Ernie is a new animated typeface by Jim Ford, intended as a complimentary serif design to Freeman Craw’s fun retro hit, Ad Lib. The serif drawings mimic the behaviors of Ad Lib, on a Clarendon-esque structure. The application of Ad Lib’s behaviors to a serif design highlights it's quirky characteristics; notably in the added contrast, the bending of serifs and the translation to Ernie’s ball terminals. The lowercase g is probably the most extreme example of this "translation." Ernie has a savvy system of text animation built in; with dualing lowercase alphabets, 34 ligatures, and an extensive glossary of custom words, all programmed to automatically make intelligent pseudorandom wordshapes. It's called RMS, aka the Randomagic System. The glossary of “buzz” words is based on the most common and powerful words in marketing and advertising, as well as words that are specific to Ernie’s intended uses.. Additionally, Ernie Alt provides the opposite randomization effects in lowercase text, thus reversing the rhythm of the bounce. Ernie Sorts is a bonus font which includes fun printers fists, expandable banners and other graphic elements. The Ernie character and cartoons were created by Johnny Sampson, as a visualization of the typeface, it's character and it's unique features.

“Liebelei” – dalliance, flirtation, hanky-panky; kind of diminutive of “Liebe” (German for love) The typeface Liebelei has its roots back in 1932, when Vienna-based painter Rudolf Vogl created the poster for a movie called Liebelei after the popular play by Arthur Schnitzler. Only the title letters existed of that typeface. I loved the letters from first sight and proceeded by adventurously interpreting the missing characters. The goal was to create letterforms that fit to the original from the 1930s and represent a modern multi-purpose font. It should be an easy-to-use italic font with warm and friendly details and a huge variety of alternates and languages. The characteristic curled ends of most letters provide a script touch to the Liebelei. The first font entirely designed was the bold one which corresponds to the original poster lettering, although I tweaked the proportions a tiny bit to a more contemporary shape. Liebelei covers Western, Central European, and Central Eastern European Languages and contains also complete Greek and Cyrillic character sets. Liebelei is best for poster design as well as detailed usage, for example handsome tables, since it supports small caps, different kinds of numerals and fractions.

Linotype Laika is part of the Take Type Library, chosen from the entries of the Linotype-sponsored International Digital Type Design Contests of 1994 and 1997. This fun font was created by Dutch designer Mark van Wageningen, who based its forms on those of a sans serif font but gave them wavy, irregular contours. They look almost as though they lie just under the surface of a pool and the movement of the water gives them their undulating appearance. The dynamic Linotype Laika is especially good for headlines in larger point sizes or shorter texts in point sizes of 14 or larger.

Linotype Merlin is part of the Take Type Library, which features the winners of Linotype’s International Digital Type Design Contest from 1994 to 1997. This font was designed by Anne Boskamp and its alphabet consists exclusively of capital letters. At the same time aggressive and sensitive, Merlin looks as though it were scratched onto paper with a pen tip saturated with ink. Like characters from another time, the letters fall into place and make an impression which is both vulnerable and strong, lively and reserved. Merlin’s historical roots lie in the archaic pictograms in the caves of Stone Age civilizations.

Acrom is a geometric sans serif typeface with a minimal stroke contrast. It was designed with a modern, contemporary context in mind. Acrom is not merely mechanical, it can also be recognised as a natural typeface with subtle geometric aesthetics. The humanist quality of the font aids legibility across both text and display work. Acrom’s main characteristics lie in the injection of stylistic forms that enhance its individuality without overpowering the font’s functional purpose and integrity. The font can be tamed utilising the set of alternative characters available within the typeface. Details include 500 characters, manually edited kerning and Opentype features.

The origins of Bookman Old Style lie in the typeface called Oldstyle Antique, designed by A C Phemister circa 1858 for the Miller and Richard foundry in Edinburgh, Scotland. Many American foundries made versions of this type which eventually became known as Bookman. Monotype Bookman Old Style roman is based on earlier Lanston Monotype and ATF models. The italic has been re drawn following the style of the Oldstyle Antique italics of Miller and Richard. Although called “Old Style,” the near vertical stress of the face puts it into the transitional category. The Bookman Old Style font family is a legible and robust text face.

