Designed by Francesco Canovaro with help from Andrea Tartarelli and Maria Chiara Fantini, Kitsch is a typeface happily living at the crossroads between classical latin and medieval gothic letterforms. But, rather than referencing historical models like the italian Rotunda or the french Bastarda scripts, Kitsch tries to renew both its inspirations, finding a contemporary vibe in the dynamic texture of the calligraphic broad-nib pen applied to the proportions of the classical roman skeleton. The resulting high contrast and spiky details make Kitsch excel in display uses, while a fine-tuned text version manages to keep at small sizes the dynamic expressivity of the design without sacrificing legibility. Both variants are designed in a wide range of weights (from the almost monolinear thin to the dense black), and are fully equipped with a extended character sets covering over two hundred languages that use latin, cyrillic and greek alphabets. Special care has been put in designing Kitsch italic letterforms, with the broad-nib movements referencing classical italian letterforms to add even more shades to your typographic palette. The resulting alternate letter shapes have also been included in the roman weights as Stylistic Alternates - part to the wide range of Open Type features (Standard and Discretionary Ligatures, Positional Numerals, Small Caps and Case Sensitive Forms) provided with all the 32 weights of Kitsch. Born for editorial and branding use, Kitsch is fashionable but solid, self-confident enough to look classic while ironic enough to be contemporary.

Averta Standard is the basic version of Averta. Bringing together features from early European grotesques and American gothics, Kostas Bartokas’ (Greek: ‘αβέρτα’ – to act or speak openly, bluntly or without moderation, without hiding) Averta is a geometric sans serif family with a simple, yet appealing, personality. The purely geometric rounds, open apertures, and its low contrast strokes manage to express an unmoderated, straightforward tone resulting in a modernist, neutral and friendly typeface. Averta Standard is intended for use in a variety of media. The central styles (Light through Bold) are drawn to perform at text sizes, while the extremes are spaced tighter to form more coherent headlines. The dynamism of the true italics adds a complementary touch to the whole family and provides extra versatility, making Averta Standard an excellent tool for a range of uses, from signage to branding and editorial design. Averta Standard comes with alternate glyphs, case sensitive forms and contextual alternates, in eight weights with matching italics and supports over two hundred languages with an extended Latin, Cyrillic (Russian, Bulgarian, and Serbian/Macedonian alternates), Greek and Vietnamese character set. It ships in three different packages offering different script coverage according to your needs: Averta Standard PE (Pan-European: Latin, Cyrillic, Greek), Averta Standard CY (Latin and Cyrillic), and Averta Standard (Latin and Greek). Averta's Cyrillic have received the 3rd Prize in the 2017 Granshan Awards in the Cyrillic Category.

When type historians look back on Jim Rimmer, they will consider him the last type designer who just couldn't let go of metal type, even though he was just as proficient in digital type. Lancelot is one definite case in point: A face designed and produced in digital as late in the game as 1999, only to spring onto the new millenium a couple of years later as a metal type cast in three sizes. That was Jim, a time traveler constantly reminding the craft of its origins. This particular time machine was originally designed as a simple set of attractive caps that emphasize the beauty of the variable conventional dialogue between the drawing tool and the intended final form, and the one exchanged within the totality of the forms themselves. Jim designed two weights, with contrast and counterspace being the main difference between them. In 2013, the Lancelot family was remastered and greatly expanded. Lancelot Pro is now a wonder of over 840 glyphs per font, including smaller versions of the caps in the minuscule slots, and alternates and ligatures that can transform the historic spirit of the original design into anything from half-uncial to outright gothic. Language support goes beyond the extended Latin stuff, to cover Cyrillic and Greek as well. 20% of the Lancelot Pro family's revenues will be donated to the Canada Type Scholarship Fund, supporting higher typography education in Canada.

Rigel was inspired by one poster by American artist and illustrator Katherine Milhous. It was a poster promoting the Ephrata Cloister in 1936. The letters from the Ephrata title on this poster are very concise and expressive, reminiscent of blackletter, but have a simplified look, which looks quite fresh even today. It was very inspiring to bring this font to life. In the process of redrawing and redesigning, the font has been slightly modified, but retained the character of those six letters from the reference poster. This is a header font consisting only of uppercase letters. It contains 6 styles from Light to ExtraBold. Despite the fact that the font has the character of blackletter, due to simplified forms, increased contrast and sharp lines, the font looks like a modern rethinking of Gothic script and it has found a new life. The name Rigel is taken for a reason. Rigel is a star, an blue supergiant in the constellation of Orion, and the Ancient Egyptians associated Rigel with the Sah - king of stars and patron of the dead. The human body after mummification was also seen as the embodiment of the soul. Of course, there is no direct connection between the font and Egyptian mythology, but indirectly in this way I wanted to emphasize even more the idea of incarnation, rebirth. Rigel is good for posters, large headlines, logos and any other large font compositions.

