Vintage Stencil Borders JNL collects twenty-six decorative vintage and antique stencil border motifs for embellishing word copy set in stencil type or for any other decorative purpose. Please note: Commercial reproduction of these designs as stencils, stickers, decals, transfers, ink stamps or other decorative stand-alone products for resale requires a separate license. Contact Jeff Levine through the email address located in the PDF file provided with the font or from the online EULA text.

The hand lettered title found on the 1924 sheet music for the tango “Sentimiento Gaucho” (“Sentimental Gaucho”) offered a different take on the thick-and-thin lettering that permeated the late 1920s through the Art Deco age. A ‘slash’ or ‘swipe’ is cut through the characters (similar to “Directa JNL” – another take on this type of design). Last Tango JNL is the digital recreation of this novelty lettering and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

An early 1960s hand-lettered trade publication ad for an upcoming single 45 rpm release inspired the type design of Miss Rhythm JNL. The nickname of "Miss Rhythm" was given to Ruth Brown because of her popular "jump tunes"; that is rhythm and blues with an uptempo beat. Because the trade ad for her record was the inspiration for the font, it was only fitting to use that nickname as the font's name in honor of her.

Kinslee is a handcrafted script, that gives a feel of girly font type. An Original typeface that suitable for any graphic designs such as branding materials, t-shirt, print, business cards, logo, poster, t-shirt, photography, quotes .etc This font support for some multilingual. Handcrafted Script that contains uppercase A-Z and lowercase a-z, alternate character, numbers 0-9, and some punctuation. If you need help, just write me! Thanks so much for checking out my shop!

In most cases, motion pictures with a Western theme have their titles and credits lettered in type styles that reflect the period of the Old West. In 1966, the titles and credits for “Texas Across the River” used casual sans serif lettering more suited to the 1960s than a Western taking place in the 1800s. Nonetheless, the lettering inspired a digital font entitled Adventure Film JNL and it is available in both regular and oblique versions.

“I Don't like No Cheap Man” is a piece of early 1900s sheet music featuring its title hand lettered in a condensed slab serif design. The influences of the Art Nouveau era are clearly found in the many eccentric character shapes within the various letters of the original artwork. Recreated in digital type, Tightwad JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions – and its font name is a variant of the “Cheap Man” portion of the song’s title.

The Ayes have it! The 1909 specimen catalog from the H. C. Hansen Type Foundry of Boston contained a lovely decorative face named Congress, which is the pattern for this font. It's a winning choice for distinctive headlines, and the uppercase letters are also suitable by themselves for use as decorative initials. The PC Postscript, Truetype and Opentype versions contain the complete Latin language character set (Unicode 1252) plus Central European (Unicode 1250) languages as well.

Manifestor is designed to be an urban culture typeface, it can effortlessly fit, blend and be in very situation at any time without taking up too much attention. It has a clean san-serif structure and proportion, kind to the eyes when set in texts while also look reliable when use in big scale. Manifestor has the simple - easy - comfortable feature, therefore it is a type appropriate for a very wide range of occasion. Manifestor also comes in Variable!

Historical elegance finds its place in the digital era with Reliquaire AOE. Reliquaire AOE is the historical revival and elaboration of the "Memorial" typeface created by Boston Type Foundry in January of 1881. What began as a basic character set of Capitals, lowercase, numerals, and a small handful of punctuation characters has been expanded to a full character set including unlimited fractionals, superiors & inferiors, ordinals, tabular & proportional figures, and an expanded language glyph set. History has found new life.

The source of inspiration for MFC Petworth Monogram is a specimen from the 1917 "Strong's Book of Designs". This popular lettering style has been incorporated into numerous film type foundries of the past, but lacked digital permanence. We've expanded the original All Capitals glyphset to include smallcaps to make monograms, and have added numerals and basic punctuation for extended basic typesetting. Download and view the MFC Petworth Monogram Guidebook if you would like to learn a little more.

A dramatic contrast between thick and thin strokes, “ball” shapes at stroke terminals, and straight hairline serifs are main Evuschka characteristics. In this font, the x-height is specifically accentuated in relation to body height. In spite of its extreme geometrical shape, Evuschka exudes fairytale romance. Belonging to decorative type fonts, it is best suited for headlines, titles, and small amounts of text in large sizes. Evuschka was selected for TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence 2017.

