To meet the burgeoning demands of commerce, type founders in 1830s London introduced a plethora of new fonts which abandoned the traditional nib-informed model. Most radical were bold, capital-only designs with almost no stroke contrast, stripped bare of serifs. To all intents and purposes these minimal expressions of utility were identical to 20th century functionalism. Recontextualizing one of the original sans fonts, Shinn offers an alternative proposition to the myth of modernism.

Developed from Rian Hughes’ Black Panther logo for Marvel, Panther Black is a sharp and stylish three-weight headline sans. Built from sweeping curves and tapered crossbars, its bold, dynamic design is seen to best effect in shorter settings. Available in condensed, normal and extended variants.

Canadian type designer Nick Shinn created this display FontFont in 1997. The family contains 3 weights: Regular, Italic, and Bold and is ideally suited for advertising and packaging, festive occasions as well as poster and billboards. FF Merlin provides advanced typographical support with features such as ligatures, small capitals, titling alternates, alternate characters, and case-sensitive forms. It comes with a complete range of figure set options – oldstyle and lining figures, each in tabular and proportional widths.

Type designer Hannes von Döhren created a display typeface called "Blow Up". A bubbly, sweet font with nice light effects. Perfect for use in big sizes on posters or flyers. You can use Blow Up Sans & Blow Up Bling together to influence the color of the light effects.

British type designer Rian Hughes created this display FontFont in 1994. The family contains 3 weights and is ideally suited for advertising and packaging and poster and billboards. FF Knobcheese provides advanced typographical support with features such as ligatures and case-sensitive forms. It comes with proportional lining figures.

Canadian type designer Nick Shinn created this serif FontFont in 1999. The family has 6 weights, ranging from Regular to Black (including italics) and is ideally suited for advertising and packaging, book text, festive occasions, film and tv as well as poster and billboards. FF Oneleigh provides advanced typographical support with features such as swashes, ligatures, small capitals, alternate characters, case-sensitive forms, and fractions. It comes with a complete range of figure set options – oldstyle and lining figures, each in tabular and proportional widths.

The titles and credits from the 1960 French film “Le Passage Du Rhin” (English release title: “Tomorrow is My Turn”)” are hand made in a free form bold alphabet resembling both cut paper and quickly sketched lettering. This avant garde style inspired the digital type revival, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Typedesigner Hannes von Döhren created Cowboyslang, a display typefamily with a Wild West flair. It consists of three widths plus fitting ornaments. Although it is based on the slab serif typefaces from the nineteenth century Von Döhren gave it a contemporary feeling. Cowboyslang has an extended character set to support also Central and Eastern European languages.

Shard was originally commissioned for Nickelodeon’s 3D reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. It complemented the show’s new angular logo, which Rian Hughes also designed. There are alternative versions of many letters available in the upper and lower case keys, and a selection of around 90 ligatures that automatically substitute themselves in running text to give a tight, interlocked fit.

A loose, casual felt-pen script, Chantal comes in three weights plus italics, and a Cyrillic version too. Alternate versions are available in the upper and lower case keys, so settings can be customised according to taste. Chantal communicates a hand-drawn light touch with character. Originally designed to letter the RoboHunter series that Peter Hogan and Rian Hughes produced for the comic 2000AD.

British type designer Rian Hughes created this display FontFont in 1994. The family has 6 weights, ranging from Light to Medium (including italics) and is ideally suited for festive occasions, logo, branding and creative industries, music and nightlife as well as software and gaming. FF CrashBangWallop provides advanced typographical support with features such as ligatures and case-sensitive forms. It comes with proportional lining figures.

