Mary Read is a modern handwritten Display Font, showing its fancy curves best in headlines as well as short texts. For typographic variety the typeface offers a range of features and extras. Give your texts a quite playful and handwritten note. Being chi chi is not a crime, don’t hesitate to pepper some sweetness in the midst of people’s attention.

This font is based on a lot of the downtempo culture in Paris. Smoky bars, jazz clubs, that sort of thing. How a font can be influenced by intangibles is a question that I can't quite answer, but I can say that when I created it, it strongly reminded me of a couple of times spent in Paris back in the mid-90s.

Hjem, in Danish, means ‘at home’ or ‘home’. I made this font ‘hjem’, so I thought the name was quite appropriate! Hjem is a rounded, handmade display font that comes with extensive language support and cute swashes. Use this versatile font for your packaging designs, book covers, party posters or whatever you want. I am sure this font will feel right hjem!

There’s just nothing quite like a heavyweight geometric typestyle with tiny counters, you just love it like the Bee Gees. Sackem started as a digitization of a singular film typeface called Benman Jumbo by Lettergraphics. From there, this mechanical typeface was expanded into a giant family of playful widths and obliques: from the condensed “Slim” style to the original “Jumbo” style.

Carol Gothic is a traditional blackletter face closest to Linotype’s Old English. Typefaces of that style were used quite frequently in the 19th century English typography, so Carol Gothic fits perfectly for Victorian--looking designs but it is also suitable for any layouts which need blackletter. The type is designed by Alexandra Korolkova and Alexander Lubovenko and released by ParaType in 2015.

Quidic is an unusual display typeface. The upper-case letters are strongly vertical, condensed, and bold. Used by themselves, they make headlines and titles that stand out. The lower case letters do not have serifs similar to those on the upper-case letters, but rather have the serif shapes one expects from an italic style. The lower-case is also quite short compared to the upper-case letters. The italic styles of the family are unusual because the lower-case letters keep their shapes and the upper-case letters and numbers change. The family has three styles that differ more by width rather than by weight. Although some Bauhaus fonts have several letter shapes that are similar, there is no other typeface quite like Quidic. The family can be used for many things, but not for text. For a "normalized" version of this typeface, see Qwatick.

Patent Reclame manages to be light-hearted, while clearly showing its blackletter roots both in the shape of the individual letters and the rhythm of text on a page. The designer is unknown. Schriftgeisserei Flinsch of Frankfurt a.M. cast the face around 1895. Nicolete Gray shows a quite similar face called “Graphic,” from Stephenson Blake in 1896. Personally, I don't think that Patent Reclame looks like an English design, but I do not have any proof one way or the other. The numbers are proportional, intended for posters, not spreadsheets. Two ornaments are included, an art nouveau rose at #172 and a lilypad with long tendril at #177. Great for invitations, posters and flyers announcing fun events. Do not use for obituaries. Quite readable in smaller sizes for short blocks of text. I really like the buoyant quality -- a nice combination of discipline and enthusiasm.

A few emails sent to Canada Type have asked for more “bad scripts”. A few others asked for "more Mascara-like treatments". And some asked for more fonts of “distressed elegance”. Whatever you like to call this style of doubled-script font, sightings of designs using it have become common within the last few years. Such fonts have become the standard in expressing elegant confusion, old chaos in modern settings, recycled histories, and rebellious ideas. This style is quite often seen on chic clothing, music packaging, some sports paraphernalia, surfer and skateboarder gear, even book covers. That said, the Heathen font was made to include an advantageous feature that other distressed scripts do not normally have: More intertwined over-swashing in the majuscules. This over-swashing is quite useful in settings where the stroke and fill colors differ, or complement each other. It is also quite the point of emphasis where the idea is to show elegance gone ancient, old thoughts in a modern wrapper, rust never sleeping, or the very basic limits of the world’s nature. The original Heathen was made by redrawing Phil Martin’s Polonaise majuscules and superposing them over the majuscules of Scroll, another Canada Type font. The lowercase is a superposition of Scroll’s lowercase atop a pre-release version of Sterling Script, yet another Canada Type font. Heathen Two was made in a similar way, by combining two pre-release Canada Type scripts.