Edberd is a beautiful font. This font perfectly made to be applied especially in logo, and the other various formal forms such as invitations, labels, logos, magazines, books, greeting / wedding cards, packaging, fashion, make up, stationery, novels, labels or any type of advertising purpose. We highly recommend using a program that supports OpenType features and Glyphs panels like many of Adobe apps and Corel Draw, so you can see and access all Glyph variations. Happy Designing!

Stillmore is inspired by a modern lifestyle that expresses character with ease. Then a font with two contrasting styles was created, Stillmore basic and cursive, symbolizing that each person has different character desires. Has 3 weights Regular, Bold, Black with unique details in each glyph that make them stand out. This font is perfect for making a stunning impact on designs of many contemporary types. Has more than 430 glyphs in individual styles. Supports many languages ​​including cryllic.

Lunokhod type family (four weights) was designed by Oleg Karpinsky for ParaType in 2005. Lunokhod is an original wide sans serif with square shapes of oval glyphs. Several Cyrillic glyphs such as Í, Ó, ×, ã, ä, ò have alternate letterforms. For example capital H has two shapes: Latin one with diagonal central stroke and traditional Cyrillic with horisontal bar. Capital Ó and × have symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes. For use in display typography and for short text passages.

A Donkeyman is a person who is in charge of a ship’s engine room. I didn’t know this, but when I was looking for a nice name for this font, I sort of stumbled upon it. Donkeyman font is quite a useful font: it is a handmade, all-caps font that comes with two sets of alternate glyphs. The alternates cycle as you type, creating a ‘random’ effect. Comes with extensive language support, including Sami and Vietnamese.

Durer is a modern font, its soft curves and refined details create a sense of elegance. Inspired by the work of Albrecht Dürer (21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528), who was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints. 551 Glyphs Upper / lower case, numbers, punctuation Language support: Latin / Greek Designed by iframe type foundry

Smothy Bubble is a cute and fun display font with bubble style. You will get three types of fonts in this pack, Regular, Bubble and Shadow version. Use this display font to add that special bubble touch to any design idea you can think of! Very suitable for logotype, Stickers, Packaging design, Cricut Project, headlines, brand identity, t shirt or apparel industry, posters, magazines, books, YouTube, Instagram, websites, or any of your creative design projects. Enjoy!

Salacious is my soft/rough all-caps font, inspired by both comics and grafitti. The weight and width of the letters varies a bit. Not in a disturbing way, but more in a lively and organic way. I've added 5 (slightly) different versions of each letter (which automatically cycles as you type!) The letter shapes are a bit rough, due to the fact that they are handmade, and all corners are rounded, which gives a nice soft look!

Dear Rae, Love Dad is a modern calligraphy font drawn by hand using ink and a folded nib dip pen on rough watercolor paper. Best used in Open Type apps, it has automatically changing alternates. It is upright, dramatic, and personal. It is named Dear Rae, Love Dad because who wouldn't like to get a letter signed, Love Dad. There is also a freebie font of several blobs and some hearts. Because it just seems right.

Lineare Serif is an attempt at solving the difficult problem of creating readable text type, seeking new ways to provide readers with some pleasure and rest as they walk along each line, creating a space where there is harmony between man and the printed form. Asymmetric serifs both in their height and width, medium contrast in the stroke, and balanced upward and downward movements make “Lineare Serif” a typeface featuring both attitude and aptitude for editorial purposes.

Smooth brushstrokes inform the construction of Novaletra Sans. As Novaletra Serif's sister typeface, Novaletra Sans shares its easy readability and excellent performance in a humanist design. Subtle flares and low stroke contrast provide warmth uncommon in sans-serif font families. Novaletra Sans CF pairs well with simple sans-serifs like Articulat® CF, or with detailed and airy display type like Quiverleaf® CF. All typefaces from Connary Fagen include free updates, including new features, and free technical support.