Pluto - and its straight companion Pluto Sans - was designed by Hannes von Döhren. The whole family consists of 16 Pluto Uprights, 16 Pluto Italics, 16 Pluto Sans Uprights and 16 Pluto Sans Italics; 64 fonts in all. Type designer Hannes von Döhren has created Pluto, a sweet type family consisting of 16 Uprights and 16 Italics; 32 fonts in all. The fonts are informal and friendly at first sight and lend themselves to display settings, however the straight and upright architecture of Pluto also makes it perfect for longer copy. Because of its large x-height, it even performs nicely in very small sizes. This contemporary type family is ideal for use in retail, cosmetics, food and hospitality applications and advertising. Pluto is equipped for complex, professional typography. The OpenType fonts have an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European languages. Each font includes alternate letters, fractions, lining-, tabular numbers, scientific superior/inferior figures and a set of arrows.

Canadian type designer Nick Shinn created this display, script, and sans FontFont in 2001. The family has 8 weights, ranging from Ultra Light to Extra Bold (including italics) and is ideally suited for advertising and packaging, festive occasions, film and tv, music and nightlife as well as software and gaming. FF Fontesque Sans provides advanced typographical support with features such as ligatures, alternate characters, case-sensitive forms, and stylistic alternates. It comes with a complete range of figure set options – oldstyle and lining figures, each in tabular and proportional widths. This FontFont is a member of the FF Fontesque super family, which also includes FF Fontesque.

Lively, friendly and fun. Blackcurrant is derived from a poster campaign Rian Hughes designed for the youthful Japanese woman's outfitters, Yellow Boots. The original logo formed the basis of the Black version; the narrower Squash version was added fro the commercial release. The lower case was added two years later due to popular demand. In 2010 the font was further accessorised with extensive ligatures, made possible with the then-new Opentype technology.

I live in a small hamlet near the Rhine river. It is a sleepy little town and it doesn’t have any facilities. For groceries I need to go to the next town. The only road leading to that town has been closed for half a year, because of ‘maintenance’, so doing groceries got a lot trickier. The fastest way to travel is through yet another hamlet in the forest, on a very narrow road with extremely bumpy shoulders. Yes, you’ve guessed it: it is a Bumpy Ride. Bumpy Ride was made using a so called Brush Pen. It comes with all the accents and a sweet set of alternates for the lower case letters.

Canadian type designer Nick Shinn created this display, serif, and script FontFont between 1994 and 2010. The family has 16 weights, ranging from Light to Extra Bold (including italics) and is ideally suited for advertising and packaging, book text as well as festive occasions. FF Fontesque provides advanced typographical support with features such as ligatures, alternate characters, case-sensitive forms, and stylistic alternates. It comes with a complete range of figure set options – oldstyle and lining figures, each in tabular and proportional widths. As well as Latin-based languages, the typeface family also supports the Cyrillic writing system. This FontFont is a member of the FF Fontesque super family, which also includes FF Fontesque Sans.

Quench is a fun and unique typeface from designer Hannes von Döhren. It is unmistakably characterized by its strong contrast of inside and outside forms. The counters are nearly straight and have many right angles. Conversely, the outside curves are smooth and rounded making them soft and almost bubbly. The italics have juicy curves reminiscent of brush lettering. Used together or individually, the four weights and styles can be used for a wide variety of projects including magazines, advertising, logos, and branding.

Originally released in 1995 as a three font family, Paradigm forcefully addressed the emaciating effect that digitization was then exerting upon traditional serifed typography. Investigating the new media of a much previous era, Nick Shinn deconstructed the first roman type, designed by Sweynheym and Pannartz in 1467, and gleaned, from its minuscules, the low contrast and discreet serif treatment (portrayed by a novel convex effect), which he subsequently applied to both capitals and lower case of a classically proportioned Venetian invention. In 2008 the glyphs, metrics and hinting of the 1995 fonts were refined, Extra Bold and Light weights added, a full range of OpenType features instituted, and the number of characters per style increased almost threefold. A major upgrade to a unique typeface.

Fermata is an original calligraphic textface inspired by humanist serif typefaces from the 16th century, characterized by the translation contrast of a handwritten pen stroke, monumental Roman capitals, and true italics. Fermata has been modernized for 21st century textual requirements, with clean lines, moderated contrast, and a seamless blending of italics and lining characters into the text form, while still retaining the warmth and subtle idiosyncracies of the handwritten origins of old style serifs. The font was developed with invaluable advice and mentorship from Hannes Famira.

