Pure and not-so-simple Maybe it’s the air of purity, openness and transparency that they transmit, but geometric typefaces are more popular than ever among leading brands. Based on near-perfect circles, triangles and squares, geometric letterforms look uncomplicated, even though making them readable is anything but – something the designers of the first wave of geometric fonts discovered nearly a century ago. Many of the world’s most recognisable brands in technology, retail, travel, food, manufacturing and other industries continue to be drawn to the straightforward, honest character that geometric fonts convey. Fontsmith set out in 2015 to develop a typeface in the same tradition, but optimised for the demands of modern brands – online and offline usage, readability and accessibility. And, of course, with the all-important Fontsmith x-factor built in. FS Lucas is the bold and deceptively simple result. Handle with care The letterforms of FS Lucas are round and generous, along the lines of Trajan Column lettering stripped of its serifs. But beware their thorns. Their designer, Stuart de Rozario, who also crafted the award-winning FS Millbank, wanted a contrast between spiky and soft, giving sharp apexes to the more angular letterforms, such as A, M, N, v, w and z. Among his inspirations were the colourful, geometric compositions of Frank Stella, the 1920s art deco poster designs of AM Cassandre, and the triangular cosmic element symbol, which led him to tackle the capital A first, instead of the usual H. The proportions and angles of the triangular form would set the template for many of the other characters. It was this form, and the light-scattering effects of triangular prisms, that lit the path to a name for the typeface: Lucas is derived from lux, the Latin word for light. Recommended reading Early geometric typefaces were accused of putting mathematical integrity before readability. FS Lucas achieves the trick of appearing geometric, while taking the edge off elements that make reading difficult. Perfectly circlular shapes don’t read well. The way around that is to slightly thicken the vertical strokes, and pull out the curves at the corners to compensate; the O and o of FS Lucas are optical illusions. Pointed apexes aren’t as sharp as they look; the flattened tips are an essential design feature. And distinctive details such as the open terminals of the c, e, f, g, j, r and s, and the x-height bar on the i and j, aid legibility, especially on-screen. These and many other features, the product of sketching the letterforms in the first instance by hand rather than mapping them out mechanically by computer, give FS Lucas the built-in humanity and character that make it a better, easier read all-round. Marks of distinction Unlike some of its more buttoned-up geometric bedfellows, FS Lucas can’t contain its natural personality and quirks: the flick of the foot of the l, for example, and the flattish tail on the g and j. The unusual bar on the J improves character recognition, and the G is circular, without a straight stem. There’s a touch of Fontsmith about the t, too, with the curve across the left cross section in the lighter weights, and the ampersand is one of a kind. There’s a lot to like about Lucas. With its 9 weights, perfect proportions and soft but spiky take on the classic geometric font, it’s a typeface that could light up any brand.