Whether it's your grandparents birthday, „Almabtrieb“ (ceremonial driving cattle down from the alpine pastures) or Oktoberfest (ceremonial drinking of huge amounts of beer): create the homely feeling of embroidery with this font. It comes with a vast language support, open type features, stylistic alternatives, boxes and frames, various numeral sets ... DEUTSCH: Ob Alm-Abtrieb oder Oktoberfest: Erzeuge das heimelige Gefühl großelterlicher Stickereien mit diesem Font. Große Sprachvielfalt, Opentype-Features, stylistische Alternativen, Boxen und Rahmen, diverse Zahlensysteme …

Abdo Misr is a geometrical style. This is an OpenType Font supporting Arabic, Persian, Urdu, abd English to and compatible with the various operation systems and modern software. The combination of modern Kufi and Geometrical styles and varying between straight and curved parts made it a beautiful typeface appropriate to the titles and slogans, and able to meet the desire of the user in the design of ads and modern designs of various types of audio and visual.

Inspired by the urban typography, which later led to a grotesque style. It can be used for bold editorial statements graphic heavy prints or just as a simple logo. This new type will definitely make your designs stand out and unique. Its robust, strong and contemporary form makes it perfect for any project that needs the extra strength. Humanism is available from A to Z in the regular and italic style, developed in an urban style.

Shaliya is a beautiful font. This font perfectly made to be applied especially in logo, and the other various formal forms such as invitations, labels, logos, magazines, books, greeting / wedding cards, packaging, fashion, make up, stationery, novels, labels or any type of advertising purpose. We highly recommend using a program that supports OpenType features and Glyphs panels like many of Adobe apps and Corel Draw, so you can see and access all Glyph variations. Happy Designing!

Markisa is a simple, cool, and dynamic Humanist-flavored Sans Serif type family. It consists of eighteen weights from Thin to Black in both Upright and Italic styles. The resilient yet robust typeface. A san-serif with a humanist touch, a steady combination of seriousness and merriment. Works well as texture in small sizes, while at the same time claiming its space on the display. With its distinctive characteristic, can catch anyone’s attention wherever and whenever.

Happyfin is a sumptuous font based upon the free nature of a handwritten text, it balances the organic form with the necessary preciseness of a traditional typed font. With a smooth light hearted elegance, this font is perfect for designs involving organic produce and situations where a professional yet fun and friendly typeface is needed. The font has high readability level, and yet conveys a good deal of character and style within the simplest of forms.

Based on the popular Talbot Type Kamerik 105 , this Cyrillic variation is now available for the first time. Kamerik 105 is inspired by the classic, geometric sans-serifs such as Futura and Avant Garde, but has shallower ascenders and descenders for a more compact look. It's a versatile, modern sans, highly legible as a text font and with a clean, elegant look as a display font at larger sizes. The Kamerik 105 Cyrillic family comprises of five weights.

Who haven't heard the phrase that ‘any past time was better’?. Although I sometimes find this phrase a little too pessimistic (because I try to think that the best is yet to come), it may be true regarding my passion, typography. I'm too young (29) unfortunately, and this means I did not have the pleasure of being contemporary with maybe the man who has influenced my work the most (1). The man that showed that letters are more than just letters to be read. Herb Lubalin (1918-1981), also called sometimes as ‘the rule basher’ (2), smashed the taboos and sacred rules of type design and gave it personality. He rejected the functionalist philosophy of europeans in favor of an eclectic and exuberant style. To him, letters were not merely vessels of form, they were objects of meaning. (3). Nowadays, when looking at his portfolio, who dares to deny that the term ‘typography’ and ‘beauty’ may go hand-in-hand without any problem? Ed Benguiat, one of Herb’s partners, still likes making jokes with the phrase “screw legibility, type should be beautiful” and what I understand of this is not to forget the rules, but to know and break them carefully. In an era of pure eclecticism, we, the lovers of flourishes and swashes, can't do nothing but admire all the legacy that Lubalin, this wonderful type-guru, left. My font Lubaline read as “the line of Lubalin” is my humble tribute to him. Those who know his work, may see the influences easily like in his ‘Beards’ (1976) and ‘The Sound of Music’ (1965) posters; the art-deco forms in many of his amazing logos and practically in all his creations where letters seem to be alive just like you and me. I really hope that the future finds me still learning more and more about type-design and letterforms, and like him, always willing to make innovations in my field: Because letters are not just letters to be read. NOTES (1) These are some of my fonts in which some of Lubalin’s influences can be seen (in order of creation): Reina, Aire, Erotica, String, Beatle, Heroe, Selfie, Model, Seventies, and many others that are still in progress. (2) (3) Steven Heller. Herb Lubalin: Rule Basher. U&lc (1998) http://www.printmag.com/imprint/my-favorite-lubalin/