A sign of something better When designer Stuart de Rozario surveyed the fonts used in signage on London’s public transport systems, he reached a dead end. They seemed staid, sterile, lacking in personality, and ill-suited to use by modern brands. He was pointed in another direction entirely. ‘The driving force behind my thoughts was to design something more current and fresh without compromising legibility and clarity. A font with both personality and function, that’s versatile and large and small sizes, and effortless to read, but which also says something new.’ Speed reading Late for a meeting and can’t find your way? Trying to catch a flight? Lost in a hospital? Reading signs is a different business to reading a book or a newspaper. Text on signs needs to be deciphered quickly and effortlessly. So the legibility criteria for signage letterforms are different to those for normal reading, too. Throughout FS Millbank’s uppercase and lowercase alphabets, characters have been given features for extra definition, including: wide ink traps on the A, K, M, V, W, X and Y; a serifed i, accentuated spurs on the a, d, l u; and different x-height shapes on the b, g, p and q. Distinctive forms and generous, open internal shapes all help the quick reading of sign text, and wide, open terminals and counters allow similar letter shapes to be distinguished easily when viewed at different angles. Running down a corridor, maybe... Positive/negative Standard type tends to glow on the kind of dark backgrounds often used for signage, and look heavier than its true weight. To correct the imbalance caused by this optical trick, special weights of the typeface have to be drawn for these ‘negative’, light-on-dark applications. These are lighter than their comparable positive weights to overcome the ‘glow’ effect. After extensive tests of the negative weights, at all sizes, we achieved the right optical balance. Glowing, glowing, gone. Icons This wouldn’t be a signage typeface without its own set of icons, or symbols, to help people find what they’re looking for. So, to sit alongside the positive and negative fonts, we’ve created a comprehensive set of 172 icons, covering a wide range of applications from transport and user interface to information and directional. Designed within the typeface capital height, they sit on the baseline and are spaced centrally.

Quirky and irregular FS Split is no ordinary typeface. Its irregular proportions make it unique, with round letters appearing wide, and straight letters narrow. Other quirks include its eclectic crossbars – the uppercase ‘A’ has an unusually low bar, while the bar on ‘G’ is particularly long. The uppercase has many interesting features in fact, including large counters, closed terminals on certain letters like ‘J’, and a cap-height that lines up with ascenders. The lowercase also holds surprises – the dots on ‘i’ and ‘j’ are unusually large, and some characters, such as ‘g’, feature double-storey counters. An extreme but stylish italic The italic versions of FS Split Sans and Serif are particularly striking. While similar in style to their upright, Roman versions, they take on a larger-than-usual 18-degree angle, making the forward-slant more dramatic. Although the main purpose of any italic is to help words and phrases stand out, this unique execution helps to make the italic variants of FS Split stylish fonts in their own right – they would work brilliantly on magazine covers, in titles and headlines, pull quotes, and even used commercially in logos and corporate branding. Serif and sans: a split personality FS Split Sans and Serif have their differences but also their similarities, contrasting and complementing each other perfectly. This ‘love hate’ relationship inspired the name of the typeface family, and means the two variants provide a versatile, typographic palette for use in graphics and branding. While its proportions are similar to the sans, the serif has a bigger contrast between its weights of bold, regular and light, bracketed serifs, and different styles of terminals, some being straight and others ball-shaped. FS Split Sans has more subtlety and simplicity, with a smaller weight contrast, less flamboyant terminals, and more consistent counter sizes. The two variants are distinct yet alike, so can be used successfully either in isolation or together.

Quirky and irregular FS Split is no ordinary typeface. Its irregular proportions make it unique, with round letters appearing wide, and straight letters narrow. Other quirks include its eclectic crossbars – the uppercase ‘A’ has an unusually low bar, while the bar on ‘G’ is particularly long. The uppercase has many interesting features in fact, including large counters, closed terminals on certain letters like ‘J’, and a cap-height that lines up with ascenders. The lowercase also holds surprises – the dots on ‘i’ and ‘j’ are unusually large, and some characters, such as ‘g’, feature double-storey counters. An extreme but stylish italic The italic versions of FS Split Sans and Serif are particularly striking. While similar in style to their upright, Roman versions, they take on a larger-than-usual 18-degree angle, making the forward-slant more dramatic. Although the main purpose of any italic is to help words and phrases stand out, this unique execution helps to make the italic variants of FS Split stylish fonts in their own right – they would work brilliantly on magazine covers, in titles and headlines, pull quotes, and even used commercially in logos and corporate branding. Serif and sans: a split personality FS Split Sans and Serif have their differences but also their similarities, contrasting and complementing each other perfectly. This ‘love hate’ relationship inspired the name of the typeface family, and means the two variants provide a versatile, typographic palette for use in graphics and branding. While its proportions are similar to the sans, the serif has a bigger contrast between its weights of bold, regular and light, bracketed serifs, and different styles of terminals, some being straight and others ball-shaped. FS Split Sans has more subtlety and simplicity, with a smaller weight contrast, less flamboyant terminals, and more consistent counter sizes. The two variants are distinct yet alike, so can be used successfully either in isolation or together.

This is Avris, an exceptional and feminine stencil font. The base was designed in 2015. The word ‘avris’ derives from the latin rara avis, which means “rare bird”. Stencil fonts were initially designed for mass production and transportation companies. Unlike this one, Avris’ curvy and minimalistic design feels and looks like the wings of birds, flying above the quiet ocean. It also has a roman, calligraphic and cryptographic touch to it. It can be used for editorial (fashion) magazines and poster designs. Looks great in headlines! Also the numerals are a must see when you put it in use.