Classic Grotesque by Rod McDonald: a traditional font with a modern face. The growing popularity of grotesque typefaces meant that many new sans serif analogues were published in the early 20th century. Setting machines were not compatible with each other but all foundries wanted to offer up-to-date fonts, and as a result numerous different typeface families appeared that seem almost identical at first glance and yet go their separate ways with regard to details. One of the first fonts created with automatic typesetting in mind was Monotype Grotesque®. Although this typeface that was designed and published by Frank Hinman Pierpont in 1926 has since been digitalised, it has never achieved the status of other grotesque fonts of this period. But Monotype Grotesque was always one of designer Rod McDonald’s favourites, and he was overjoyed when he finally got the go-ahead from Monotype in 2008 to update this “hidden treasure”. The design process lasted four years, with regular interruptions due to the need to complete projects for other clients. In retrospect, McDonald admits that he had no idea at the beginning of just how challenging and complex a task it would be to create Classic Grotesque™. It took him considerable time before he found the right approach. In his initial drafts, he tried to develop Monotype Grotesque only to find that the result was almost identical with Arial®, a typeface that is also derived in many respects from Monotype Grotesque. It was only when he went back a stage, and incorporated elements of Bauer Font’s Venus™ and Ideal Grotesk by the Julius Klinkhardt foundry into the design process, that he found the way forward. Both these typefaces had served as the original inspiration for Monotype Grotesque. The name says it all: Classic Grotesque has all the attributes of the early grotesque fonts of the 20th century: The slightly artificial nature gives the characters a formal appearance. There are very few and only minor variations in line width. The tittles of the ‘i’ and ‘j’, the umlaut diacritic and other diacritic marks are rectangular. Interestingly, it is among the uppercase letters that certain variations from the standard pattern can be found, and it is these that enliven the typeface. Hence the horizontal bars of the “E”, “F” and “L” have bevelled terminals. The chamfered terminal of the bow of the “J” has a particular flamboyance, while the slightly curved descender of the “Q” provides for additional dynamism. The character alternatives available through the OpenType option provide the designer with a wealth of opportunities. These include a closed “a”, a double-counter “g” and an “e” in which the transverse bar deviates slightly from the horizontal. The seven different weights also extend the scope of uses of Classic Grotesque. These range from the delicate Light to the super thick Extrabold. There are genuine italic versions of each weight; these are not only slightly narrower than their counterparts, but also have variant shapes. The “a” is closed, the “f” has a semi-descender while the “e” is rounded. Its neutral appearance and excellent features mean that Classic Grotesque is suitable for use in nearly all imaginable applications. Even during the design phase, McDonald used his new font to set books and in promotional projects. However, he would be pleased to learn of possible applications that he himself has not yet considered. Classic Grotesque, which has its own individual character despite its neutral and restrained appearance, is the ideal partner for your print and web project.

Pure and not-so-simple Maybe it’s the air of purity, openness and transparency that they transmit, but geometric typefaces are more popular than ever among leading brands. Based on near-perfect circles, triangles and squares, geometric letterforms look uncomplicated, even though making them readable is anything but – something the designers of the first wave of geometric fonts discovered nearly a century ago. Many of the world’s most recognisable brands in technology, retail, travel, food, manufacturing and other industries continue to be drawn to the straightforward, honest character that geometric fonts convey. Fontsmith set out in 2015 to develop a typeface in the same tradition, but optimised for the demands of modern brands – online and offline usage, readability and accessibility. And, of course, with the all-important Fontsmith x-factor built in. FS Lucas is the bold and deceptively simple result. Handle with care The letterforms of FS Lucas are round and generous, along the lines of Trajan Column lettering stripped of its serifs. But beware their thorns. Their designer, Stuart de Rozario, who also crafted the award-winning FS Millbank, wanted a contrast between spiky and soft, giving sharp apexes to the more angular letterforms, such as A, M, N, v, w and z. Among his inspirations were the colourful, geometric compositions of Frank Stella, the 1920s art deco poster designs of AM Cassandre, and the triangular cosmic element symbol, which led him to tackle the capital A first, instead of the usual H. The proportions and angles of the triangular form would set the template for many of the other characters. It was this form, and the light-scattering effects of triangular prisms, that lit the path to a name for the typeface: Lucas is derived from lux, the Latin word for light. Recommended reading Early geometric typefaces were accused of putting mathematical integrity before readability. FS Lucas achieves the trick of appearing geometric, while taking the edge off elements that make reading difficult. Perfectly circlular shapes don’t read well. The way around that is to slightly thicken the vertical strokes, and pull out the curves at the corners to compensate; the O and o of FS Lucas are optical illusions. Pointed apexes aren’t as sharp as they look; the flattened tips are an essential design feature. And distinctive details such as the open terminals of the c, e, f, g, j, r and s, and the x-height bar on the i and j, aid legibility, especially on-screen. These and many other features, the product of sketching the letterforms in the first instance by hand rather than mapping them out mechanically by computer, give FS Lucas the built-in humanity and character that make it a better, easier read all-round. Marks of distinction Unlike some of its more buttoned-up geometric bedfellows, FS Lucas can’t contain its natural personality and quirks: the flick of the foot of the l, for example, and the flattish tail on the g and j. The unusual bar on the J improves character recognition, and the G is circular, without a straight stem. There’s a touch of Fontsmith about the t, too, with the curve across the left cross section in the lighter weights, and the ampersand is one of a kind. There’s a lot to like about Lucas. With its 9 weights, perfect proportions and soft but spiky take on the classic geometric font, it’s a typeface that could light up any brand.