Amazing lightness of modern calligraphic writing is reproduced in handwritten script font Sadlyne. This font consists of a pair of handwritten script font and additional font with hand-drawn flourishes and decorative elements. An outstanding feature of them is the fanciful swirls of the initial and final tails of the letters, which will add a playful elegance to your typography designs. The handwritten font itself includes all abundance of modern calligraphic font capabilities. The font pair Sadlyne is the best option for your wedding stationery and wedding monograms. Also it will be perfect for branding, logos, social media, packaging, and other projects. Sadlyne script contains a full set of uppercase letters and 5 full sets of lowercase letters, (standard, alternative, and initial, final form and flourish form). To make a needed form just type a letter with a number (such as a1, b1, c1...) and 27 ligatures - which can be used to create a handwritten calligraphy look. Sadlyne script font contains the Cyrillic glyphs too. The Cyrillic part of the font contains the uppercase letters and 3 full sets of lowercase letters, (standard, initial and final form). To make a needed form just type a letter with a number such as a1, б1, в1... After that select the word and apply the Open Type Features in programmes such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and others) Also Cyrillic part of the font contains 12 Cyrillic ligatures. To use all features of the font you need to have an access to all Opentype Features in software you work with. Sadlyne Symbols is a font with over 36 hand-drawn elements, illustrations and swashes that can help you to make your design unique and matchless. Combine and merge swashes and illustrations to create your own designs and make borders, frames, dividers, logos, and more (just use A-Z and a-z keys in the included Sadlyne Symbols font). A different symbol is assigned to each uppercase or lowercase standard character, so you do not need graphics software, just type the letter you need. Multilingual Support for 31 languages: Latin glyphs for Afrikaans, Albanian, Basque, Bosnian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Malay, Norwegian Bokmål, Portuguese, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Welsh, Zulu. And Cyrillic glyphs support for Russian, Belorussian, Bulgarian, and Ukrainian languages.

Monotype Bembo is generally regarded as one of the most handsome revivals of Aldus Manutius' 15th century roman type, but the original had no italic counterpart. The story is told that Stanley Morison commissioned Alfred Fairbank, a renowned calligrapher, to create the first italic for Bembo, which was released as metal fonts in 1929. Alfred Fairbank, however, claimed that he drew the design as an independent project and then sold his drawings to Monotype. According to him, the statement has been made that I was asked to design an italic for the Bembo roman. This is not so. Had the request been made, the italic type produced would have been different." Whichever version you believe, it was obvious that Fairbank's design - while undeniably beautiful - was not harmonious with Bembo roman. A second, more conventional italic was eventually drawn and added to the Bembo family. Fairbank's first design, which was based on the work of sixteenth-century writing master Ludovico degli Arrighi, managed to have a modest life of its own as a standalone font of metal type. It never made the leap into phototype fonts, however, and the face could have been lost, were it not for Robin Nicholas, Monotype Imaging's Head of Typography in the United Kingdom, and Carl Crossgrove, a senior designer for Monotype Imaging in the US. Nicholas and Crossgrove used the original drawings for Fairbank as the starting point for a new digital design, but this was only the beginning. They improved spacing, added subtle kerning and optimized the design for digital imaging. In addition, Nicholas created an alternative set of lowercase letters, fancy and swash capitals and enough alternate characters to personalize virtually any design project. By the time his work was complete, Nicholas and Crossgrove had created a small type family that included Fairbank, a revived version of the earlier metal font, and Fairbank Chancery, a more calligraphic rendition of the design. An additional suite of ornate caps, elegant ligatures, and beginning and ending letters accompanies both fonts, as does a full complement of lowercase swash characters. Now, instead of a failed Bembo italic, Fairbank emerges in its true glory: a sumptuous, elegant design that will lend a note of grace to holiday greetings, invitations, and any application where its Italianate beauty is called for."