Reklame Script is a brush typefamily consisting of four weights. It was designed by Hannes von Döhren in 2010. This family is influenced by the handlettering of printed advertisements of the 1940s and 1950s. You can combine the four weights to gain a better emphasis – perfect for headlines, posters, and other display uses. Reklame Script is equipped for professional typography. The OpenType fonts have an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European languages. The fonts also contain double-letter ligatures to prevent repetition.

Niveau Serif - the companion of Niveau Grotesk - is a type family of six weights plus matching italics & small caps. It was designed by Hannes von Döhren in 2013. Influenced by classical nineteenth century engravers faces, the fonts are based on geometric forms. Niveau Serif has a contemporary feel and combines the clearness of a Sans with the elegance of a typeface with serifs. Niveau Serif is equipped for complex, professional typography with alternate letters, arrows, fractions and an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European Languages.

Giulia is a sweet type family consisting of 12 Fonts. It was created by Hannes von Döhren and published by HvD Fonts. Besides a fancy curly version there is a second version with a more straight architecture, still owning the same soft and friendly character. Informal and easy going at first sight and perfect for display settings, however the straight architecture of Giulia Plain also makes it nice for shorter to medium texts. This contemporary type family is ideal for use in retail, packaging, games, food, kids applications and advertising.

VIP is a humanist sans serif uppercase and figures combined with a freshly redrawn revival of the classic Constanze initials originally designed by Joachim Romann for Stempel in 1956. As well as a vehicle to revive the Constanze initials, VIP was inspired by modern typography found in many artful books, on many product packages, and on the windows and literature of high-end restaurants, jewelry stores, haute couture fashion sellers, architecture firms and trendy brand name establishments. If you've walked through the soho or downtown of any major metropolitan, you've seen them: Widely tracked words or lines starting with a script majuscule and going on with clean and comfortable sans serif caps. If classy modern combination typography is your thing, you will find much pleasure in using VIP. VIP was updated with expanded language support in 2012. It now supports a very wide range of codepages, including Cyrillic, Greek, Central and Eastern European, Turkish, Baltic, Vietnamese, and of course Celtic/Welsh.

Originally released in 1995 as a three font family, Paradigm forcefully addressed the emaciating effect that digitization was then exerting upon traditional serifed typography. Investigating the new media of a much previous era, Nick Shinn deconstructed the first roman type, designed by Sweynheym and Pannartz in 1467, and gleaned, from its minuscules, the low contrast and discreet serif treatment (portrayed by a novel convex effect), which he subsequently applied to both capitals and lower case of a classically proportioned Venetian invention. Now in 2008, the glyphs, metrics and hinting of the 1995 fonts have been refined, Extra Bold and Light weights added, a full range of OpenType features instituted, and the number of characters per style increased almost threefold. It is a major upgrade to a unique typeface.

German type designers Hannes von Döhren and Livius Dietzel created this sans FontFont in 2010. The family has 16 weights, ranging from Extra Light to Black (including italics) and is ideally suited for advertising and packaging, editorial and publishing, logo, branding and creative industries, small text as well as web and screen design. FF Basic Gothic provides advanced typographical support with features such as ligatures, small capitals, alternate characters, case-sensitive forms, fractions, and super- and subscript characters. It comes with a complete range of figure set options – oldstyle and lining figures, each in tabular and proportional widths.

Mikado is a friendly, casual type family designed by Hannes von Döhren. It is intended to be used everywhere where a pleasant feeling should be conveyed: Games, Food, Service or Advertising. Mikado has a positive, kind of "out-of-the-box-appearance" in big sizes, but because of its straight architecture the fonts are also very legible in smaller sizes and longer texts - in print or on screen. Mikado is equipped for complex, professional typography with alternate letters, ligatures, arrows, fractions and an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European Languages.