The early Twentieth Century was a golden age for cinema, and for the artists who lettered the iconic title sequences. Stanffords Family evokes the soul of this vintage brush lettering with a modern twist. Its main characteristics are bouncy baseline, round forms. These qualities give Stanffords its casual, friendly and handmade looks. The font family is characterized by excellent legibility in both - web & print design areas, well-finished calligraphic designs, optimized kerning etc. Stanffords Family include 5 fonts: Stanffords, Stanffords Bright, Stanffords Sans and Stanffords Ornaments and Stanffords Bright Ornaments (sets of 86 ornaments) to combine and give options to your typographic elements and designs. Stanffords is a very versatile script font: it includes initial forms, and a generous complement of alternate characters, ligatures and ornaments, creating a genuine connecting hand-painted look in dynamic OpenType format. You have a lot of options to customize it and that makes it perfect for logos, packages, titles, food packaging, t-shirts, blogs, photo books, wedding and invitation stationery and for everything you think necessary ... You get the idea!

New from the Monotype Studio, Cotford is a contemporary serif from Creative Type Director, Tom Foley. Dynamic, adaptable, and surprising—Cotford is a languid serif that ranges from delicate thins, bending and reaching like flower stems, to bold heavy weights that command the page and screen with confidence and vintage charm. And as a variable font, Cotford allows designers to explore and refine the design almost endlessly, unearthing its many visual tones and hidden secrets. Foley set out to design a soulful, contemporary serif typeface that delivers all the versatility and robustness today's designers expect. The variable font unlocks an expandsive spectrum of visual expression that allows designers to explore, tweak, and adjust the typeface until they find the perfect weight, contrast, and optical size for their project. At the same time, Cotford’s static weights follow a traditional model of 3 text and 5 display weights, making it a strong choice for brands looking for simple implementation. A pop serif for the digital age, Cotford takes you places. Cotford font field guide including best practices, font pairings and alternatives.

The font Steamfunk is based on Steampunk. A form of science fiction that couples Victorian era style with futuristic devices operated by early industrial age technology. Each Steamfunk letter is constructed in two symbolic parts. A thick stroke, for the machine’s outer shell, and a second, wire-like, stroke for that machine's delicate inner workings. The result is a look that is Steampunk in appearance, without it being exclusively so. Steamfunk has a glyph count of 398 and supports the following languages; Afrikaans, Albanian, Asu, Basque, Bemba, Bena, Bosnian, Catalan, Chiga, Colognian, Cornish, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Embu, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Faroese, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Galician, German, Gusii, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Kabuverdianu, Kalaallisut, Kalenjin, Kamba, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Latvian, Lithuanian, Low German, Lower Sorbian, Luo, Luxembourgish, Luyia, Machame, Makhuwa-Meetto, Makonde, Malagasy, Malay, Maltese, Manx, Meru, Morisyen, North Ndebele, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Nyankole, Oromo, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Romansh, Rombo, Rundi, Rwa, Samburu, Sango, Sangu, Scottish Gaelic, Sena, Shambala, Shona, Slovak, Slovenian, Soga, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Swiss German, Taita, Teso, Turkmen, Upper Sorbian, Vunjo, Walser, Zulu.

The softening of edges in the Shabby Chic aesthetic are markers of age, warmth, authenticity and use. The charming style popular with Bohemians and artisans has a soft, relaxed and romantic feeling. Resistenza used their highly successful monolinear script Mina as the basis to explore how to recreate the spirit and charm of the Shabby Chic design style in a typeface. Drawn by hand with dry brush pen for rustic warmth and distressed edges. Shabby Chic has long connections between letters creating a visual rhythm that echoes the form and pace of gentle waves lapping at a seashore. Each character has an expressive touch, OpenType enabled alternates, for character combinations, initial and final forms allow effortless customisation, flair and a realistic handwritten-sign appearance. (The alternates are accessible by turning on 'Stylistic Alternates' and 'Ligatures' buttons on in Photoshop's Character panel, or via any software with a glyphs panel, e.g. Adobe, Quark...etc) Introduce some rustic romance to your font library. Shabby Chic is perfect for cards, invitations, labels and logos where you want to convey intimate, friendly, warm and genuine sentiment.

