Quill-formed roman/gothic with an olde-worlde flavor. Some background in the designer's own words: "A series of fonts came to mind which would be rooted in the medieval era -for me, a period of intense interest. Prior to Gutenberg's development of commercial printing with type on paper in the mid-1400s, books were still being written out by hand, on vellum. At that time, a Bible cost more than a common workman could hope to earn in his entire lifetime. Men like William Tyndale devoted their energies to translating the Scriptures for the benefit of ordinary people in their own language, and were burned to death at the stake for doing so. Those in authority correctly recognized a terminal threat to the fabric of feudal society, which revolved around the church. "This religious metamorphosis was reflected in letterforms: which, like buildings, reflect the mood of the period in which they take shape. The medieval era produced the Gothic cathedrals; their strong vertical emphasis was expressive of the vertical relationship then existing between man and God. The rich tracery to be seen in the interstices and vaulted ceilings typified the complex social dynamics of feudalism. Parallels could be clearly seen in Gothic type, with its vertical strokes and decorated capitals. Taken as a whole, Gothicism represented a mystical approach to life, filled with symbolism and imagery. To the common man, letters and words were like other sacred icons: too high for his own understanding, but belonging to God, and worthy of respect. "Roman type, soon adopted in preference to Gothic by contemporary printer-publishers (whose primary market was the scholarly class) represented a more democratic, urbane approach to life, where the words were merely the vehicle for the idea, and letters merely a necessary convenience for making words. The common man could read, consider and debate what was printed, without having the least reverence for the image. In fact, the less the medium interfered with the message, the better. The most successful typefaces were like the Roman legions of old; machine-like in their ordered functionality and anonymity. Meanwhile, Gutenberg's Gothic letterform, in which the greatest technological revolution of history had first been clothed, soon became relegated to a Germanic anachronism, limited to a declining sphere of influence. "An interesting Bible in my possession dating from 1610 perfectly illustrates this duality of function and form. The text is set in Gothic black-letter type, while the side-notes appear in Roman. Thus the complex pattern of the text retains the mystical, sacred quality of the hand-scripted manuscript (often rendered in Latin, which a cleric would read aloud to others), while the clear, open side-notes are designed to supplement a personal Bible study. "Tyndale is one of a series of fonts in process which explore the transition between Gothic and Roman forms. The hybrid letters have more of the idiosyncrasies of the pen (and thus, the human hand) about them, rather than the anonymity imbued by the engraving machine. They are an attempt to achieve the mystery and wonder of the Gothic era while retaining the legibility and clarity best revealed in the Roman form. "Reformers such as Tyndale were consumed with a passion to make the gospel available and understood to the masses of pilgrims who, in search of a religious experience, thronged into the soaring, gilded cathedrals. Centuries later, our need for communion with God remains the same, in spite of all our technology and sophistication. How can our finite minds, our human logic, comprehend the transcendent mystery of God's great sacrifice, his love beyond understanding? Tyndale suffered martyrdom that the Bible, through the medium of printing, might be brought to our hands, our hearts and our minds. It is a privilege for me to dedicate my typeface in his memory."

Some words from the designer, Frantisek Storm... Designed by Josef Tyfa in 1959, digitalized by F. Storm in 1996. This Roman and Italic are well-known perhaps to all Czech graphic artists and typographers ever since their release. Although this type face in some details is under the sway of the period of its rise, its importance is timeless, in contradistinction to other famous types dating from the turn of the sixties which were found, after some time, to be trite. The italics live their own life, only their upper-case letters have the same expression as the basic design. Thin and fragile, they work excellently, emphasizing certain parts in the text by their perfect contrast of expression. When seen from a distance they are a little bit darker than the Roman face. Tyfa Roman was released in 1960 by Grafotechna in Prague for hot setting. Later on, Berthold produced letter matrices - "rulers" for Staromat devices, used for manual photosetting of display alphabets. In the eighties it was available on dry transfers of Transotype and today it is offered also by ITC. The meticulously executed designs of the individual letters in the 288 point size are arranged into a set of signs on a cardboard of about B2 in size. The yellowed paper reveals retouches by white paint on the ink. Blue lines mark the baseline, the capital line, the ascender and descender lines and the central verticals of the letters. With regard to the format of the flat scanner, the designs had to be reduced, with the use of a camera, to the format A4, i.e. to the upper-case letter height of about 30 mm. These were then scanned in 600 dpi resolution and read as a bitmap template to the FontStudio programme. The newly created bold type faces derive from Tyfa's designs of the letters "a", "n", "p", the darkness of which was increased further, approximately by 3%, to enhance their emphasizing function. The text designs have hairstrokes thickened by one third; the contrast between thin and thick strokes has been modified, in order to improve legibility, in sizes under 12 points. We have used electronic interpolation to produce the semi-bold designs. Josef Tyfa himself recommends to choose a somewhat darker design than the basic one for printing of books.

