Preface vs. Helvetica/Futura/Gill: a different strategy of text color. Whereas the established classes of sans serif typeface achieve a dynamic balance between stroke and space by combining a diversity of letterform with an evenness of fit, Preface switches the emphasis, driving out diagonals to create a dominant harmony of curves and perpendiculars, matched with a greater variety of inter-character space shapes—the result of extra width introduced in the “f” and “t”, and by the openness that accompanies the wide tails of the “ a” and “l”, the long ear of the “r”, and the serif of the “i”. En masse, and in keeping with the present trend in typography, Preface exhibits a coarser texture than the traditional sans serif faces, but one that is nonetheless even and precise. With tabular, oldstyle figures.

Whereas blackletter types were hand written, Text letterforms are drawn using a series of graphic shapes that slot together in a series of permutations, one set for lower case and another for the upper case. As the link between the method of construction of the letterforms has been removed from the appearance (the quill pen with which they were written resulting in the angle and sharp stresses) there is no logic for these stylistic elements to work in any set way. As this fundamental rule of the blackletter style has been removed the typeface has become something other than a typical or derivative blackletter font.

Scruff was designed by Timothy Donaldson in 1995. This cheerful, laid-back font is made out of a variety of different fragments - stripes, dots, zigzags and more, giving each character its own identity. When brought together into words and sentences, the figures create a playful chaos like that of a patchwork quilt. To bring out its individual details, Scruff is best used in headlines in larger point sizes or as initials.

This font was inspired by the “Cancellaresca moderna ” type, which was calligraphed by Francesco Periccioli (published in 1610 in Siena, Italy). It was entirely handwritten by the designer for each circumstance, using quill pen and medieval ink on a rough paper, with added characters as accented ones and a lot of ligatures with respect for the original design. This font includes “long s” and also a lot of ligatures as “ff”, “ffi” “fij” “pp”... It can be used for web-site titles, posters and flier designs, editing ancient texts or greeting cards, or as a very decorative and elegant font. This font retains its qualities and beauty over a wide range of sizes.

Ben Harris' illustrated cover for the sheet music of "I Found A Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store)" from 1931's "Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt" lists the show's stars and other credits in a pen lettered monoline design with rounded terminals. This early Art Deco type style has now become the digital font Variety Store JNL (a reference to the Five and Ten Cent stores alluded to in the song title from the sheet music).

British designer Thomas Oldfield, who brought you Hombre BT and Reaper, has scratched out another typeface, this one called Jerk Chicken BT. I guess, if you can imagine a quill tip pen somehow wedged 'tween a scrawny chicken's toes, you'd end up with the scrawl, blobs, blotches and bleeds that would make most type designers run for the hen house. Not Thomas; he saw only commercial potential. So lay down some scratch and order up some Jerk Chicken BT. Hey, while you're at it, why not extend the license to a dozen users? Available as an OpenType font, Jerk Chicken BT includes of a couple of ornaments, well parts, namely a drumstick and a whole fryer, and its extended character set supports Baltic and Central European languages.

Mozsár, named after Mozsár Street in the downtown of Budapest (pronounced ‘mo-zhar’, meaning mortar in Hungarian.) Mozsár is a unicase display typeface with constructivist characteristics from the early 20th Century. It uses pure geometric shapes and purposefully departs from strict typographical rules to give a more friendly look. With Mozsár you can create really unique and awesome looking displays, titles and even name plates for your business. It works very well in big size. The central idea behind the design was that two variants of the typeface would randomly alternate as the user types. The typeface uses Contextual Alternates (CALT) created with the OpenType’s semi-random feature to mix the variants. The width and height of the letter shapes are generally equal, but I made some exceptions to lend the type a character of unexpectedness. The curves are identical in both versions of each letter, and the intersections of the axes are always perpendicular (with some evident exceptions).

The famous Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí, used to say “there are no straight lines or sharp corners in nature…” However, with Between The Lines that’s exactly what you’ll find: straight lines, parallel and perpendicular, all in a glorious display of Art Deco style. Here the verticals and horizontals dominate while the diagonals “sit this one out”. Curvilinear lines also run free here: they serve as refreshing counterpoints to prominent straights. These forms suggest a somewhat expressive script-like characteristic, (especially in lowercase) wherever the font’s many initials, terminals and contextual alternates are employed. Between The Lines offers many options for alternate letterforms (ligatures, stylistic alternates, contextual alternates, etc.). When these OpenType features are used judiciously and selectively, your typography will be greatly heightened. You’ll find BTL right at home in a number of environments: music album covers, snack food packaging, magazine headlines, cosmetics, signage and more. PLEASE NOTE: due to its very tall ascenders, Between The Lines benefits from generous leading (line spacing). Multilingual support included.

A new font inspired by classic retro and mid-century modern interlocking hand-written typography. Do you need to create some fun snack packaging to stand out on the shelf? PM Alcorn will quell your appetite. Are you designing a product that needs a funky, friendly retro vibe? PM Alcorn is fun, funky, friendly, and easy to read! It's perfect for everything from games to bath products. Plus with tons of ligatures and stylistic alternates it has real hand-lettered feel.

Peter Behrens’ renowned art nouveau type from 1902 – with ornaments. Newly revised and neatly digitalized by Ingo Zimmermann In 1902, Peter Behrens (1869–1940), architect, designer and typographer, created a new ”German“ type which became very successful very quickly for the Rudhard’sche Gießerei (foundry which later became Gebr. Klingspor AG) in Offenbach am Main. It served, for example, as the official German type for the world expositions in 1904 and 1910. Behrens himself writes about the development of this type ”...For the actual form of my type, I took the technical principle of the Gothic script, the stroke of the quill feather. The proportions of height and width and the boldness of the strokes of the Gothic letters were also decisive for me in producing a German character. A cohesive character could be hoped for by avoiding all non-necessities and by strictly carrying out the design principle of holding the quill at an angle…“ By the way, when “long s” is activated, the typographically correct “round s” is automatically placed at the end of the word so that you need only pay attention to the correct s on syllable endings within words. When using “long s,” you must ensure the correct use of the rules for the Fraktur font: “round s” is always at the end of the word, also in compound words. For those of you who want to be even more correct, read the corresponding article in >> Wikipedia. Peter Behrens also drew matching ornaments for his typeface – we have likewise carefully revised these decorative touches and arranged them into a font. The "Behrens-Schrift" fits best on all topics that have something to do with art history or the time around 1900.