The Arthur Cabinet font family offers a most particular range of seven fancy ornamental fonts in the spirit of the Art Deco era. These fonts celebrate the age of elegance, stylishness and refinement to its very best. They give you a unique tool for exquisite designs. The fonts of this family are derivatives from the Arthur Sans series, which you may also want to have a look at. Use this unique typefaces for distinctive personal stationary, outstanding headlines, captivating brochures and invitations; for marvellous logotypes, wonderful menus, hotel leaflets, exciting ads … for brillant designs. Each Arthur Cabinet font features the same comprehensive Euro-Latin encoding for full language support. Additionally, every font includes a small supplementary set of fine ornaments. – For an even more comprehensive range of Arthur embellishments check out the font Arthur Sans Regular or Arthur Ornaments! Have also a look at the sister fonts of the gorgeous Arthur Sans Family, which will offer you yet another wonderful scope of fascinating typographic possibilities. ________________________________________________________________________________ Tip: Set Sample text (see below) manually to [ABCDE…] to view effectively the fonts most relevant parts! ________________________________________________________________________________

Silk Script is a revival and elaborate expansion of a 1956 Helmut Matheis script called Primadonna, which strangely remained a metal face and never made the leap into the film age. Silk Script has the unmistakable high contrast and elegance of formal scripts, yet both its majuscules and minuscules show much more complex and visually appealing art than traditional copperplate or Spencerian calligraphy. When set properly, it adds just the needed extra touch of artistic flair to designs that are not visually satisfying with the usual high-contrast elegant scripts. Silk Script comes in two styles, with the Alt font containing form variations on almost every letter, allowing for flexibility and precision in choice typesetting. Plenty of more alternates are available throughout the character sets of both fonts. Both styles also boast expanded character sets that include support for Central and Eastern European languages, as well as Baltic, Celtic, Esperanto, Maltese and Turkish. Silk Script Pro unifies both styles in one font, for 550 characters of sheer elegance and handy OpenType features including stylistic alternates, discretionary ligatures and class-based kerning.

Kompakt is one of the early typefaces of type designer Hermann Zapf, whose Palatino has long been a standard in almost every area of application. Kompakt consists of a single weight and was designed in 1952, two years after Palatino. It was produced by the foundry D. Stempel AG in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where Zapf was at the time in the artistic department. The figures of this extremely strong and heavy typeface are decidedly those of a broad tipped pen. When enlarged, the sharp outlines of the characters can be clearly seen. The unique dynamic of the alphabet is a result of its strong serifs, which on the lower case letters almost connect the letters in a line. Together with the slight slant to the right, this gives Kompakt the character of handwriting, making it look like it is always striving to go forward. Kompakt is an excellent choice for advertisements, especially for posters which should display a hint of nostalgia, and should be used only in headlines.

Herschel ventures into the elaborate world of late 19th-century typography to bring its winsome charm and compelling aesthetics into modernity. Staying true to the spirit of its historical era of inspiration, Herschel was designed with extreme attention to detail. Although its aesthetic roots are firmly planted in the treasury of Gilded Age typography, it has been technically constructed to withstand all the rigorous demands that modern technology places on type today. Herschel’s nostalgic, flared, and gently bifurcated serifs shine brightest when employed as display type, but are suited well for any application where inimitable character is needed. Named after designer Brian Brubaker’s maternal grandfather, a retired dairy farmer of more than 60 years, Herschel is available in six delectable weights: Skim, One Percent, Two Percent, Whole, Creamline, and Butter. Features overview: • 800+ glyphs per weight • 120+ stylistic alternates • Upper and lower case • Titling/Drop capitals with multiple and contextual ligatures • Lining, oldstyle, proportional, and tabular figures • Standard and discretionary ligatures • Unique dingbats and special characters • International language support for 200+ latin-based languages, including Vietnamese