Who haven't heard the phrase that ‘any past time was better’?. Although I sometimes find this phrase a little too pessimistic (because I try to think that the best is yet to come), it may be true regarding my passion, typography. I'm too young (29) unfortunately, and this means I did not have the pleasure of being contemporary with maybe the man who has influenced my work the most (1). The man that showed that letters are more than just letters to be read. Herb Lubalin (1918-1981), also called sometimes as ‘the rule basher’ (2), smashed the taboos and sacred rules of type design and gave it personality. He rejected the functionalist philosophy of europeans in favor of an eclectic and exuberant style. To him, letters were not merely vessels of form, they were objects of meaning. (3). Nowadays, when looking at his portfolio, who dares to deny that the term ‘typography’ and ‘beauty’ may go hand-in-hand without any problem? Ed Benguiat, one of Herb’s partners, still likes making jokes with the phrase “screw legibility, type should be beautiful” and what I understand of this is not to forget the rules, but to know and break them carefully. In an era of pure eclecticism, we, the lovers of flourishes and swashes, can't do nothing but admire all the legacy that Lubalin, this wonderful type-guru, left. My font Lubaline read as “the line of Lubalin” is my humble tribute to him. Those who know his work, may see the influences easily like in his ‘Beards’ (1976) and ‘The Sound of Music’ (1965) posters; the art-deco forms in many of his amazing logos and practically in all his creations where letters seem to be alive just like you and me. I really hope that the future finds me still learning more and more about type-design and letterforms, and like him, always willing to make innovations in my field: Because letters are not just letters to be read. NOTES (1) These are some of my fonts in which some of Lubalin’s influences can be seen (in order of creation): Reina, Aire, Erotica, String, Beatle, Heroe, Selfie, Model, Seventies, and many others that are still in progress. (2) (3) Steven Heller. Herb Lubalin: Rule Basher. U&lc (1998) http://www.printmag.com/imprint/my-favorite-lubalin/

Kisba Nova – A character actor that turns heads. Spiky serifs, soft ball terminals. All eyes on Kisba Nova: enter a typeface designed to arouse attention. Kisba Nova is that one guest who joins a party, and a murmur goes through the crowd. Kisba Nova is pure charisma. Opposites attract: Kisba Nova combines sharp wedge serifs and spiky spurs with round and soft ball terminals. Infuse this with a neoclassical stroke contrast and you get a thrilling typeface driven by visual extremes. Sure: Kisba Nova is a diva. But it’s a pro, after all. That’s why it comes in two optical sizes: Headline and Text. This makes sure it looks gorgeous in any situation. The Kisba Nova Headline subfamily is flaunts the trademark flamboyant looks and extravagant letters like f and k. They bring you all of the excitement of the showbiz in large applications—use it for sizes of 24 Pt. and more. The extraordinarily designed, thin and monolinear diacritics, punctuation marks, and symbols of Kisba Nova Headline add to this modern and elegant character. Kisba Nova Headline consists of seven weights from Thin to Black, offering plenty of possibilities to set headlines and titles. With about 600 characters per weight, it contains enough functionality for the demands of a skilled typographer. OpenType features, such as a large set of ligatures, extended language support, case-sensitive forms, different sets of figures, and arrows, enable sensational designs both in web & print layouts. The Kisba Nova Text subfamily comes with decreased contrast, more generous letter proportions, and wider spacing. Instead of employing flashy thin and monolinear diacritics, punctuation marks, and symbols, Kisba Nova Text aims for a more even texture on the page. It retains the true, elegant Kisba DNA while allowing you to set legible copy in sizes between 9 and 18 Pt. Nothing will distract your reader–Kisba Nova Text aims to please. Kisba Nova Text consists of seven weights from Thin to Black, offering plenty of possibilities to set body copy and subheadlines. With about 600 characters per weight, it contains enough functionality for the demands of a skilled typographer. OpenType features, such as a large set of ligatures, extended language support, case-sensitive forms, different sets of figures, and arrows, enable sensational designs both in web & print layouts. Kisba Nova celebrates the dual nature of softness and sharpness in a single typeface. It’s a character actor that turns heads.

Think smart. Think regal. Think SteamCourt, a new font designed specifically for the card game SteamCourt. A bit of background if you will: In early 2014, some friends from my college days banded together to form their own game company. Their first launch? A current Kickstarter they named SteamCourt. I love Kickstarter. It’s a fantastic platform, a great way for individuals to introduce the public to their visions. I've started a couple of them myself--both including fonts designed specifically for the projects. The first is Chatype, a font created exclusively for the city of Chattanooga. The second: Cabrito, a font developed as part of the children’s typeface book, The Clothes Letters Wear. It’s wonderful to work with so many others who come alongside to help you vision become reality. Naturally, hearing of my friends' project, I contacted them about adding a new face to their venture as well. I gave them carte blanche. They wanted steampunk. It was a great challenge, the result of which is now SteamCourt, an unforgettable display typeface that draws from the mix of Victorian regals, metallic and brass engineering, cogs, clocks and blackletter typography. It evokes a time of skillfully forged metalwork and an era of intrigue and excitement, filled with audacious feats of engineering and innovation and the perilous journeys of the airship. While influenced by the era of blackletter, SteamCourt is an unmistakable departure from the style of two centuries past, yet it still shines in its given display roles with a distinct regal twist. The serifs are asymmetrical, yet the characters are all specially and delicately balanced. It’s an eye-catching alternative to blackletter with modern steampunk touches. The game’s signature typeface has sizeable language support on top of 90 alternate characters as well. In addition to a generous number contextual alternates, SteamCourt features stylistic alternates that allow for buyers to customize its visual appearance for their preferences, helping to make it a superior option for packaging, branding and enormous typesetting logotypes as well as shorter textual content. Check out the game, but grab the font, too, to be a part of that crib created as a companion for the new game in court. It'll be the ace up your sleeve for many rounds of design ahead.