The origins of Bookman Old Style lie in the typeface called Oldstyle Antique, designed by A C Phemister circa 1858 for the Miller and Richard foundry in Edinburgh, Scotland. Many American foundries made versions of this type which eventually became known as Bookman. Monotype Bookman Old Style roman is based on earlier Lanston Monotype and ATF models. The italic has been re drawn following the style of the Oldstyle Antique italics of Miller and Richard. Although called “Old Style,” the near vertical stress of the face puts it into the transitional category. The Bookman Old Style font family is a legible and robust text face.

Named for the island that I had the pleasure of calling home for four years, Samui Script is a lovingly made, hand-lettering-style, script font, with a bouncy baseline and exuberant character. Taking mid 20th century commercial lettering as its inspiration, it is no revival, or pale imitation of past forms. This font can be as contemporary as you need it to be, or as retro, or somewhere in between. A wealth of sophisticated OpenType features lie beneath the bouncy exterior, making for a versatile script font that performs well at headline sizes, but is also legible enough to set small amounts of copy.

Goth icon and Saturday Night Live voice-over talent, Nicole Blackman grew up surrounded by design; her dad and her sister are architects, her mom is a retired fashion designer and her grandfather invented clip art. “No lie, Volk Clip Art in NJ,” she says. “Herb Lubalin designed his logo!” Sharing her grandfather’s fondness for fonts, Ms. Blackman created this alphabet. Her creativity sparked this lanky lettering’s theatrical nature in all caps and its supple beauty in upper and lower cases. Final fontification and adjustments were done by Chank Diesel. Blackman drew the original art for the alphabet in 1997; the newest version of the font was completed in 2006. Enjoy this seductive and stylish hand-drawn font.

Designed with help and inspiration from legendary tattoo artist Dustin Horan. This beautiful time saver was designed specifically for skin application. Short words and initials can instantly be turned into seamless tribal style tattoos. Each glyph links with the next allowing letters to flow endlessly around limbs and in circles. Respecting the rhythm and geometry principles laid forth by American pioneering tribal artist Leo Zulueta, Scribal makes flowing text shapes that disguise themselves as design. When mirrored back to back and rotated vertically, Scribal becomes well-crafted tribal pattern. Typeface wise, Scribal breaks the mold. While a script font, Scribal was designed to be written in all capitals. Each capital is a mono-spaced glyph, providing even spacing. The shape influences are also vast, ranging from scripts, to blackletters, to romans. Making Scribal a very "Americanized" font, reflective of this "Americanized" style of Tribal Tattooing.

LiebeRuth is your 100 percent hand-made organic type. She absolutely loves to be typeset in large *and* small sizes, because Legibility is her middle name. (Yes, we know it’s not a typical girl’s name.) She is friendly and polite, but she also has a few quirks. Her friends are impressed with how natural she manages to look every day. Her four weights ensure that Ruth has the right boldness for any context: birthday invitation, personal correspondence, photo album, or billboard ad. During the creation of this font, her designer ate plenty of healthy, organic foods. We think this is the reason why Ruth looks so fresh and lively. And of course Ruth has been designed with lots of Liebe (which is German for “love”—and she speaks many other languages, too). One more thing Ruth is marvelous at: showing off her curly-swirly swashed alternative letterforms that can be activated via OpenType. (Please make sure your software supports OpenType if you wish to use the advanced features.) Each style contains more than 560 gluten-free glyphs—now that is great value! If you like this font, you may want to look at LiebeRuth’s bolder sister LiebeDoni and our best-sellers LiebeErika and LiebeKlara. Or add in some LiebeOrnaments to prepare a curly-licious feast. By the way: LiebeRuth also gets along great with our wide range of illustrative fonts, including LiebeCook, LiebeFish, and LiebeTweet.

