroke lines to intensify creative application and encourage experimental use. The Thin and Black Fraktur styles are meant for display sizes (headlines, posters, branding, and signage). A typeface with this much tension needs to keep a good harmony between strokes and counters, so Eskapade Black has amplified inktraps and a more dynamic structure seen in the contrast between straight and round forms. These qualities make the family bolder and more enticing, especially with the included uppercase alternates. The Fraktur’s black weights are strident, refusing to let the white of the paper win the tug-of-war. It also won’t give away its secrets: Is it modern or historic, edgy or amicable, beguiling ornamentation or brutish presentation? That all depends on how the radically expanded Eskapade family is used, but its 16 fonts certainly aren’t tame.

Blackletter typefaces follow certain fixed rules, both in respect to their forms and to the orthography. Possibly, they were a reaction to the half-developed Carolingian minuscule which was soon to end in the Latin script. Narrow, ordered script was to replace the round, hesitant and shattered shapes of letters in order to simplify writing, to unify the meaning of individual letters, and to save some parchment, too. Opposed to the practice common in monasterial scriptoriums where Uncial, Irish and Carolingian inspiration flew freely and as a result, the styles of writing differed in each monastery, the blackletter type was to define one, common standard. It was to express spiritual verticality, in perfect tune with the architecture of the Gothic era. Typography became an integral part of the overall style of the period. The pointed arch and the blackletter type were the vanguard of the spectacular transformation from the Middle Ages towards the modern era, they were a celebration of a time when works of art were not signed by their makers yet. Some unfortunate souls keep linking blackletter solely with Germany and the Third Reich, while the truth is that its direct predecessor, the Gothic minuscule, evolved mostly in France. Even Hitler himself indicated blackletter type obsolete in the age of steel, iron and concrete – thus making a significant contribution to the spreading of the Latin script in Germany. Once we leave our prejudice aside, we find that the shapes of blackletter type have exceptional potential, unheard of in sans-serif letterforms. The lower case letters fit into an imaginary rectangle which is easily extended both upwards and sideways. In its scope and in the name itself, the Moyenage type family project is to celebrate the diversity of the Middle Ages. I begun realizing the urge to design my own blackletter when visiting the beer gardens of Munich and while walking through the villages of rural Austria. The letters from the notice boards of inns are scented with spring air, with the flowers of cudweed, with white sausage and weissbier. The crooked calligraphic hooks and beaks seem to imitate the hearty yodeling of local drinkers and the rustle of the giant skirts of girls who distribute the giant wreaths of beer jugs. Moyenage is, however, a modern replica of blackletter, so it contains some otherwise unacceptable Latin script elements in upper case. I chose these keeping the modern reader in mind, striving for better legibility. The font is drawn as if written with a flat pen or brush, and with the ambition to, perhaps, serve as a calligraphic model. In medium width, the face is surprisingly well legible; it is perfect for menus as well as posters and CD covers for some of the heavier kinds of music. It has five types of numerals and also a set of Cyrillic script, symbolising the lovelorn union of Germans and Russians in the 20th century. Thus, it is well suited for the setting of bilingual texts of the German classic literature, which, according to the ancient rules, must not be set in Latin script.