New York to London via Europe The hardworking FS Koopman is a crossbred workhorse which draws inspiration from Swiss and Germanic grotesks, American gothics and early British grotesques, but refuses to fit neatly into any of these categories. Its neither one nor the other, but all of the above. Fontsmith designers Andy Lethbridge and Stuart de Rozario decided to take the characteristics they admired from each category and distill them down into one functional family. Neo meets Neue FS Koopman aims to swim against the tide of Helvetica-ish derivatives by bringing some personality and soul to a genre that all too often ends up feeling bland and sterile. FS Koopman subtly embraces the quirkiness and charm often seen in early twentieth century designs but pairs this with the functionality of later pioneers of the genre. It’s a grotesque isn’t it? The term grotesque surfaced around the early 1800s and refers to the early sans serif designs that many initially believed were strange or ‘grotesque’ due to their lack of elegant serifs. Later variations became known as neo-grotesques and this moniker stuck around even after they gained mass popularity. Some American variants became known as gothics. FS Koopman takes cues from all three categories and blends them into one cohesive design.

Einhorn is a peculiar typeface. Difficult to classify, this upright, bold, script-like semi serif typeface was designed in 1980 by Alan Meeks. Meeks was inspired by the art nouveau period, and may have been trying to liven up the design scene. In 1980, typefaces like Helvetica and Univers were ubiquitous, and the digital revolution was still years away. Experimental faces like Einhorn helped fill the gap for creative designers looking for untraditional choices in which to set headlines and advertising work. The merit of pioneer display faces like Einhorn have never lessened; Einhorn still sets a mean display text, and works great in logos and other corporate ID solutions.

Annonce is a digitization and expansion of a 1912 Johannes Wagner Foundry classic called Aurora Grotesk, which also circulated later on in metal under the name Annonce. Bold, extended and clear as a bell, Annonce stood out as the definite big sign font long before the Helveticas of the world. With angled cuts on some of the letters, it also shows humanistic traits that make it more appealing than any other face in its genre. The Annonce set comes in two fonts, a regular and an italic, and includes a very large character set that accommodates almost all Latin-based languages, including Turkish, Baltic, Celtic, Maltese, Esperanto, and the languages of Central and Eastern Europe.

Playing with old rub-on letters led to this alphabet. On the Letraset sheets (the older ones still remember...) there were always letters left over that were never or rarely used. I sometimes let interns play with it. To explain, I first rubbed an example myself. Two y's from a Helvetica made a pretty shape. Looking closely, you see a contoured, italic N. I developed the HGB Ypsilon font from this N. A purely decorative typeface – it could be interesting for some logo.

Fonce Sans Pro is a mono-weight, Swiss-style typeface with influences from great typefaces like Din, Helvetica, Interstate, and Trade Gothic. Its form is unique and sophisticated with an unmistakable Dutch style. It’s subtle and enjoyable, and works beautifully in both display and body copy.

The Nixt Font Family is a new font with currently seven styles. As an alternative to Helvetica, Arial, Gill Sans, Futura, & Gotham, Nixt has a similar design aesthetic to those aforementioned in that its design, structure, and feel crosses decades of appeal. From Mid-Century, through the stark '60s, decades of succeeding modern architecture through the turn of the 21st Century, Nixt's glyphs are timeless, clear, ultra-legible in all styles and weights. Best use in Advertising, Branding, Signage, Architecture, Fashion, Posters, Headlines, and By-Lines, Print & Digital, and of course Labels. There are currently, at first release, 7 Styles: Extra Light, Light, Regular, Italic, Book, Bold, & Extra Bold. There are more in process and will be added when completed. The inspiration behind the Nixt Fonts is the Bauhaus, Mid Century Industrial Design, Art Deco through Moderne Era Architecture, American Pottery and American Design of The Twentieth Century.

Deka was 10 years in the making. Intended as a clean and straightforward sans serif family, it has just enough personality to stand out. Helvetica this ain't! Deka has 8 weights, language support for all Latin plus cyrillic languages, and loads of Opentype features. It is a versatile workhorse suitable for both text and display usage.

MGN Ismawan. This font was created in 2022 and was inspired by the Helvetica font. With a standard shape and being a bit wide, this font is suitable for writing, but for headlines, we think it's still OK. There are several forms of this font that have a distinctive character, which makes this font suitable for logo writing.