Type designers are crazy people. Not crazy in the sense that they think we are Napoleon, but in the sense that the sky can be falling, wars tearing the world apart, disasters splitting the very ground we walk on, plagues circling continents to pick victims randomly, yet we will still perform our ever optimistic task of making some little spot of the world more appealing to the human eye. We ought to be proud of ourselves, I believe. Optimism is hard to come by these days. Regardless of our own personal reasons for doing what we do, the very thing we do is in itself an act of optimism and belief in the inherent beauty that exists within humanity. As recently as ten years ago, I wouldn't have been able to choose the amazing obscure profession I now have, wouldn't have been able to be humbled by the history that falls into my hands and slides in front of my eyes every day, wouldn't have been able to live and work across previously impenetrable cultural lines as I do now, and wouldn't have been able to raise my glass of Malbeck wine to toast every type designer who was before me, is with me, and will be after me. As recently as ten years ago, I wouldn't have been able to mean these words as I wrote them: It’s a small world. Yes, it is a small world, and a wonderfully complex one too. With so much information drowning our senses by the minute, it has become difficult to find clear meaning in almost anything. Something throughout the day is bound to make us feel even smaller in this small world. Most of us find comfort in a routine. Some of us find extended families. But in the end we are all Eleanor Rigbys, lonely on the inside and waiting for a miracle to come. If a miracle can make the world small, another one can perhaps give us meaning. And sometimes a miracle happens for a split second, then gets buried until a crazy type designer finds it. I was on my honeymoon in New York City when I first stumbled upon the letters that eventually started this Affair. A simple, content tourist walking down the streets formerly unknown to me except through pop music and film references. Browsing the shops of the city that made Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and a thousand other artists. Trying to chase away the tourist mentality, wondering what it would be like to actually live in the city of a billion tiny lights. Tourists don't go to libraries in foreign cities. So I walked into one. Two hours later I wasn't in New York anymore. I wasn't anywhere substantial. I was the crazy type designer at the apex of insanity. La La Land, alphabet heaven, curves and twirls and loops and swashes, ribbons and bows and naked letters. I'm probably not the very first person on this planet to be seduced into starting an Affair while on his honeymoon, but it is something to tease my better half about once in a while. To this day I can't decide if I actually found the worn book, or if the book itself called for me. Its spine was nothing special, sitting on a shelf, tightly flanked by similar spines on either side. Yet it was the only one I picked off that shelf. And I looked at only one page in it before walking to the photocopier and cheating it with an Argentine coin, since I didn't have the American quarter it wanted. That was the beginning. I am now writing this after the Affair is over. And it was an Affair to remember, to pull a phrase. Right now, long after I have drawn and digitized and tested this alphabet, and long after I saw what some of this generation’s type designers saw in it, I have the luxury to speculate on what Affair really is, what made me begin and finish it, what cultural expressions it has, and so on. But in all honesty it wasn't like that. Much like in my Ministry Script experience, I was a driven man, a lover walking the ledge, an infatuated student following the instructions of his teacher while seeing her as a perfect angel. I am not exaggerating when I say that the letters themselves told me how to extend them. I was exploited by an alphabet, and it felt great. Unlike my experience with Ministry Script, where the objective was to push the technology to its limits, this Affair felt like the most natural and casual sequence of processions in the world – my hand following the grid, the grid following what my hand had already done – a circle of creation contained in one square computer cell, then doing it all over again. By contrast, it was the lousiest feeling in the world when I finally reached the conclusion that the Affair was done. What would I do now? Would any commitment I make from now on constitute a betrayal of these past precious months? I'm largely over all that now, of course. I like to think I'm a better man now because of the experience. Affair is an enormous, intricately calligraphic OpenType font based on a 9x9 photocopy of a page from a 1950s lettering book. In any calligraphic font, the global parameters for developing the characters are usually quite volatile and hard to pin down, but in this case it was particularly difficult because the photocopy was too gray and the letters were of different sizes, very intertwined and scan-impossible. So finishing the first few characters in order to establish the global rhythm was quite a long process, after which the work became a unique soothing, numbing routine by which I will always remember this Affair. The result of all the work, at least to the eyes of this crazy designer, is 1950s American lettering with a very Argentine wrapper. My Affair is infused with the spirit of filete, dulce de leche, yerba mate, and Carlos Gardel. Upon finishing the font I was fortunate enough that a few of my colleagues, great type designers and probably much saner than I am, agreed to show me how they envision my Affair in action. The beauty they showed me makes me feel small and yearn for the world to be even smaller now – at least small enough so that my international colleagues and I can meet and exchange stories over a good parrilla. These people, whose kindness is very deserving of my gratitude, and whose beautiful art is very deserving of your appreciation, are in no particular order: Corey Holms, Mariano Lopez Hiriart, Xavier Dupré, Alejandro Ros, Rebecca Alaccari, Laura Meseguer, Neil Summerour, Eduardo Manso, and the Doma group. You can see how they envisioned using Affair in the section of this booklet entitled A Foreign Affair. The rest of this booklet contains all the obligatory technical details that should come with a font this massive. I hope this Affair can bring you as much peace and satisfaction as it brought me, and I hope it can help your imagination soar like mine did when I was doing my duty for beauty.