This font is designed with smooth and beautiful curves, as well as a geometric sans serif font family with a distinct twist of character. Simple yet sleek, this typeface design gives it a clean and modern look while bringing some quirk to the alternative. Especially, capital letters for branding your name or your brand title, and of course there are also alternative styles to help give the impression of an elegant appearance when you need it. This font is perfect for strong text with displays for a wide variety of branding, advertising, posters, banners, packaging, news headlines, magazines, websites, logo design, and more.

Epoca, designed in 2010, is a classic linear sans for text and display. It has economical proportions, a neutral appearance and a discreet elegance. While sturdy and robust, it is nonetheless a strong workhorse. The slightly angular shape of the round elements results in a quiet flow of the line which enables fatigue-proof reading even with large amounts of text. Epoca comes in eight styles and in OpenType format. All weights contain small caps, standard ligatures, proportional lining figures, tabular lining figures, proportional old style figures, lining old style figures, matching currency symbols, fraction- and scientific numerals.

Kaarna is a rough hand drawn sans serif. The underlying shapes and structure are designed in the style of modern sans serifs which are made livelier by the hand drawn look. The condensed proportions make it especially suitable for use in large headlines and to achieve maximum impact. The hand drawn texture becomes clearly visible in big sizes and quiets down when used small. This allows you to use Kaarna for both headlines and short to medium length texts, ensuring visually unified typography. Because of its design and large character set, Kaarna is well suited for branding, advertising, packaging and editorial use.

Malmö Sans was born from the preconception that geometry is neutral, and neutral fonts have a wide application window. No ornaments, no quirks – just clean. Design process: establishing the main proportions, grids and library of geometric shapes. However, people are not math, people are not built from grids. We are irregular, not always logical, and, foremost, we are human. So: humanisation – define parts and areas, and make the needed adjustments to shapes and forms, although being mathematically correct. Basically, changing it into something that pleases the eye. Much effort has been made to achieve equal parts minimalism, aesthetics and legibility.

Decima Mono – condensed geometric monospaced Sans Serif typeface, released back in 2009 and quite successful ever since (MyFonts Rising Star, February 2009). This new edition is an upgraded version of Decima Mono and Decima Mono X, combining both into one edition. New version supports more Latin languages with an extension to glyph amounts. Also, six more alternate styles have been added to the original six styles.

The 1923 Barnhart Brothers & Spindler specimen book called this typeface "Cardstyle", and suggested its use at small sizes for business cards. It also work quite well in large sizes when a warm, casual antique feeling is called for. Named for a river that flows through Washington, DC. Both versions of the font include the 1252 Latin and 1250 CE character sets (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

I’m not particularly fond of beans. I do eat them, but they’re not my idea of a delicacy… But this font has ‘fairy tale’ feeling to it, and I liked the name Beanstalker. Beanstalker is a hand made font (I used a fineliner to draw the glyphs). It is quite neat and organized, but does come with some rough edges and a bit of texture.

Aegypti 7 is a digital revival of Font No.7 or Egyptian Narrow - a Soviet display face cast for hand composition. I settled on the 12pt version as a basis for my digital version, as larger sizes added too much contrast to an otherwise quite orderly slab serif. The Soviet Font No.7 itself was based on an older Semi-Egyptian narrow cut before the revolution.

If Sewing Patterns wasn't quite vintage enough for you, Sewing Patterns 2 is the answer to your early twentieth century wishes. Spanning the years 1910 to 1949, it's more Downton Abbey than Mad Men, more Katharine than Audrey, and definitely contains more hats. Like the original, the upper and lowercase letters feature what the well-dressed woman was wearing and the numbers are popular children's fashions.

This is not a brush font! This is an imitation of brushstrokes, done by pen. But I guess you've already noticed that - the brushstrokes are way too obvious, to have been made by brush. Although being a "fake", the letters leaves you with quite a good impression. Letters were inspired by an old horror movie poster, but is very useful for something less terrifying!

The 1929 sheet music for Cole Porter's "You Do Something to Me" (from the musical stage comedy "Fifty Million Frenchmen") has the name of the play hand lettered in a bold sans with an intersecting inline. This design was the inspiration for Suggestion Box JNL. Not quite Art Nouveau, and not yet Art Deco, the typeface is nonetheless timeless in its clean, appealing style.

Swung Note is a groovy and dynamic font, packed with more than three hundred smart interlocking pairs that do their magic powered by OpenType programming. Since the letters assume different shapes in the many different ligatures, the compositions look truly handcrafted. Swung Note is definitely a great – and quite playful – tool for creating amazing custom-lettered looking designs, while keeping the groove going. Swing-along!

I bought a pair of green gumboots (or Wellingtons) the other day. I have a little wilderness outside and it is quite muddy, so I thought a pair of boots would be a good buy. Gumboots is a handmade comic font. It comes in a regular and a fat style and you can use it for just about anything that needs a bit of comic relief.

Centima Mono is a subfamily addition to Centima type family. Centima Mono is a condensed geometric monospaced san serif, built in six styles. The typeface is intended for use in display sizes, but also is quite legible in text and is well suited for editorial and brand design. Centima Mono is released in OpenType format with support for most European languages and includes some opentype features.