ITC Cyberkugel is the work of British designer Timothy Donaldson, who occasionally likes to write with an extra-fine ballpoint pen. I like the spindly scrawny forms that it gives me when I follow all the usual 'italic' writing conventions", he says. And there lie the origins of ITC Cyberkugel, although the creative process was moved from pen and paper to software and a Wacom tablet. "I like the fact that people will be buying it to give them a 'human', 'organic', 'non-digital' look, and yet no ink has soiled paper. Although the movements of the hand are still the essence, the whole thing was created in cyberspace." The name comes from combining cyberspace and Kugelschreiber, the German word for ballpoint pen. ITC Cyberkugel is a fresh interpretation of traditional calligraphy."

Coal Brush is a bit of a misleading name. It looks as though it was made with a brush, but it was, in fact, made with a almost dried out old marker pen. But a font named ‘dried out old marker pen’ doesn’t really fly, so I decided to pimp the name. There you have it, you can’t even trust an honest typographer! Marker pen or brush, Coal Brush is a very sweet little font. It is all caps, but upper and lower case differ and can be mixed freely. Plus there’s a hidden stash of alternates for the lower case letters and an alternate ampersand! I actually threw that in to make up for my lie. So, use it for your books, your posters, your rap albums, rock operas, grilled food restaurants and designer BBQ sauces. It’s yours for the taking!

Raljon is a display typeface created by designer and lettering artist Mark Robinson. It is a collaboration between the Mmarkk and Teen-Beat Graphica visual design studios. This single font was created over a period of five years. Mark took great care in finessing each character and making sure that each character would stand on its own and yet simultaneously, be an integral part of the whole. The typeface is inspired by Gothic letterforms, horror novels, speed metal bands of the 1980s, techno and electronic music of the 1990s, and Washington, DC football teams whose stadiums lie in the Maryland suburbs. While it doesn’t have multiple weights, Raljon does have a deep depth and breadth. It has a seemingly endless amount of alternate characters and ligatures. There are nine letter Ms, eight letter As and Fs, seven Rs and Ts, and the list goes on. Even the figures have alternates.

DIGOT is a pixel-style, grid-based, geometric, display typeface. The idea for this font was born while combining lettering and illustrations in a geometric and pixel art style. What was needed was a font built with attention to detail for an interesting and unconventional creation of text and geometric images. The font is designed so that its modules lie on a grid and have their own rhythm and geometric order. So that it gives great editing possibilities and allows you to maintain a unique look. Optimal kerning is important here. The spacing between and within characters is well thought and designed to respect these rules (e.g. full pixel increments). Digot typeface offers a lot of creative possibilities in many types of graphic design and digital art. Posters, t-shirts, apparel printing, as well as website design, brand identity, and much more. The font contains a large range of characters, numbers, punctuation. Although it is an all-caps font, the T character is in two options. Digot includes support for a wide range of languages, e.g. Cyrillic, etc. Enjoy!

Thermal is an exploration of balance and contrast. Combining the elegance of classical typography with the sharpness of contemporary design. It was conceived to be a variable font with two axes: weight & optical size, providing a wide range of options for texts & display applications. The regular and italic text weights breathe a warm atmosphere, their design inspiration is a relaxed interpretation of the work of 16th-century French type designer Robert Granjon, evoking a comforting rhythm and a sense of familiarity that makes reading enjoyable. On the other end of Thermal's design spectrum lie the extreme weights – thin and heavy –, specifically designed for larger sizes. These weights borrow stylistic cues from several distinct influences: the characteristic woodtype from the 19th century, the sharp lettering styles from the 70s, and the bold work of Oscar Ogg. One of Thermal's disctint features is its italic's 20° inclination, an significant inclination by all standards, this design choice finds its roots in the "Ascendonica Cursive" of 1571, but is a contemporary interpretation that generates a captivating contrast with the regular version. Thermal studies the past and analyzes the present to create a unique blend, bringing a dictint dichotomic identity.