Morris Sans is a newly revised and extended version of a small geometric family of typefaces originally produced by Morris Fuller Benton in 1930 for ATF. His initial design consisted of an alphabet of squared capital letters with a unique twist that characterized its appearance: corners with rounded exteriors and right-angle interiors. The types were intended for use in the fine print found on business cards, banking or financial forms, and contracts. But over the ensuing decades, this design became a popular element in all sorts of design environments, and several foundries revived the typeface in digital form. Since digital fonts are bicameral, with slots for both upper and lowercase letters, new cuts of the type opted filled the lowercase slots with small caps. In 2006, Linotype commissioned its own version of the typeface-an extension for 21st century use. Under the advisement of Linotype's type director Akira Kobayashi, Dan Reynolds redrew the uppercase and added an original lowercase for the first time. Additionally, a number of extras were brought into the fonts, including six figure styles (tabular and proportional lining figures, tabular and proportional oldstyle figures, and special tabular and proportional small cap" figures). Small caps, which have become an iconic element over time, are accessible in each font as an OpenType feature. To differentiate this version from the original, Linotype's new family is named Morris Sans, in honor of Morris Fuller Benton. All fonts in the Morris Sans family are OpenType Com fonts; they include a character set capable of setting 48 European languages that employ the Roman alphabet, including all Central and Eastern Europe languages, those from the Baltics, and Turkish. This glyph coverage extends to the small caps as well. Morris Sans is a wide typeface, especially in its regular widths; the condensed faces set a more conventional line of text. The new lowercase letters are less geometric than the uppercase, except for those that share the same basic forms (e.g., c, o, and s). Instead of following this geometric trend, the new lowercase tends to strengthen the humanist elements that were present in several characters from the original type, including the uppercase D and the figures 5, 6, and 9. Morris Sans also sports a number of glyphic flares, like the stroke found on the original uppercase Q. Morris Sans is a clean, modern design best suited for headlines, advertising, posters, expressive signage (especially on storefronts), and corporate identity work."

As you consider the words you need to convey, it’s clear that you’re looking for something that feels just as precise and intentional as the message you’re promoting. Structia is a typeface that does not shy away from its influence—it leans into the hard edges and geometries that are typically associated with brutalist architecture. And yet, even as it draws inspiration from an austere and somewhat daunting aesthetic, Structia also possesses a sense of control and discipline that is undeniably alluring. At the core of Structia’s appeal is its mechanical precision. Every line, every curve, is carefully calculated and crafted to create a sense of mathematical accuracy that is difficult to resist. There is no room for error or imperfection in Structia—every stroke is sharp and precise, with chamfered corners that add an extra layer of texture and visual interest. This is not a typeface that allows for ambiguity—it demands clarity and specificity, and it delivers both with remarkable consistency. But Structia is more than just a collection of angular shapes and precise lines. It is a typeface that conveys a sense of scientific accuracy and chilly logic—a kind of elegance and refinement that is unexpected. There is a beauty in the way that Structia balances the hard-edged geometries of brutalism with a sense of control and finesse that is undeniably modern. It is a typeface that feels at once futuristic and timeless—a design that can be used in a wide variety of contexts and still feel fresh and relevant. And then there are the two effect styles—Structia Panel and Structia War—which take the basic geometry of the typeface and push it even further into the realm of science fiction. Structia Panel feels like something you might see on a spacecraft or in the architecture of an alien planet, with thin, laser-like struts that give it a futuristic edge. Structia War, meanwhile, takes the concept of Structia Panel and adds a layer of battle damage, as if the letters have been through a cosmic conflict and emerged victorious. In the end, Structia is a typeface that demands attention and respect. It is not a typeface that will fade into the background or blend in with the crowd—it is a design that is meant to be noticed and admired. And yet, even as it draws your eye with its hard-edged geometries and precise lines, it also possesses a sense of elegance and refinement that is undeniably alluring. Structia is a typeface that balances the old and the new, the hard and the soft, the mechanical and the human—and the result is something truly remarkable. Most Latin-based European, and some Cyrillic-based writing systems are supported, including the following languages. A Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Komi-Permyak, Kurdish (Latin), Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Macedonian, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Russian, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec Zulu and Zuni.