The font series Andron MC introduces a new feature to the repertoire of the Andron family: middlecase glyphs (intermediate between upper- and lowercase) – and uncial letters. Middlecase glyphs reach a medium height compared to full caps height and lowercase x-height. However, ‘uncial’ means the historic transitional lettershapes of the medieval ages which have gained no status in the bicameral typographic system of modern times. In all three of the Andron MC fonts middlecase (“MC”) glyphs dwell on the lowercase positions. These are coined in uncial fashion in the MC Uncial and MC Medieval fonts but appear as capital glyphs in MC Capital. The same variation occurs with the uppercase positions: whereas standard Roman/capital glyphs are there in MC Uncial and MC Capital, MC Medieval features uncial majuscules here instead. At the end that makes three different combinations of uncial and capital sorts. These fonts can be used for a great variety of purposes. The uncial sets are particularly well-suited for any typographic matter related to the middle ages. MC Capital is a worthwhile alternative choice when titling is to be possibly set in CAPITALS or Small caps. Andron MC adds a fascinating new aspect to the classical Andron fonts family. It enhances again the unique scope of typographical possibilities Andron is praised for since quite some time now. All three Andron MC fonts support full Latin, Greek (monotonic), Coptic and Gothic character ranges. Each font contains about 1000 glyphs.

Milton Glaser on designing Babyfat: “This is the first alphabet I ever designed. For some inexplicable reason I called it Babyfat. Because I’m not a type designer, most of my alphabets are actually novelties or graphic ideas expressed typographically. Here the idea was to take a gothic letter and view it simultaneously from two sides. It started out as a rather esoteric letterform; it ended up being used in supermarkets for ‘Sale’ signs.” This forced perspective 3-D font has appeared on many LP covers and posters from the mid 1960s onward. This revival includes the original lowercase for the first time in digital form. Besides the three original styles (Outline, Shaded, and Black) made for photo typesetting, the new P22 Glaser Babyfat introduces six additional variations to allow the user to easily colorize the type as Glaser envisioned. The Keyline, Fill, Glyph, Left, Right, and Down font styles give the user nearly infinite options to create dynamic chromatic effects. P22 Glaser Babyfat was based on original drawings and phototype proofs from the Milton Glaser Studios archives. Typographic punctuation and sorts were imagined by James Grieshaber to work with Glaser’s design, as well as diacritics to accommodate most European languages. Over the years there have been many typefaces that borrowed heavily from the Glaser designs, but these are the only official fonts approved by Milton Glaser Studio and the Estate of Milton Glaser.

Keep Calm is a family of fonts developed from the now famous World War 2 poster that was designed in 1939 but never issued, then rediscovered in 2000. As well as the original Keep Calm font, the medium weight of the poster, new weights are now available – Keep Calm Book (regular weight), Heavy and Light – and each weight comes with a complimentary italic. Version 2.0 (2017) is a comprehensive update which consists of numerous refinements and improvements across all weights. The family now contains a full complement of Latin Extended-A characters, Welsh diacritics and Irish dotted consonants. The four italics have been optically corrected with revised, ‘true italic’ forms of a and f. The crown motif from the top of the Keep Calm poster is located at the plus minus ± and section § keystrokes (Alt 0177 and Alt 0167 on Windows). The lowercase g follows the Gill/Johnston eyeglass model, but also included is an alternative, single-story g at the Alt G keystroke (Alt 0169 on a Windows keyboard), the normal location of the copyright symbol which has been relocated elsewhere in the fonts. An alternative lowercase t, without the curved wedge cutaway, is provided at the Alt T (dagger) keystroke (Alt 0134 on Windows). When I first saw the Keep Calm and Carry On poster, I wrongly assumed the letters to be Gill Sans. Recent research at the National Archive by Dr. Bex Lewis of Manchester Metropolitan University has revealed that the original poster was hand drawn by the illustrator and painter, Ernest Wallcousins. The Gill Sans influence is apparent, in the R particularly, the M’s perfectly pointed vertex is redolent of Johnston’s Underground, and the most anomalous character, the C, resembles the ‘basic lettering’ of engineers that provided the vernacular sources for the Gotham typeface. Developing the Keep Calm typeface has been an exercise in extrapolation; an intriguing challenge to build a whole, high quality font family based on the twelve available capitals of the Keep Calm poster, and on similar lettering from the other two posters in the original series. This has required the creation of new lowercase letters that are believably 1939; that maintain the influence of Gill and Johnston while also hinting at the functional imperative of a wartime drawing office. Wallcousins’s lettering balanced intuitive human qualities and the pure pleasure of drawing elegant contemporary characters, against an underlying geometry of ruled lines, perfect circles, 45° terminals, and a requirement for no-nonsense clarity.

