Classica Pro by Bernd Möllenstädt A real alternative for letterpress printing A masterpiece It was only after many years, shortly before the end of his life, Bernd Möllenstädt brought out these early drafts of his Classica Light and Light Italic from his drawer, and asked me to produce for him on the computer a Bold and Bold Italic, from which we later wanted to interpolate further cuts like Regular and so on. The boldening of letters with an oblique axis and with hairlines which should not grow to the same extent as the general line widths, is hard to cope with perfectly, even for the smartest computer program, and even more so, when it concerns an as complicated set of data as those conceived by Bernd. The automatically generated result could therefore only be a first step that had to be improved manually later. This was about the stage that we had reached when Bernd died in March 2013, leaving me behind with comprehensive corrections on proofs of this automatically generated Bold. Although I was aware that it would mean a lot of work to complete the project, I did not want to leave it unfinished and decided to finalize and publish the Classica, also in Bernd‘s honor. In the course of the two years that I worked on this font family it somewhat naturally became also my own. New details were added and some of the existing changed. A book typeface requires the supreme and forgives rarely, it represents a true masterpiece. My intention and my ambition were to create a real alternative for letterpress printing, with a font family that contains all the typographic options for an excellent typesetting, and is better readable and has a better appearance than other existing typefaces. Whether this was achieved, the reader may decide. Volker Schnebel, Hamburg, december 2014

FG Nadja is bold and beautiful - with a real artistic flair around her.

It's been said that creativity requires ten parts to perspiration to one part inspiration. But not always. According to its creator, Mira Vucko, ITC Needlescript was designed in one breath." An accomplished lettering artist, Vucko was sketching letters one afternoon. "I was using a calligraphy nib and was drawing the alphabet without much thought," she recalls. "When I allowed the down strokes of a couple of letters to fall below the baseline, I realized that I had created the impression of movement. I kept drawing letters in this fashion and did the same with horizontal lines. I added a firm ending to the descenders. Instead of dots above the 'i' and 'j,' I placed strokes in the opposite direction." In this way, the first characters that were to become ITC Needlescript emerged. The finished design is a lively, distinctive alphabet that produces a striking texture on the page. Letters intertwine and overlap to create a sense of movement and graphic intensity, especially when reversed out of a dark background. Vucko lives, works and was educated in Zagreb, Croatia. She lived in France and Sweden while in her twenties, but then returned to Croatia to work as a graphic designer for the country's largest newspaper. It was here that her passion for type and typography was born. Vucko has since gone on to become one of Croatia's leading graphic designers, and has won many awards for her advertising and packaging design. Vucko recommends that ITC Needlescript be used for "titling, lively but 'thorny' content, and anywhere that a little typographic drama is called for.""

The Techno sound of the 1990s, a personal computer, a font creation software and some inspiration had been the sources to the F2F (Face2Face) font series. Thomas Nagel and his friends had the demand to create new unusual faces that should be used in the leading german techno magazine Frontpage"."

Helena derived her curves from the old Chinese Tangram puzzle. She sure is playful, though sometimes she bites furiously. No worries! Helena may seem to be a tad crazy, but all in good moderation. Don’t go overboard, use her well and I can assure you … she’ll be worth all your effort.

The Techno sound of the 1990s, a personal computer, a font creation software and some inspiration had been the sources to the F2F (Face2Face) font series. Thomas Nagel and his friends had the demand to create new unusual faces that should be used in the leading german techno magazine Frontpage"."

The Techno sound of the 1990s, a personal computer, a font creation software and some inspiration had been the sources to the F2F (Face2Face) font series. Thomas Nagel and his friends had the demand to create new unusual faces that should be used in the leading german techno magazine Frontpage"."

Far east font flavor in Hebrew letters. So fresh so unique, yet so legible.

Pi fonts which had been used for the time tables of the Deutsche Bahn

The tale of Okiku Of The Nine Plates is an old Japanese story full of lust, deceit, murder and revenge. It tells of Okiku, a beautiful servant whose master lusts after her. After she refuses his amorous advances, he accuses her of stealing a costly plate and has her thrown down a well, where she dies. She then turns into an Onryō (a vengeful spirit). Okiku font is a thin, all caps, scratched typeface. Upper and lower case differ and can be interchanged. Okiku comes with an afterlife of diacritics.

Kilometro Display is a Font Family inspired by the chrome car emblems of the auto industry. In the early 1950s Car manufacturers started using this sort of joint-lettering (script) to write their brand or model on their cars. The trend quickly made it’s way to other industries like electric appliances and it lasted for a good 30 plus years. Today only a handful of brands still uses this font style for their products. This geometric script re-lives a bold past all the way through 5 styles to a thin future.