Attention! Important information! There is no Cyrillic support in TT Ricks! TT Ricks useful links: Specimen | Graphic presentation | Customization options About TT Ricks: We are glad to present you the new font TT Ricks, which continues the line of trendy and yet affordable TypeType Starter Kit fonts. TT Ricks is a flamboyant elzevir-type serif, for which the words “cute” or “calm” are not a fitting definition. TT Ricks can be classified as a display title typeface that works especially well at large and medium sizes in packaging design, book graphics and posters. The typeface is inspired by the pre-digital font “De Vinne”, which was designed in 1892 by the designer Gustav F. Schroeder. We liked certain aspects of the historical prototype, but at the same time, when creating TT Ricks, we did not want to limit ourselves—on the contrary, we were eager to discover a completely new spirit and bring bright details to the font. The TT Ricks typeface stands out for its strong contrast, noticeable sharp serifs, narrow letterforms with a pronounced displacement of flows in the arches. The typeface has very dense spacing, and in the bold style, the text set begins to resemble Gothic by its richness and tension. Important visual features of TT Ricks are the dashing shapes of ascenders and descenders, the thin and sharp stroke endings, and the “elzevier legs” of the letters R K k. In the lowercase round characters c e s, you can notice the pronounced slope of the oval, which contrasts with the general set of the font. These "slanted" signs and ascenders and descenders of the letters f and y are designed to cut the monotony of a set and to entertain the reader's eyes. The TT Ricks typeface consists of three weights (Regular, Medium, Bold) and one variable font. Each style consists of 553 glyphs and contains 18 OpenType features. The most interesting features are stylistic alternates for the letters R K k with alternative short leg shapes, two sets of figures for working with upper and lower case characters, and a set of original icons that further reveal the spirit of the family. Please note! If you need OTF versions of the fonts, just email us at commercial@typetype.org Attention! Important information! There is no Cyrillic support in TT Ricks! TT Ricks OpenType features: aalt, ccmp, locl, numr, ordn, tnum, onum, lnum, pnum, case, liga, calt, ss01, ss02, ss03, ss04, ss05, ss06 TT Ricks language support: Acehnese, Afar, Albanian+, Aleut (lat), Alsatian, Aragonese, Arumanian+, Asu, Aymara, Azerbaijani +, Banjar, Basque +, Belarusian (lat), Bemba, Bena, Betawi, Bislama+, Boholano+, Bosnian (lat), Breton +, Catalan+, Cebuano+, Chamorro+, Chichewa, Chiga, Colognian+, Cornish, Corsican +, Cree, Croatian, Czech+, Danish, Dutch+, Embu, English+, Esperanto, Estonian+, Faroese+, Fijian, Filipino+, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian+, Gaelic, Gagauz (lat), Galician+, Ganda, German+, Gikuyu, Guarani, Gusii, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiri Motu, Hungarian+, Icelandic+, Ilocano, Indonesian+, Innu-aimun, Interlingua, Irish,

Before Bodoni, there was Didot. With the publication by Francois Ambroise Didot of Paris in 1784 of his prospectus for Tasso’s La Gerusalemme Liberata, the rococo typographical style of Fournier de Jeune was replaced with a spartan, neo-classical style that John Baskerville pioneered. The typeface Didot used for this work was of Didot’s own creation and is considered by both G. Dowding and P. Meggs to be the first modern face. Three years later, Bodoni of Parma is using a very similar face. Just as Bodoni’s typeface evolved over time, so did that of the Didot family. The eldest son of Francois Ambroise Didot, Pierre, ran the printing office; and Firmin ran the typefoundry. Pierre used the flattened, wove paper, again pioneered by Baskerville, to permit a more accurate impression and allow the use of more delicate letterforms. Firmin took full advantage of the improved paper by further refining the typeface introduced by his father. The printing of Racine’s Oeuvres in 1801 (seen in our gallery image #2) shows the symbiotic results of their efforts, especially in the marked increase in the sharpness of the serifs when compared to their owns works of only six years earlier. It has been suggested that one reason Bodoni achieved greater popularity than Didot is the thinner hairlines of Didot were more fragile when cast in metal type and thus more expensive for printers to use than Bodoni. This ceased to be a problem with the advent of phototypesetting, opening the door for a renewed interest in the work of the Didot family and especially that of Firmin Didot. Although further refinements in the Didot typeface were to come (notably the lower case ‘g’ shown in 1819), we have chosen 1801 as the nominal basis for our presentation of HiH Firmin Didot. We like the thick-thin circumflex that replaced the evenly-stroked version of 1795, possible only with the flatter wove paper. We like the unusual coat-hanger cedilla. We like the organic, leaf-like tail of the ‘Q.’ We like the strange, little number ‘2’ and the wonderfully assertive ‘4.’ And we like the distinctive and delightful awkwardness of the double-v (w). Please note that we have provided alternative versions of the upper and lower case w that are slightly more conventional than the original designs. Personally, I find the moderns (often called Didones) hard on the eyes in extended blocks of text. That does not stop me from enjoying their cold, crisp clarity. They represent the Age of Reason and the power of man’s intellect, while reflecting also its limitations. In the title pages set by Bodoni, Bulmer and Didot, I see the spare beauty of a winter landscape. That appeals to a New Englander like myself. Another aspect that appeals to me is setting a page in HiH Firmin Didot and watching people try to figure out what typeface it is. It looks a lot like Bodoni, but it isn't!