MOTORWAY is the companion typeface to TRANSPORT, the British road sign lettering. The Motorway alphabet was created for the route numbers on motorway signage, and is taller and narrower than the accompanying place names and distances which are printed in Transport. However, for Motorway Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert created only the numbers 0 to 9, the capitals A, B, E, M, N, S and W, ampersand, slash, parentheses and a comma. So, although the lettering made its first appearance on the Preston bypass in 1958, K-Type Motorway is the first complete typeface and contains all upper and lower case letters, plus a full complement of punctuation, symbols and Latin Extended-A accented characters. As with the Transport alphabet the starting point was Akzidenz Grotesk, Motorway taking inspiration from condensed versions. Changes were mainly driven by a quest for legibility, resulting in some reduced contrast between horizontal and vertical strokes, and Gill-esque straight diagonal limbs on the 6 and 9, and high vertex for the M. Kinneir and Calvert designed the limited range of characters in two weights; a SemiBold 'Permanent' weight for use as white letters on blue motorway signs, and a Bold 'Temporary' weight for heavier black letters on yellow non-permanent signage. In addition to creating full fonts in both original weights, the K-Type family adds a new Regular weight, plus a set of italics, completing a highly usable condensed typeface which, while rooted in history, is fully functional for both print and web usage. The K-Type fonts are spaced and kerned normally, simply increase the tracking to recapture the generous spacing of motorway signage.

Et Cetera is a beautiful, hand-lettered script. It abounds in OpenType features such as terminal swashes and ligatures and is best used with OpenType savvy software with the “standard ligatures” and “contextual alternates” features turned ON. Et Cetera is comprehensive and vigorous. Most letters in the font are connected, but, as in typical handwriting fonts, not all are connected. Most characters have a consistent shape within the font, but not all. Some characters in Et Cetera are sensitive to their position in the text and change depending on the adjoining characters. This contributes to the casual and relaxed style of Et Cetera; not allowing the features of the font to get between the reader and the message. A wealth of OpenType features lie beneath the mellow exterior of Et Cetera. These Open Type features make few demands on the user which makes for a versatile script font that requires no expertise from the user, performs well at larger sizes, and remains legible even when setting copy at very small sizes. Et Cetera comes in three styles, Black, Regular & Line. Et Cetera Black is dramatic and bold, making a powerful statement. Et Cetera Regular is elegant and romantic, perfect for wedding stationery and clothing brands. Et Cetera Line is delicate and feminine, portraying a smooth, flowing effect. Et Cetera is a breezy, light, yet expressive font that is perfect for titling work, product packaging and romantic stationery.

This is the redrawn and expanded version of an alphabet Rebecca Alaccari made back in 2009 as a bespoke font for a tourism agency looking to recapture the appeal of New Orleans after the hurricane Katrina disaster robbed it of its core industries. The brief back then was to "revive the unique spirit of what always made Nola great for new adults, which is the excellent combination of history, romance, food and music." No word of a lie, the brief actually contained "new adults." Storyville contains two interchangeable sets of forms drawn in the doodly, loose and organic way now conspicuously popular with today's young designers, almost every one of whom thinks they will get to design something for a boutique coffee bar somewhere. Well, this whole thing perhaps means freedom, youth, fun, happiness, good stuff like that. But just in case, a little caution doesn't hurt: Use this font only if you know what you're doing. We don't want to go back to the 1990s. Please. We were nearly done for by that exposure the first time around. The ligatures feature in this font does some pseudo-randomization, so the forms in doubled letters don't repeat. Serious fun can be had by also applying the stylistic alternates feature, or picking a letter in the middle of a setting and disabling the ligatures feature. Or various sequences of all that. If you don't like any of that stuff, just forget about it. Uh, wutever.