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.

MARIAMNE is an original design by Alex Kaczun. It is an elegant, modern and traditional interpretation based on and modeled after his successful "Contax Pro" and "New Age Gothic" typeface series. As such, it has generous proportions with clean, crisp lines—ideally suited for easy reading and long lines of copy. Alex felt that the skeleton for "Contax" was perfectly suited to transform the design into a modern version of 'old-style', somewhat reminiscent of German Black Letter. Numerous modifications where made to the body proportions, stems and shapes. True 'old-style' serifs and unusual 'cross-strokes' where added for a touch of distinction. The 'cross-strokes' where added at exactly visual mid-point on the overall heights. This gives the typeface a romantic, female-like quality to the overall design. Strong, yet delicate. Visually stimulating in appearance and function. The result is a truly unique transitional and modern design. Unlike other typefaces, MARIAMNE incorporates uniform stems throughout the capitals, lower case and figures. This gives the design a uniform appearance in overall color and strength. There is a perfect visual balance between inter-letter spacing, stem weights and proportions. The accents are equally large, bold and command attention. This font includes a large 'Pro' character set, which supports most Central European and many Eastern European languages. As a result, the design is ideally suited for display copy as well as text composition. In the near future, Alex plans to expand the typeface series to include a light and heavy weight, along with true italics.

Bringing together features from early European grotesques and American gothics, Kostas Bartokas’ Averta (Greek: ‘αβέρτα’ – to act or speak openly, bluntly or without moderation, without hiding) is a new geometric sans serif family with a simple, yet appealing, personality. The purely geometric rounds, open apertures, and its low contrast strokes manage to express an unmoderated, straightforward tone resulting in a modernist, neutral and friendly typeface. Averta is intended for use in a variety of media. The central styles (Light through Bold) are drawn to perform at text sizes, while the extremes are spaced tighter to form more coherent headlines. The dynamism of the true italics adds a complementary touch to the whole family and provides extra versatility, making Averta an EXCELLENT tool for a range of uses, from signage to branding and editorial design. Take advantage of Averta’s extended OpenType features including alternate glyphs, small caps, fractions, case sensitive forms, contextual alternates, oldstyle and lining (proportional and tabular) numerals, small cap numerals, numerators/denominators, superiors/inferiors, and a variety of symbols. Averta comes in eight weights with matching italics and supports over two hundred languages with an extended Latin, Cyrillic (Russian, Bulgarian, and Serbian/Macedonian alternates), Greek and Vietnamese character set. It ships in three different packages offering different script coverage according to your needs: Averta PE (Pan-European: Latin, Cyrillic, Greek), Averta CY (Latin and Cyrillic), and Averta (Latin and Greek). Averta's Cyrillic have received the 3rd Prize in the 2017 Granshan Awards in the Cyrillic Category.

The letterforms that we now accept as the historical standard for printing latin alphabets were developed in Italy around the end of 1400. Deriving from Roman capitals and from italic handwriting, they soon replaced the blackletter letterforms that were used a few years before by Gutenberg for his first moveable types. Between these two typographical traditions there's an interesting and obscure middle ground of historical oddballs, like the Pannartz-Sweynheym Subiaco types, cut in Italy in 1462. Keratine is the result of Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini's exploration of that territory. Like our Kitsch by Francesco Canovaro it explores the impossible territory between antiqua and blackletter, not as a mere historical research, but rather as a way to re-discover and empower an unexpected and contemporary dynamism. Using contemporary digital aesthetics to combine the proportions of humanistic type with the gestural energy of Fraktur letterforms, Keratine develops a "digitally carved", quasi-pixelated appearance (clearly stressed in Keratine's italics) that allows an unexpected balance between small-size readability and display-size personality. Keratine also relies heavily on a variable identity as the letterforms change dynamically with weight, developing from a contrasted, text-oriented light range to more expressive and darker display range, for a total of 8 weights with italics. Open type features and glyph alternates further enrich the usage possibility of this typeface that embodies our contemporary swap culture by embracing the contradictory complexity at the crossroads between Gothic and Humanist styles, while playfully empathising with a digital, brutalist spirit.