A sign of something better When designer Stuart de Rozario surveyed the fonts used in signage on London’s public transport systems, he reached a dead end. They seemed staid, sterile, lacking in personality, and ill-suited to use by modern brands. He was pointed in another direction entirely. ‘The driving force behind my thoughts was to design something more current and fresh without compromising legibility and clarity. A font with both personality and function, that’s versatile and large and small sizes, and effortless to read, but which also says something new.’ Speed reading Late for a meeting and can’t find your way? Trying to catch a flight? Lost in a hospital? Reading signs is a different business to reading a book or a newspaper. Text on signs needs to be deciphered quickly and effortlessly. So the legibility criteria for signage letterforms are different to those for normal reading, too. Throughout FS Millbank’s uppercase and lowercase alphabets, characters have been given features for extra definition, including: wide ink traps on the A, K, M, V, W, X and Y; a serifed i, accentuated spurs on the a, d, l u; and different x-height shapes on the b, g, p and q. Distinctive forms and generous, open internal shapes all help the quick reading of sign text, and wide, open terminals and counters allow similar letter shapes to be distinguished easily when viewed at different angles. Running down a corridor, maybe... Positive/negative Standard type tends to glow on the kind of dark backgrounds often used for signage, and look heavier than its true weight. To correct the imbalance caused by this optical trick, special weights of the typeface have to be drawn for these ‘negative’, light-on-dark applications. These are lighter than their comparable positive weights to overcome the ‘glow’ effect. After extensive tests of the negative weights, at all sizes, we achieved the right optical balance. Glowing, glowing, gone. Icons This wouldn’t be a signage typeface without its own set of icons, or symbols, to help people find what they’re looking for. So, to sit alongside the positive and negative fonts, we’ve created a comprehensive set of 172 icons, covering a wide range of applications from transport and user interface to information and directional. Designed within the typeface capital height, they sit on the baseline and are spaced centrally.

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

Alderney is a friendly font family in three weights, Light, Regular and Bold, designed by Stephen E Rowe for the foundry Fontelan. It is a gentle script crafted for more relaxed display needs, but, being oblique in character, it gives an air of excitement to many projects, especially in all caps situations. Unlike many scripts, the capitals can be successfully used as a great display option. All glyphs have a smooth curve and a broad, flowing, low aspect. The light version lends itself to airy design possibilities, again, especially when the caps are used for display purposes. The regular version is a well balanced script that remains spacey and elegant, and the bold version is excellent for a display that suggests excitement.

Estonia Nouveau is based on the calligraphic style found in the East European country of Estonia. The traditional lowercase forms are combined with the more non-traditional script uppercase alternates to give a truly up-to-date, yet traditional look.

Based on some beautifully blobby lettering, handwritten by printer and mailartist, Alan Brignull. Alan creates amazingly credible artistamps for the virtual countries of Adanaland and the Perfect State of Flatby, lands frozen in boyhood Englishness forever. He writes nicely too.

PORTAGE is a slab serif that carries its own weight. Adventurous and rugged, this typeface that evokes the wild country and makes headlines stand out. The typeface was built from a land and forest journal from the mid-50's.

TT Phobos useful links: Specimen | Graphic presentation | Customization options TT Phobos is a pliable display serif with a soft and gentle character. The features of the typeface are the moderate contrast between bold and thin strokes, pliable visual compensators, and the counter-clockwise bend of internal ovals. In addition to 6 weights and 6 italic, TT Phobos also includes two original decorative fonts, inline and stencil. Despite its pliability and display character, TT Phobos is dynamic enough and is well suited for text arrays even in large text blocks. The serifs of letters are completely asymmetrical and bring in dynamics when reading the text from left to right. Thanks to the harmonious contrast of black and white forms and internal negative spaces of the letters, as well as its broad letter spacing, the typeface is well read in small sizes. In this case, the character of the letters is completely preserved, partially thanks to the exaggerated elegant visual compensators. The ornamental pattern used in TT Phobos Inline varies for capital and lowercase letters. Capital letters implement a more complex double inline with a rhombic element in the middle, and in the lower case features a simplified form of the inline, made in a single movement. Thanks to the original cutting, TT Phobos Stencil stands out for its expression, and the rounded cuts add even more visual style to the font. TT Phobos consists of 14 faces: 6 weights (Light, Regular, DemiBold, Bold, ExtraBold, Black), 6 Italics, inline and stencil. There are 17 ligatures in TT Phobos, including several Cyrillic ones. The typeface has stylistic alternates, which adds an italic effect to the upright fonts, and a little solemnity of the upright version to the italics. In addition, we have not forgotten about the old-style figures and other useful OpenType features, such as ordn, sups, sinf, dnom, numr, onum, tnum, pnum, liga, dlig, salt (ss01), frac, case.

The Kopius™ family is a contemporary serif type that features friendly characteristics with round, open counters conveying a relaxed ambiance. The robustness of the characters supports a wide variety of applications including editorial and display use. The uniquely defined novel glyph construction and serif shapes convey an allusion to a brush stroke that bestows a contemporary, texture-rich appearance entirely in tune with functionality. The top and bottom slightly curved stems imply flow and reading direction. Kopius is an exuberant family with a genuinely multifaceted repertoire. This upbeat type comes with a multitude of weights to satisfy any fanciful appetite for a colorful typographic palette. With packaging solutions in mind the family includes sets of expandable and combinable box heading material for a boundless range of adjusted composites. In addition, pertinent labels, weight-adjusted arrows, and word logos complete the Kopius family. OpenType provides advanced layout features including figure sets, small caps, fractions, and more. Herbert Thannhaeuser’s Liberta, an Antiqua type family designed for the East German type foundry VEB Typoart between the middle to end 1950s, has stirred the initial inspiring force for Kopius. Baskerville-like open and modern typeface proportions further characterize Kopius’ letter dimensions. With its affable yet serious demeanor, Kopius is confidently assuming numerous tasks.

Caracas is a new family of sans serif fonts, looking friendly, sweet and comfortable to read. Where text flow between straight lines and round by becoming transparent in the interest of readability. Caracas is ideal for working in small letters and texts of a technical nature. Caracas is a humanistic approach to reading sans forms.

A clear and enjoyable reading experience hinges on the legibility of text copy, especially when reading on screen. This is why Monotype has developed the eText collection of fonts specifically tailored for the text-heavy display environments of e-readers, tablets, mobile devices, and the Web. The original Malabar was designed by Dan Reynolds.

The font DXOldStandardGroteskNo2 was developed on the basis of the Grotesk Condensed font, which was issued by Russian type foundry from the beginning of the 20th century.

Highbrow Cafetorium JNL is a very "minimalist" font in the sense that there's only the basic lower case characters and essential punctuation. The lettering is based on a neon-and-bulb wall sign for a long-closed cafeteria on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, Florida. The 'b', 'd', 'k' and 'l' have unusually high verticals.

My beautiful mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2011. Our family's resolution was to love my mom through this time- to stay by her side and remind her each day that she is not alone and that she is loved as she walks this difficult road. This font was made in her honor.

Introducing NewModern: Sawdust's inaugural typeface release, now making a comeback from our exclusive archives through the esteemed MyFonts foundry. Originally crafted for the renowned 'HypeForType' type foundry, this font represents a seamless blend of tradition and innovation. With a fresh perspective on the classic Didone genre, often referred to as 'Modern,' NewModern encapsulates the essence of contemporary design.