A remaster of Neo Grotesk family - Arbeit. It employs improved letterform balance and contrast throughout. All weights feature a set of new alternates under the style 'Contrast'.

Birds is a collection of 174 raptors, woodland birds, farm birds, designs. Birds Two is a collection of 174 wetland birds, tropical birds, and arctic bird designs.

It's the old Turkish runic script, which I adapted the written language of the three-legged aliens, the characters of a fantastic science fiction movie called Arrival.

From cartoons to ad helpers to embellishments and ornaments, Letterpress Pieces JNL is another collection of vintage imagery from the pre-computer era of printing and advertising.

Paint Kicks is a family of handmade typeface, with a rugged paint style. The font carries the spirit of street culture, with its rough and attractive forms

This set reproduces over 350 of the signs contained in German typographer Rudolf Koch's "The Book of Signs," the symbols include Astrological, Christian, Medieval and Runic iconography.

AstroBats is a fun set of ornaments with a 'Retro Sci-Fi' theme. Think of those 1950s Japanese tinplate robots, think ray guns, think spaceships! Have fun!

Fun, illustrations of guy stuff. This font is another of the many doodle fonts from Outside the Line. Goes well with Diva Doodles and Diva Doodles Too.

Picadilly family was made after my short visit in London and huge impression of Edward Johnston works. I've designed family of 20 modern typefaces with strong personality.

The inspiration for this font was a two-sided piece of paper. The glyphs were created by bending strips of this paper, then scanned and recreated digitally.

This is a condensed version of an old classic, Thorne Shaded. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

The font DXOldStandardGroteskNo2 was developed on the basis of the Grotesk Condensed font, which was issued by Russian type foundry from the beginning of the 20th century.

Martel is a variation on Carolingian Uncial calligraphy, with some elements of classic Celtic calligraphy and some characteristics peculiar to continental lettering of the early middle ages.

Recycled was created by creating letters from bits of recycled materials such as cardboard, newspapers etc. and then taking parts of those letters to create new letters.

Inspired by the Techno sound of the 1990s, Alexander Branczyk designed a series of new, wild and controversial fonts which mark a complete departure from typographic traditions.

Designed for ATF in 1913, Morris Fuller Benton’s version of Nicholas Jenson’s roman, the best of the Venetians and a model for regularity in color and fit.

It is a redesign of "Loyola". This family contains Light, Regular, Bold, ExtraBold, Black, also a set of shadows and dingbats, special for short titles and children.

Pia is a new typeface named in honor of one of the most fun people we know, Sophia Williams aka Pia. Extended Character set for multilanguage support.

Baldwins was inspired by the beauty lettering of ephemera prints. Ideal for product names, packages, labels, old fashioned signs and everything with specific characteristics of past times.

Pepper was first conceived as an authentic alphabet of runes, but that was far too serious so it ended up as a greater spotted version of Salt.

Amonx, contemporary of Sans Serif Display font, Amonx offers beautiful typographic harmony for a diversity of design projects, including logos & branding, social media posts, advertisements & product designs.

The version of the script belonging to the languages of the fantastic Predator aliens, adapted to the old Turkish runic script. Looks great with the red color.

SPENGLER is a new inline font with over 180 GLYPHS, lots of Foreign Characters brand new and ready to be abused for a stupid price of $10.

Inspired by the Techno sound of the 1990s, Alexander Branczyk designed a series of new, wild and controversial fonts which mark a complete departure from typographic traditions.

Based on the 36-point design of the Amsterdam Nobel Inline capitals (1931), Sans Serif Inline™ is designed specially to meet the requirements of today's technology.

Kartago was inspired by the inscriptions in the Roman ruins in the city of Cartago in Tunisia. Designed with plenty of uppercase ligatures for better design possibilities.

Amio is fun geometrical connected script font family. Consist of 6 styles from light to extrabold. Perfect for branding and suitable for a variety of fun projects.

Borders, embellishments, spot illustrations and a miscellany of other dingbats are gathered in Print Art JNL as another collective of nostalgic imagery for print and web projects.

Sunbursts JNL is a simple little collection of sun dingbats for all types of creative embellishment. Make sure to use them with the recommended SPF-rated sunblock!

Salt was first conceived as an authentic alphabet of runes, but that was far too serious so it ended up as a lesser spotted version of Pepper.