Benson Script is a script that is desperately trying to be anything but a script. With 3 contrast levels, and 2 styles, the six styles of Benson Script are an experiment in the diversity of a single stem width. Modernism’s desire to fit all elements within geometric constraints and adhere to strong verticals has spread throughout type design, but has had little to do with the frills and ornaments of script. Cutting a script down to its bare bones is an offensive idea to many—almost seeming insulting to its genre. Benson Script bridges that genre gap between frill and function. As a matter of genre Benson Script errs on the side of modernism, and adds flair as a last resort. Read more about her open type features, and the development process here.

The land of beauteous angels, Andalucia, connects different cultures with a curved arch. Almond trees bloom there in February, and orange trees grow in the heavenly courtyards of Gothic churches. A Catholic cathedral stands in a mosque, Moorish fountains gush with water, and ornate arcades are reflected in the mirrors of the Alhambra pools. Fishing villages have long been busy with tourism, but there are remote pubs where only locals go for fresh fish. Beer is served in wine glasses, and with each one you get a piece of cheese, shrimp, or a few slices of specially smoked ham, sitting on the bar counter. Here, in the off-season, it is possible to gaze into the distance towards the African shores and sketch watercolors for the diary completely undisturbed.

Devin is designed mainly for the benefit of the advertising industry, and it surely is a nice typeface for headings, isn't it? And you should see what a nice body type it makes! I had no other typeface in mind when working with it, but I can now find several typefaces it is related to. It reminds of the egyptienne group, but I did't really plan that. The name Devin is taken from my birth region. There is a castle with that name on the northern Adriatic coast (known even from Rilke's Duino elegies - Duino is another name of the same castle). A castle ruin called Devin, too, can be found on a height above the Danube in Slovakia, not far away from its capital Bratislava. Devin was released in 1994.

Scriptissimo is, as the name says, very much of a script! It is in the best American tradition. A script that could have served for writing the Constitution with, if only they would have had computers at that time. Scriptissimo consists of three different scripts that are meant to be used together. One is the script with the more or less plain characters. Two is the version for characters to start a word with. Three is the cut that has the characters for the end of a word. Ligatures is used for, well, ligatures and some glyphs like Ltd., GmbH, and so on. Scriptissimo is a very elegant and versatile script. It can be used for chocolate bars as well as stock certificates. I really enjoyed designing it. Yours scriptissimo, Gert Wiescher

Kobely is a reproduction of a local broadcaster's real handwriting. My daughter thought her boss's handwriting was so neat and uniform, it would make a great font and asked if I would be willing to create it. I agreed. She had him write out all the basic characters, which he gladly did with both a standard ink pen and a Sharpie¨ marker. I then turned it into a three weight family, perfect for use on post-it notes, shopping and to-do lists - anywhere you need the natural feel of real handwriting. I created it in various weights to spare you from adding a stroke to make it bolder. Adding a stroke can often compromise the small details of a font. Kobely is designed to be readable in even the boldest weight!

Franko Luin, Odense's designer, on this typeface: With Odense I entered the field where Optima reigns in royal majesty. The first question I received was, in fact, why I designed another Optima. Look closely: Odense has as much in common with Optima as Garamond with Baskerville. Am I right? Odense Neon is a special variant that can be used for logos or single words. I had the idea for it when I noticed that the neon tubes in a sign over a store only partially followed the characters. The name comes from the Danish town Odense, the town of the famous storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, author of, e.g., 'The Little Mermaid.' Odense is also the place where the first book in the Nordic countries was printed, the 'Breviarium Ottoniense', in 1482.

What does a 1932 movie about a love affair between a circus' trapeze artist and a sideshow "little person" have to do with the 1960s counter-culture? They both share some commonalities. The title card for Tod Browning's "Freaks" inspired the lettering design for Hippie Freak JNL. It's in a retro style that was embraced by the youth movement that had its epicenter in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. Circus performers with birth defect abnormalities were displayed in what was referred to as "freak shows"; while young men with long hair and beards who sought peace, love and an end to the war in Vietnam were commonly referred to as "hippie freaks". As the saying goes "the more things change, the more they stay the same".

From the title screens and comic books of the Hair Bear Bunch comes the fun and funky Wonderbear typeface. All that 70’s flavor packed into a Caps/Alt Caps typestyle reminiscent of a lovable limited run cartoon show. The Hair Bears miss you as much as you miss them. Relive the laughter.

