The Face2Face (F2F) series was inspired by the techno sound of the mid-1990s, personal computers and new font creation software. For years, Alexander Branczyk and his friends formed a unique type design collective, which churned out a substantial amount of fresh, new fonts, none of which complied with the traditional rules of typography. Many of these typefaces were used to create layouts for the leading German techno magazine of the 1990s, Frontpage. Branczyk and his fellows would even set in type at 6 points, in order to make it nearly unreadable. It was a pleasure for the kids to read and decrypt these messages! F2F Monako Stoned was inspired by the Apple system font Monaco, and is one of 41 Face2Face fonts included in the Take Type 5 collection from Linotype. Branczyk designed 16 of these himself."

The French interest in the revival of suitably edited Oldstyle romans as an alternative to a world of Modern typefaces started in 1846 when Louis Perrin cut the Lyons capitals. About 1860, as Phemister was cutting the Miller & Richard Old Style in Edinburgh, Theophile Beaudoire turned the idea of the Lyons capitals into a complete Oldstyle typeface, with similar overwhelming success; it was generally known as Elzevir in France and Roemisch, Romanisch, Romaans or Romana in Germany, Holland and Switzerland. In 1892, Gustav Schroeder, at the Central Division of ATF, expanded the series, adding a boldface under the name De Vinne. It was promptly copied, initially in Europe by Ludwig & Mayer, and spread rapidly throughout the US and Europe, becoming the best known member of the series. ATF made popular an ornamental form under the name De Vinne Ornamental.

Neon Love was designed originally for a circle coaster design with a quote by the Beatles’ “All you need is Love, Love is all you need”. The inspiration of the lettering was a neon sign style where a cursive script is kind of bended from those glass wires. The idea was to get the overall look and feel of neon signs into a font, as well as creating a good raw material to use for some further photoshop effects to enhance the visual presentation. Neon Love has many OpenType features that allow for choices that can make the lettering unique. Neon Love has two versions of the font a Smooth one which is connected and the Cutout version which can be used to create neons and for this it is in parts. Design by Roland Hüse and Schriftlabor team.

I present Hatran as the last font of 2023. The Hatran script was used in what is now northern Iraq to write Hatran Aramaic, a Middle Aramaic dialect that was spoken in the region of Hatra and Assur in northeastern Mesopotamia from about the 3rd Century BC to the 3rd Century AD. Hatran Aramaic is also known as Aramaic of Hatra or Ashurian (Leššānā Assūrāyā \ ܠܫܢܐ ܐܣܘܪܝܐ), and first appeared in writing in 98 BC. The script is also known as the Hatran Aramaic script or Ashurian script. It appears mainly in texts found in the ruins of Hatra. There are also some texts in Hatran Aramaic from Assur and other places. It was discovered in 1912 by archaeologtists working in Hatra, which is near to the villages of Al-Hadar (الحضر) in the Nineveh Governorate (محافظة نينوى) of Iraq.

Monotype’s hot metal Bell series from 1931 was based on original types made by the punchcutter Richard Austin for the foundry of John Bell in the 1780s. The different sizes of Monotype’s series were not all based on the same model. As type historian James Mosley wrote on Typophile, “For 18 point and above (the metal type was cut in sizes up to 36 point) Monotype’s model was a larger type [than the model used for the text sizes], the ‘Great Primer’ cut by Austin. This has greater contrast in the capitals and a flat foot to letter a.” The digital Bell closely follows the design of the hot metal 18pt version, and is therefore somewhat lighter in color than the text sizes of Monotype’s original metal face. James Mosley’s Typophile article can be found here.

A vintage lettering stencil manufactured by the E-Z Letter Stencil Company of Baltimore, Maryland was the model for Schoolyard Stencil JNL, available in both regular and oblique versions. Re-drawn digitally and following the actual bend of the steel rule dies used to cut the stencils, this typeface has not been cleaned up from its original design. Upon close examination, you will find straight angles and slight curves in the most unusual places. This was representative of the difficult work involved in bending steel cutting rule material and fitting it into small areas. For many years, E-Z Letter was the main competitor to the Stenso Lettering Company; the originator of the oil board stencil lettering guide complete with automatic spacing holes. Anyone over 40 will well-remember lettering their science fair posters, report covers and ring binders with these stencils.

Waite Park JNL is based on the smallest of the die-cut letters and numbers contained in the Webway Sign Cabinet - once manufactured by the Holes-Webway Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The largest of the set's sizes (2 inch) was the model for Sign Kit JNL, the medium size (1-1/8 inch) was used to make Sign Production JNL and this font is a version from the 3/4 inch size. Each size of alphabet and numerals have their own unique characteristics, although they all follow the same basic font style, which is reminiscent of classic Art Deco-era sanserif typefaces. The name Waite Park JNL was derived from a division of Holes-Webway that (for some reason lost to time) distributed their sign kits under the name Waite Park Sign Company, located in the Minnesota city of the same name.

Bredagh (pronounced Braid-ah) is a happy font! It can bring a smile to your face, yet is at one with science and mathematics and the Arts. The first presentation is in a Poetry book. Overall, it is a strong and capable font. The organic nature of the font Breadgh is in Nature itself, with the roundels as found in the cross-section of a tree, for example, both circular and rounded oblong shapes, influencing. Accordingly, some of the characters are of a condensed nature and some are not. The lower case does not have the condensed aspects but the numerals do. In the creation of Bredagh, it was the dynamic between all of these that was part of the challenge. And to make them all work together subtly to be in overall harmony—was the ultimate challenge.

It was my first attempt to drawing a Hebrew alphabet to mach directly with other typeface (Latin) which I already designed. The Latin version is an handwriting display typeface influenced by chancery handwriting from the Italian Renaissance (broad-nib pen). One of the most typographic characteristic is there wavy forms, especially the serifs, where contains some of the main calligraphic references from this font family. The Hebrew script contain reverse contrast, the vertical proportions are more tall and the stroke weight is slightly more strong than latin lowercase to produce a correct visual balance between them, especially on small sizes (text proportions). This Hebrew square book-hand was influenced by Sephardic script style. The Latin characters contains interrupted strokes, the same was made for Hebrew letterforms to transpose correctly the same calligraphic approach between these two different alphabets.