From the beginning “Esmeralda” was born with a strong influence of the classical “capitalis monumentalis”, carved in stone. In the same way, the origin of this majuscule writing emerged from the brush, from a way of writing made merely by hand. For this reason, these two universes were intended to lie beneath the shape of each letter, redefining them. And this combination of styles should also be reflected in a lower case set that also allows to open up the spectrum of usage possibilities. Foundational calligraphy represented a solid base for the development of lower case glyphs, ensuring proper interaction with the upper case letters. “Esmeralda” features a great number of ligatures that mix classic structures with a more contemporary impression. With more than eleven hundred glyphs, it provides a multiplicity of uses across a wide combinatory of ligatures, alternative signs, initial caps, miscellaneous and connectors; each one of them accessible through Open Type. “Esmeralda” is perfect to speak with a classical yet fresh, modern – and a little bit bold – tone of voice. Designed by Guille Vizzari, together with the tough and remarkable work of Ale Paul, in use “Esmeralda” stands out in a subtle and unexpected way that’s almost unnoticeable. Its delicate yet solid curves, serifs and endings give each composition a fine, elegant and exquisite feeling, along with a firm and sturdy look. “Esmeralda” was initially born as a typographic project developed by Guillermo Vizzari – tutored by Ale Paul and Ana Sanfelippo – under completion of the Specialization in Typography Design at University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the years 2011 and 2012.

Milan-based Leftloft studio developed LFT Iro Sans, an expansive family that solves the significant, wide-ranging challenges of branding, wayfinding, pictographic language, and complex editorial use. LFT Iro Sans began as the clear and welcoming wayfinding project of San Siro stadium in Milan. Over time many other styles and weights have been added. LFT Iro Sans never finds itself outmatched by the task at hand. The primary aim was to design a technical typeface that was readable in any low visibility condition, for instance in a poorly lit area with awkward wall shapes and overhangs. This worked well for stadium and large lettering use, but other problems also needed to be addressed, such as complementary iconography. A location developer was left mixing — clashing, really — one type family with a different family of icons, resulting in a cobbled-together look which diluted the brand and the experience. They set out to radically simplify and clarify each shape and its meaning, accepting uniqueness as part of the final visual language. LFT Iro Sans pictograms answers the need for having a consistent and large group of icons, perfectly suited to the text typeface. As it concerns public spaces, this didn’t exist before. LFT Iro Sans incorporated a branding project too, so they decided to let LFT Iro Sans go out on a limb and created a unicase style that demands attention. Each unicase letter is a combination of the lowercase and capital form, quite noticeable in the ‘i’, ‘m’, ‘t’, and unique ‘d’ and ‘b’, balanced by more restrained forms of ‘a’, ‘s’, ‘c’, and ‘e’. LFT Iro Sans is not only a technical typeface, but, thanks to letters’ proportions, can also be used for editorial purposes. Assertive and economical in stature, the text weights are clear and assured. And a display version for headlines in Ultralight and Heavy (with italics) was developed for stunning headlines. For enthusiasts of every stripe, LFT Iro Sans can be a brand’s rallying cry with its arresting unicase, be a developer’s go-to pictogram choice, or set the most demanding editorial text in digital or print. With its many OpenType features, simplified pictogram commands (even available in Apple’s Pages and Microsoft Word), and a total of 30 targeted family members, LFT Iro Sans is a brilliant, easy choice. As with the rest of the TypeTogether catalogue, the complete LFT Iro Sans family, designed by Lefloft and developed by Octavio Pardo, has been optimised for today’s varied screen uses.

