In its characteristics Xtra Sans is a combination of modern grotesks/grotesques and traditional calligraphy. Its upright and compact letterforms generate a sturdy effect as in the early 20th century grotesks Nobel, Kabel or Erbar. On the contrary, dynamic inside forms (counters) give the characters a fluent appearance. As a result, Xtra Sans stands out in large size, while remaining highly legible in small and long text. In 2007 Xtra Sans received a Certificate of Excellence in Type Design from Type Directors Club, New York. In 2002, still unpublished, it was awarded a bronze prize at the Morisawa Awards, Tokyo.

Grandezza Xtra is the standalone version of my most elaborate script. It is the script for many countries, good for Basic Latin, Latin Eastern Europe, Turkish, Baltic. I first designed 5 different sets and now this Xtra version which has a second set of capitals in the place of the smallcaps. This Xtra set is sufficient for most design jobs. If you need more you can always buy the standard Grandezza 5-font set for the reduced price. -Your script designer, Gert Wiescher

Tuscan X Condensed (whose actual name is Gothic Concave Tuscan Extra Condensed) was first produced in wood type by William H. Page & Company around 1872. The design is derived from a Gothic Condensed typeface, but with vertical stokes bowing inwards at the center. We modified the weight of the uppercase characters (since the original wood type has a lowercase much thinner than the caps) to harmonize with the lowercase when used digitally.

Printing Press Extras JNL is another collection of classic printing embellishments and stock cuts from Jeff Levine, with a few new ones thrown in for good measure.

Extra condensed display typeface.

I was commissioned by the Emporium (now Macys) to digitize Radiant Bold Extra Condensed (originally designed by Robert Middleton in 1940) for use in their Sunday supplement to the San Francisco Examiner. For several years, I stubbornly refused to add the lowercase letters to the font, because I thought it looked best just used with caps, but finally relented, added the lowercase letters and at the same time created two more weights as well: Light and Medium. Used very large and carefully, these faces can be quite elegant.

A supplement to Major Production NF, which includes an assortment of symbols and logos for video, web and mobile applications, including the Blu-ray logo with its region designators. Please remember that logotypes are the property of their respective copyright holders, and should be used solely in accordance with the copyright holder’s guidelines.

The design of Futura seems to be timeless. This typeface family which had been developed in 1926 by Paul Renner for the Bauer Type Foundry in the style of constructivism and as part of the Bauhaus movement, experienced, however, in the course of the past 90 years, repeated time-appropriate revivals which guaranteed its on-going popularity. The version of the Futura EF Pro contains the original character constructions which Dennis Megaw described as the “first designs of Futura” in 1938 in “20th century sans serif types, Typography no. 7” (See: Dr. Christopher Burke: Paul Renner, Princeton Architectural Press, New York 1998). What makes it exceptional is the extension into three weights: “Text”, “Headline” and “Index” which came about as part of a degree dissertation at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (HFBK) in Hamburg. In this context, the accompanying documentation “Die Kritik der reinen Futura” (“The Critique of the Pure Futura”) by Katharina Strauer was published by the Materialverlag, Hamburg, in 2003. Some copies are still available at Elsner+Flake.

The design of Futura seems to be timeless. This typeface family which had been developed in 1926 by Paul Renner for the Bauer Type Foundry in the style of constructivism and as part of the Bauhaus movement, experienced, however, in the course of the past 90 years, repeated time-appropriate revivals which guaranteed its on-going popularity. The version of the Futura EF Pro contains the original character constructions which Dennis Megaw described as the “first designs of Futura” in 1938 in “20th century sans serif types, Typography no. 7” (See: Dr. Christopher Burke: Paul Renner, Princeton Architectural Press, New York 1998). What makes it exceptional is the extension into three weights: “Text”, “Headline” and “Index” which came about as part of a degree dissertation at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (HFBK) in Hamburg. In this context, the accompanying documentation “Die Kritik der reinen Futura” (“The Critique of the Pure Futura”) by Katharina Strauer was published by the Materialverlag, Hamburg, in 2003. Some copies are still available at Elsner+Flake.

For nearly 90 years, Paul Renner’s Futura has been as popular as it is versatile—from children’s books to fashion magazines to the plaque on the Moon. Futura is a typographic icon. Futura Now offers designers a chance to see Futura with fresh eyes. It’s more truly Futura-like than any digital version you’ve ever worked with. “It brings some much-needed humanity back to the world of geometric sans serifs,” says Steve Matteson, Monotype’s Creative Type Director who led the design team. “Despite its reputation as the ultimate modern typeface, Futura Now is surprisingly warm,” he explains. “It’s just as at home set next to a leafy tree as it is next to a stainless-steel table, because it skillfully navigates the border between super-clean geometry and humanist warmth.” Futura Now—the definitive Futura—contains 102 styles, including: new Headline and Text weights; new Script and Display weights and styles; and new decorative variants (outlines, inlines, shadows, and fill). Its contemporary alignment of names and weights makes the family easier to understand and use, and its comfortable Text and judicious Headline subfamilies provide instantly refined spacing. With a large Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic character-set, Futura Now serves a wider international creative community. Futura Now is available both as individual OpenType fonts and as a set of Variable fonts, delivering limitless styles in a tidy digital footprint.