Hannes von Döhren created Love Potion. Three fonts (Regular/Bold/Ornaments) that include extravagant Ligatures, Swash Letters, Catchwords, Arrows, Borders and other little specials. The hand drawn serif type family is intended to be used in applications like: Food, Clothes, Living, Wedding stationery or basically everywhere where love is in the air… Love Potion is equipped for professional typography. As an exclusively OpenType release, these fonts have an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European languages. In addition to that the fonts contain Standard ligatures, Swash Letters, Catchwords, Arrows, Borders and much more.

Niveau Grotesk—the companion of Niveau Serif —is a type family of six weights plus matching italics and small caps. It was designed by Hannes von Döhren in 2013. Influenced by classical nineteenth-century faces, the fonts are based on geometric forms. Because of its straight architecture, Niveau Grotesk has a “punch” in big sizes but is very legible in smaller sizes and longer texts—in print or on screen. Niveau Grotesk is equipped for complex, professional typography with alternate letters, arrows, fractions and an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European Languages.

Fabrikat Kompakt (formally known as Fabrikat) is a type family designed by Christoph Koeberlin with creative input of Hannes von Döhren. The Sans Serif family is published by HVD Fonts and consists of seven weights plus matching italics. Its geometric design is based on German 20th century engineers’ typefaces and has a plain and precise appearance. The shapes are optically corrected, yet retain an uncut charm. They work best in display as well as text sizes. The type family is equipped for complex, professional typography with OpenType Features like alternate letters, arrows, fractions and an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European Languages.

The Goodlife type family is a lovely handlettering collection designed by Hannes von Döhren. It contains six different hand drawn fonts with loads of features and a set of extras such as catchwords, arrows, ornaments & more. With this set and a little bit of love and care it is possible to create beautiful “handmade” graphics. Equipped with automatically exchanging alternates, ligatures, end forms, swash letters and some other features, Goodlife is optimized to feel not just like a font but like true handletterings. Goodlife is made for complex, professional typography. The OpenType fonts have an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European languages.

Ember is an informal script with a judicious sprinkling of ligatures that give it a flowing freehand liveliness. Neither overly formal and stuffy nor cheap and cheerful, Ember is elegant yet friendly, sophisticated yet approachable, fun and frivolous but stylish and well bred. Ligatures are set to be on automatically, and the stylistic alternates and optional final forms for some of the characters can be toggled on and off using the OpenType panel in design applications with advanced OpenType support. Designer Rian Hughes says that he felt he was "possibly channeling the spirit of Roger Excoffon". Neither pastiche nor revival, Ember does seem to evoke the famous French designer's trademark elegance.

Mandelia was created by Alex Kaczun, an American type designer, in 2010. The typeface was named in honor of Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, for his “shining example of the incredible strength of the human spirit to persevere in the face of adversity for the pursuit of freedom”. Mandelia is a strong, bold and wide-bodied serif typeface design, reminiscent of the great African landscape with its diverse animal life. It’s easy to see the influence of the 'Rhino' sharp serifs and ‘Elephant’ size stems and proportions. The font commands attention and respect. Great for headlines that pack a punch, logos, posters, and signage. And because it was well designed, it can even be used in body copy at various point sizes. Mandelia is available in Opentype format for both Mac and PC, and comes complete with true drawn small caps, old style figures and Unicode Latin 1252 and Central European 1250 character sets. It has everything you need to get the job done.

What intrigued me about Buslingthorpe was the virtuoso challenge it presented, of designing a typeface that would, despite a ridiculously tiny x-height, still possess a coherent harmony betwen upper and lower case, and read confortably. At the same time, beyond pure plastic formality, I was aware that there are strong connotations of historicism in this noble style, with overtones of regal magnificence, on account of the extravagant leading and generous point size required for adequate visibility—in traditional letterpress printing such proportions, with so few characters per square inch, were pricey and devoured resources. There are two iconic early 20th century designs in the genre: Koch Antiqua (Rudolf Koch, Klingspor Foundry, 1922) and Lucian (Lucian Bernhard, Bauer Foundry, 1925). Both these have x-heights smaller than fifty percent of ascender height, which nominally defines the category. So I made these my benchmarks, and determined to outdo them in dramatic fashion. —Nick Shinn, Orangeville, March 2021

