Stadia is designed around a series of modular units: quartercircles, teardrop shapes, squares, circles and variations thereon. The versatility of these basic shapes is such that a teardrop, for example, can represent a looped bowl, as in the lower part of the a, while also representing a curved arc at the top of the same character. The strict grid is broken for the T and the Y, and the placement of accents. The alternative – basing a T, for example, across three units – though rational, is far less aesthetically pleasing. As always with type design, one has to know when the internal structural rules should be bent for a more beautiful result. The horizontal lines appear to travel through the letters, bursting into stars in the counters of lower-case characters such as the o and p. The outline version is weighted to the same width as the gaps between the units.

Mountain is a digital revival and extension of Teutonia, an old metal typeface released by the Roos & Junge type foundry (Offenbach am Main, Germany) in 1902. Teutonia’s design was popular during both the Art Nouveau and the Constructivist eras, where similar letterforms could be seen as far away as the Soviet Union. Although it slipped under the radar during the 1930s and 40s, this style feels extremely contemporary today. Mountain’s underlying geometric feeling is reminiscent of pixels and grids, suiting it for application with music and art, as well as history. Yet this typeface is not as static as it seems at first glance; playful diagonals—like those seen on the capitals D, L, P, and W—enliven the otherwise stern horizontal and vertical motion. Teutonia was a simple upper and lowercase display type. Mountain adds upon these by adding small caps and obliqued italic companions, rounding out this typographic toolkit.