Pompeian Cursive is a calligraphically-inspired display typeface featuring a limited number of alternate characters and a handful of graceful ligatures. A lively set of non-lining numerals accompanies, as well as a few calligraphically-inspired flourishes for ornament. The history of this typeface: Oswald Cooper’s relationship with the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler foundry was one instigated under the auspices of creating new styles of type in lieu of following stylistic trends. In 1927, BB&S requested that Cooper create a script-like cursive typeface design in step with Lucien Bernhard’s Schoenschrift and ATF’s similarly-styled Liberty typeface. In response to BB&S’s desire to emulate instead of innovate, Cooper wrote to Mcarthur, “I am desolated to see Barnhart’s hoist the black flag. Your own efforts through the years to boost the foundry into a place in the sun as an originator seem wasted.” Still, Cooper took up the task at hand, creating a delicate, sophisticated type design which he named Pompeian Cursive. The typeface featured a limited number of alternate characters and a handful of graceful ligatures. A lively set of non-lining numerals accompanied, as well as a few calligraphically-inspired flourishes for ornamenting the end of lines of type accompanied the typeface, as well. By reviewing the few remaining original drawings for the type, as well as copious samples of Pompeian Cursive from both Cooper & BB&S' proofing process and period-specific type specimens, Wordshape presents the first digital version of this classic hybrid script/sans typeface, complete with all original alternate characters and ornaments. Pompeian Cursive has been intensively spaced and kerned for the finest setting for weddings, announcements, and general display work. - What was the inspiration for designing the font? While researching a biographic essay for Japan’s IDEA Magazine, I came across the original proofs and drawings for Pompeian Cursive. While a number of foundries have released interpretations of Cooper’s assorted typefaces, they stray from the original rather dramatically in parts. Cooper is without a doubt my favorite type and lettering designer, and to bring a refined return to his original intentions is an immense gift. - What are its main characteristics and features? Pompeian Cursive is a typeface which functions as both a display face and a limited text face. It features classy, thoughtful, and delicate swash capitals and rugged lowercase characters with a low x-height and gracefully long ascenders and descenders. - Usage recommendations: Display type or text-setting. Perfect for newspaper work, editorial design, materials intended to invoke an "old-timey" flavor, or just about anything in need of personality.

Geometric sans fonts in the Bauhaus tradition were the inspiration for the design of FF Mark®, for example the Universal font by Herbert Bayer, Erbar® Grotesk, Kabel®, Neuzeit Grotesk and of course Paul Renner's Futura®. From an aesthetic point of view, FF Mark is a descendant of these classics of German typeface design that intends to meet the needs of modern communication. Hannes von Döhren and Christoph Koeberlin had the support of the entire FontFont Type Department in the design of FF Mark, including Erik Spiekermann, who took over the artistic direction of the project. The teamwork resulted in carefully planned, balanced forms, which are responsible for the harmonious overall impression of the font. The capitals are not based on Roman square capitals; rather, they have a uniformly wide letter form in a comfortable ratio to the x-height. Thanks to the x-height, which is significantly larger compared to the historical models, FF Mark is also very legible in small sizes. This makes it a very flexible font in terms of its range of applications. A contrast in the stroke width is barely noticeable. At the same time, light modulation supports readability, especially in the bold styles in small sizes. The uniform line ends are obvious for a contemporary sans family nowadays (unlike some of the historical precedents, which evolved over years). Other details from the predecessors are consciously maintained and provide for added individuality in FF Mark. For example, the limbs in the uppercase "K" and "R" are offset slightly from the stem. Alternative characters with crossbars are available for the numbers "0", "1", "7" and the uppercase "Z" and the lowercase "a" also has an alternative with an open form. German typesetters have the option of uppercase umlauts with points that are set lower, as well as a long "s" from the Fraktur. And last but not least, FF Mark has the very characteristic ft-ligature of Futura. FF Mark is available in ten finely tuned weights ranging from Hairline to Black. A Book style for text setting further emphasizes the well-rounded features of this contemporary typeface. When the font was published, it also included ten carefully designed cursives for all weights. Users also have the option of various numeral sets with old-style and uppercase numbers as well as small capitals. FF Mark also has some geometric shapes and arrows based on the features of Futura. FF Mark is a modern, full-featured, geometric sans serif that you can use without hesitation for large projects in headlines as well as in texts. FF Mark's design is a nod to the historical models and transports their charm, elegance and in some cases unusual design applications into a modern font family equipped with the most current typographical features. NEW: the new FF Mark W1G versions features a pan-European character set for international communications. The W1G character set supports almost all the popular languages/writing systems in western, eastern, and central Europe based on the Latin alphabet and also several based on Cyrillic and Greek alphabets.