It took Hannes von Döhren and Livius Dietzel two years to develop and complete the Brix Sans family – the companion of the well-known Brix Slab . The approach was to design an independent type family following the rules of the “Sans-Serif” genre, harmonizing with its older sister Brix Slab from the “Slab-Serif” genre. The result is a family of 6 weights with matching italics, which works perfectly for corporate design & editorial design. Combined with Brix Slab, high and complex typographical challenges can be solved. The Brix Sans OpenType fonts feature small caps, five variations of numerals, arrows and an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European languages.

Brix Slab and Brix Slab Condensed is an extended family of 24 fonts. It was designed by Hannes von Döhren & Livius Dietzel in 2011. Brix Slab is a robust slab serif family with subtle details. It's optimized for longer texts and highly readable in small sizes. Brix Slab is intended to be used in applications like magazines, newspapers and digital devices. It also works great as a corporate typeface. With more than 700 glyphs in each font, Brix Slab is equipped for complex, professional typography. As an exclusively OpenType release, these fonts feature small caps, five variations of numerals, arrows and an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European languages.

Supria Sans™ and Supria Sans Condensed is an extended family of 36 fonts designed by Hannes von Döhren. It contains two widths, six weights and three styles, including the curvy, feminine Italic as well as the more conventional Oblique. Although it is inspired by the utilitarian clarity of Swiss type design, subtle curves and fine detailing impart a more playful character to the whole Supria Sans family. Supria Sans™ is equipped for complex, professional typography. As an exclusively OpenType release, these fonts feature small caps, five variations of numerals, arrows and an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European languages. Supria Sans™ received the “Certificate of Excellence in Type Design” at the TDC2 (2011).

Brix Slab Condensed and Brix Slab is an extended family of 24 fonts. It was designed by Hannes von Döhren & Livius Dietzel in 2011. Brix Slab Condensed is a robust slab serif family with subtle details. It's optimized for longer texts and highly readable in small sizes. Brix Slab Condensed is intended to be used in applications like magazines, newspapers and digital devices. It also works great as a corporate typeface. With more than 700 glyphs in each font, Brix Slab Condensed is equipped for complex, professional typography. As an exclusively OpenType release, these fonts feature small caps, five variations of numerals, arrows and an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European languages.

Sporting pot-hook serifs and a tiny aperture, the Scotch Modern was an evolution of the Didone and Scotch Roman classifications, becoming the default type genre of the 19th century. Recontextualizing the 10-point type of a scientific report published in 1873, Nick Shinn has produced sleekly refined, micro-detailed vector drawings by eye, without the assistance of scans, of this magnificent classic. A beautiful genre of type, so popular in books, magazines and advertisements during the Victorian era and much of the 20th century, the Scotch Modern was derided by advocates of both the Arts & Crafts movement and 20th century modernists, and was never been properly adapted to hot metal, phototype, or digital media -- until now. Now the full range of typographic expression is possible in this style. The OpenType fonts support Western and CE encodings, Cyrillic (with Bulgarian alternates) and Polytonic Greek. There are many special features, including small caps, unicase, italic swash capitals, ten sets of figures per font, and both slashed and nut (vertical) fractions. Together with Figgins Sans, comprises The ModernSuite of matched fonts.

Livory is a serif type family of four fonts including small caps, 25 ornaments & 50 ligatures in each style. It was designed by Hannes von Döhren & Livius F. Dietzel between 2005 and 2010. Livory is influenced by the French Renaissance Antiquas from the 16th century. It has an organic look with a warm touch and was especially developed for long texts. With its melted corners and individual serifs, Livory has also a smooth and handcrafted appearance in display sizes. With almost 780 glyphs in each font, Livory is equipped for complex, professional typographic work. The OpenType fonts have an extended character set to support Central and Eastern European as well as Western European languages. Each font includes small caps, fractions, old style-, lining-, tabular numbers, scientific superior/inferior figures, ligatures, ornaments and a set of arrows.