When drawing a new font, there is a time when the final form is found – almost – but the curves are not slick and clean yet, that's what I call the "raw" form. Raw – no sweeteners added! In this family I redefined this moment in type development for the eternally beautiful "Franklin Gothic". I call the design "Franklin Gothic Raw". This packet is the semi-serif addition. There never was a Franklin-Gothic with serifs but actually the font lends itself perfectly to a slab-serif. I started with adding a half serif and eventually add a full slab-serif later on.

In 1948, Mergenthaler Linotype released the first weights of Trade Gothic, designed by Jackson Burke. Over the next 12 years, Burke, who was the company’s Director of Typographic Development from 1948 through 1963, continued to expand the family. Trade Gothic Next is the 2008 revision of Jackson Burke’s design. Developed over a prolonged period of time, the original Trade Gothic showed many inconsistencies. Under the direction of Linotype’s Type Director Akira Kobayashi, American type designer Tom Grace, a graduate of the MA Typeface Design in Reading, has redesigned, revised and expanded the Trade Gothic family. Many details were improved, such as the terminals and stroke endings, symbols, and the spacing and kerning. Moreover, there are newly added compressed widths and heavy weights perfect for setting even more powerful headlines. Trade Gothic Next brings more features and better quality for today’s demanding typographers. Trade Gothic Next Soft Rounded introduces a new friendliness and warmth to the family.

Franklin Gothic Hand Demi Shadow is another one in my series of hand-drawn fonts from way back in time – before computers changed the way we worked in advertising. This one was especially used for what we called "pork-belly-ads": ads for food-stores! I think it is very useful for all kinds of advertising that demands a lot of bang! Your powerful typedesigner Gert Wiescher

Tall, chunky title-friendly sans serif capitals.