Developer-friendly The studio has developed a wide array of weights for FS Untitled – 12 in all, in roman and italic – with the intention of meeting every on-screen need. All recognisably part of a family, each weight brings a different edge or personality to headline or body copy. There’s more. Type on screen has a tendency to fill in or blow so for each weight, there’s the choice of two marginally different versions, allowing designers and developers to go up or down a touch in weight. They’re free to use the font at any size on any background colour without fear of causing optical obstacles. And to make life even easier for developers, the 12 weight pairs have each been designated with a number from 100 (Thin) to 750 (Bold), corresponding to the system used to denote font weight in CSS code. Selecting a weight is always light work. Easy on the pixels ‘It’s a digital-first world,’ says Jason Smith, ‘and I wanted to make something that was really functional for digital brands’. FS Untitled was made for modern screens. Its shapes and proportions, x-height and cap height were modelled around the pixel grids of even low-resolution displays. So there are no angles in the A, V and W, just gently curving strokes that fit, not fight, with the pixels, and reduce the dependency on font hinting. Forms are simplified and modular – there are no spurs on the r or d, for example – and the space between the dot of the i and its stem is larger than usual. The result is a clearer, more legible typeface – functional but with bags of character. Screen beginnings FS Untitled got its start on the box. Its roots lie in Fontsmith’s creation of the typeface for Channel 4’s rebrand in 2005: the classic, quirky, edgy C4 headline font, with its rounded square shapes (inspired by the classic cartoon TV shape of a squidgy rectangle), and a toned-down version for use in text, captions and content graphics. The studio has built on the characteristics that made the original face so pixel-friendly: its blend of almost-flat horizontals and verticals with just enough openness and curve at the corners to keep the font looking friendly. The curves of the o, c and e are classic Fontsmith – typical of the dedication its designers puts into sculpting letterforms. Look out for… FS Untitled wouldn’t be a Fontsmith typeface if it didn’t have its quirks, some warranted, some wanton. There’s the rounded junction at the base of the E, for example, and the strong, solid contours of the punctuation marks and numerals. Notice, too, the distinctive, open shape of the A, V, W, X and Y, created by strokes that start off straight before curving into their diagonal path. Some would call the look bow-legged; we’d call it big-hearted.

Developer-friendly The studio has developed a wide array of weights for FS Untitled – 12 in all, in roman and italic – with the intention of meeting every on-screen need. All recognisably part of a family, each weight brings a different edge or personality to headline or body copy. There’s more. Type on screen has a tendency to fill in or blow so for each weight, there’s the choice of two marginally different versions, allowing designers and developers to go up or down a touch in weight. They’re free to use the font at any size on any background colour without fear of causing optical obstacles. And to make life even easier for developers, the 12 weight pairs have each been designated with a number from 100 (Thin) to 750 (Bold), corresponding to the system used to denote font weight in CSS code. Selecting a weight is always light work. Easy on the pixels ‘It’s a digital-first world,’ says Jason Smith, ‘and I wanted to make something that was really functional for digital brands’. FS Untitled was made for modern screens. Its shapes and proportions, x-height and cap height were modelled around the pixel grids of even low-resolution displays. So there are no angles in the A, V and W, just gently curving strokes that fit, not fight, with the pixels, and reduce the dependency on font hinting. Forms are simplified and modular – there are no spurs on the r or d, for example – and the space between the dot of the i and its stem is larger than usual. The result is a clearer, more legible typeface – functional but with bags of character. Screen beginnings FS Untitled got its start on the box. Its roots lie in Fontsmith’s creation of the typeface for Channel 4’s rebrand in 2005: the classic, quirky, edgy C4 headline font, with its rounded square shapes (inspired by the classic cartoon TV shape of a squidgy rectangle), and a toned-down version for use in text, captions and content graphics. The studio has built on the characteristics that made the original face so pixel-friendly: its blend of almost-flat horizontals and verticals with just enough openness and curve at the corners to keep the font looking friendly. The curves of the o, c and e are classic Fontsmith – typical of the dedication its designers puts into sculpting letterforms. Look out for… FS Untitled wouldn’t be a Fontsmith typeface if it didn’t have its quirks, some warranted, some wanton. There’s the rounded junction at the base of the E, for example, and the strong, solid contours of the punctuation marks and numerals. Notice, too, the distinctive, open shape of the A, V, W, X and Y, created by strokes that start off straight before curving into their diagonal path. Some would call the look bow-legged; we’d call it big-hearted.