In 1995, FontHaus came upon a rare opportunity to create a revival of Aries, a little known and previously unavailable typeface by the legendary Eric Gill. Discovering a lost typeface by one of the major designers of the 20th Century, was the discovery of a buried treasure, and being the first type company to release it was an honor. Thirteen years later, FontHaus came across another little known typeface treasure: Diane. Designed by the legendary French designer Roger Excoffon in 1956, this remarkable script has never been faithfully recreated until now. In close collaboration with Mark Simonson, FontHaus and Mr. Simonson painstakingly researched rare type books, publications, European metal type services, and period showings from the United States, England, Germany and from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Finding full specimens of the font turned out to be quite a challenge. In most cases, only the caps and lowercase were shown. Furthermore, the more we researched Diane, many curious facts came to light. The caps in earlier specimens of Diane are completely different from specimens published later, suggesting that the face was redesigned at some point, perhaps in the mid-1960s. So we are left with two different sets of caps. The original had very elaborate, swirly strokes, very characteristic of Excoffon¹s gestural designs for posters and logos. Later on, these appear to have been replaced by a set of simpler, more traditional script caps. The original caps are criticized in one source Mark found (Practical Handbook on Display Typefaces, 1959) as being "exquisite" but "not highly legible". Perhaps this is what led to the simpler caps being introduced. Nevertheless, FontHaus's release includes not only both sets of caps, but a range of alternates and a number of new characters not originally available such as the Euro, and a magnificent alternate Ampersand to name a few.

Art into type In 2008, Fontsmith were approached by their friend, Jon Scott, to investigate whether a typeface could assume the aesthetic of one artist’s body of work. Jon’s not-for-profit charity, Measure, was organising an event for the artist, Conrad Shawcross, whose giant mechanical installation, entitled Chord, was going on public display in the long-disused Kingsway tram tunnel in Holborn. Chord explores the way we perceive time, as either a line or a cycle. Two enormous machines with dozens of rotating arms and moving in opposite directions, weave rope with almost infinite slowness. An unusual brief Phil Garnham visited Conrad in his Hackney studio to get a feel for his work and ideas. “Conrad is a very clever and philosophical guy. He struggled to see how typeface design had any relevance to him and his art. This was going to be a challenge.” The artist presented the type designer with a pile of rope and a huge diagram of sketches and mathematical workings. “This was, in essence, my brief.” Phil developed three concepts, the simplest of which ticked all the boxes. “The idea of the strokes in the letterforms appearing and ending at peaks or points of origin fitted perfectly with Conrad’s idea of time occurring and ending at two ends of the sculpture.” Two versions Phil planned modules for two versions of the typeface: one with five lines in the letterforms and one with seven. He then drew the modules on-screen and twisted and turned them to build the machine that is FS Conrad. “This is not a simple headline typeface,” says Phil. “It’s not a rigid structure. It has varying character widths, and it’s informed by real typographic insight and proportions so that it actually works as piece of functioning, harmonious type.”