Linotype Mhai Thaipe is part of the Take Type Library, chosen from the entries of the Linotype-sponsored International Digital Type Design Contests of 1994 and 1997. The work of German designer Markus Remscheid, the name is not hard to recognize as an English-Asian play on my type and describes its general character. The small circles which ornament the alphabet and the unusual flowing forms which look like a mixture of Arabic and Sanskrit combine to give the typeface an ornamental, exotic look. Linotype Mhai Thaipe is best used for headlines with point sizes of 12 or larger.

Surf Serif is the font that retains some features and proportions of the old-style antiqua, but is adapted for modern conditions, mainly screen ones. Its uncompromising hard lines and corners create an expressive contemporary image being used in larger point sizes accidents. In the text sizes the font proportions, its triangular serifs and the displaced stresses cause some associations with the early Renaissance and even a gothic style. It makes the text useful where brutal modernity must be combined with historical allusions. For example the font seems to be suitable for decoration and advertising of modern Gothic fashion.

Medina Gothic is a three-weight sans serif inspired by Latin American moderne. It was designed in response to the 2002, Altos de Chavon design conference in The Dominican Republic, which celebrated utilitarian driven gestures in graphic design. "There’s a rigor to Medina Gothic that takes care of all sorts of tenets of a hard-working, highly legible, objective font. But at the same time, it’s human. All the curved terminals and open counter forms make for a sort of kindness. For all the discipline, it doesn’t sacrifice its friendliness." – William Morrisey, Professor of Typography, Parsons The New School for Design.

Maculature features grunge, uneven look inspired by letters from old posters and advertisements. Capital glyphs are, although damaged, satisfactorily legible, whereas instead of lowercase letters, capital glyphs are placed, also featuring nearly abstract, hard to read dirty looks damaged spots and stains. The overall visual experience is rough. Capitals are legible and of small size, whereas the second group can be used only in bigger size, whereby rendering an interesting text texture in the course of alternate use. The font contains all the Latin accented characters used in European languages​​, Cyrillic and various ancillary graphemes, ornaments and rough lines.

Hammer & Tongs works great for all kinds of branding projects, advertising, websites, packaging, and posters – essentially anywhere you need bold, strong communication. Inspired by the lettering found on military vehicles, this font works great for headlines and is effective for short blocks of body copy. H&T also has a strong retro industrial/athletic vibe and works well for modern-vintage style designs. This font is available in two styles: a Hard version with sharp, crisp edges and a Soft version with rounded corners. Both styles include a complete set of numbers, punctuation marks, and extended characters.

Gradus is a multi-purpose typeface designed to properly mix elegance and rhythm. The balance between modern and sophisticated touches and styles can achieve the effect of harmonizing well with any device and channel. The hardness of the rigid stem of the grotesque typeface is transformed into a soft touch that organically matches words and sentences. Langages. Basic Latin. Western European, Central European, South Eastern European, South American, Oceanian, Basic Cyrillic, Ukrainian OpenTypeFeatures. Standard Ligatures : fi, ff, ffi. Discretionary Ligatures : ai, ia, il, ill, illi, ma, md, mi, mu, na, nd, ni, nu. Fractions, ss01, ss02, and more.

After readings and reflections about the process-poem,“anti-literary” movement, contemporary of concretism, a font of simple form that could provide directions and sense of reading demanded its creation. So we have done the labor of the processual, modulate by consequence and not by option, born with autonomy and authority. The process demanded soon two things: first, to not be one more “hard to read pixelfont” used only by its creators; second, to attend to the requirements of the poem-process, not like a good daughter but like a modern and comprehensive grandchild (the generations understand themselves to the jumps).

Habano is an eleganty flowing bold script with some very surprising traits. Taking its roots in both the art deco style and the kind of lettering used for pop culture, its minuscules are classy yet obedient, and its majuscules and figures are playfully round and memorable. This contrast in character between cases makes for an appealing display face that can turn simple words into images that are hard to forget. Once again, the unique lettering talent of Angel Koziupa makes itself evident through an alphabet that leaves the memory of its soft touch for long after it is initially perceived.

Linotype Russisch Brot is part of the Take Type Library, chosen from the entries of the Linotype-sponsored International Digital Type Design Contests of 1994 and 1997. The inspiration of German designer Markus Remscheid is not hard to see for those who are familiar with the chocolate cookies in the form of letters which are called Russisches Brot. The font is available in six weights. The basic weight is perfectly legible and is good for both headlines and shorter texts and from there the weights become more and more nibbled away, leaving the basic form of the characters and a few crumbs.