DESCRIPTION With Skill I wanted to create something wild. Something that splashed the letters with life. To do this, I knew I'd have to break the barrier between analog and digital, so I took my best brush and started to play. Throughout the years as a type-designer I've met and become fan of many calligraphers. My belief that only a good calligrapher can make good typography (1) has become even stronger. I'm now absolutely sure that only practice improves the skill, especially in this field. So, with this in mind, I started a font which was a challenge for me because sometimes the gap between paper and screen can be gigantic. Skill is another of my attemps (2) to capture the spirit of the pointed brush, its expressiveness, the passions and fears of the artist. This font is about freedom. Freedom everywhere. Movement, velocity, passion. To achieve this, many alternates and ligatures per glyph were designed. Use it on magazines, posters, book covers, music albums, t-shirts, skates, tattoos. NOTES (1) This is mostly referred to script fonts, though text fonts made by designers with a deep calligraphic background have at least to me, an extra charm. (2) See my fonts Live and Indie. TIPS Thanks to Open-Type, the font gives the user the chance to play and get many wonderful results: In example, using the font with “discretionary ligatures” activated will give more life to the written word. Some letters will jump of the base, while others will ligate or not with the following (typical of gestural calligraphy). Adobe Illustrator is recommended. STYLES Skill is the most complete style. It has all the alternates and ligatures that can be seen in the posters and more! Skill Standard is a variant with no decorative glyphs. It has the basic alphabet and some ligatures for better legibility.

Homelessfonts is an initiative by the Arrels foundation to support, raise awareness and bring some dignity to the life of homeless people in Barcelona Spain. Each of the fonts was carefully digitized from the handwriting of different homeless people who agreed to participate in this initiative. A biography/story of each homeless person captures their story, to help raise awareness and bring some dignity to the life of homeless people. Monotype is pleased to donate all revenue from the sales of Homelessfonts to the Arrels foundation in support of their mission to provide the homeless people in Barcelona with a path to independence with accommodations, food, social and health care. Salvador was born in a small village in the province of Seville, Spain where he lived until 2002. During many years he worked in restaurants, construction, and in the fields, until he decided to go try his luck in Palma de Mallorca. There he worked in hotels and in construction, until the economic crisis erupted and he was left without work or benefits of any kind and he began to live in the street: “The street has few good things, but it teaches you to be more selfless, to share with others what you have, even if it isn’t much.” In 2006, a friend encouraged him to come along to Barcelona and bought his plane ticket. Once there, things did not go much better and he had to continue living in the street. A year ago he left behind that life and now he explains his experience in guided tours to school groups: “I like it because I see that many of them are interested and they ask questions. It is good that they learn.”

“More is better” may have been the motto of Richard Austin of Austin and Son’s Imperial Letter-Foundry on Worship Street at Finsbury Square in London when he designed and cut his Antique typeface. The year it was created is uncertain, but it is known to have appeared in a specimen book produced in 1827. At first glance, the upper case letters of Austin Antique look very much like Figgins Antique. But, upon examination, one will note that the Austin face is much darker. In general, the letters designed and cut by Richard Austin have fatter strokes, larger serifs and smaller counters -- more metal and less daylight. The premise was that the darker the letter, the more attention an ad using the typeface would receive. In old pictures of London and Paris one may see walls crowded with posters and “bills” -- competing for the attention of the passerby. Morris and Updike aside, the early nineteenth century marked the beginning of a commercial as well as industrial revolution. Patterns of commerce were changing. With new methods of marketing came the need for new typefaces to support the new methods. Foundries found the display types were very profitable and competed most energetically and creatively for the trade. There was a lot of trial-and-error. Some ideas faded away. Others, like the Antiques or Egyptians, were refined and developed. From them came the Clarendons that were to prove both popular and long lasting -- because they worked. Their job was to sell goods, not please the aesthetic sensibilities of the critics. They did their job well. Austin Antique has a full Western European character set, plus the following ligatures: ct, st, fi, fl, ff, ffi and ffl. Tabular numbers. Surprisingly readable.

Aramus is a new serif font in my continuing objective of designing book fonts that I can really use. In many ways, Aramus is a very different direction for me. It comes from a scan of an old display face that has been radically modified to a much smaller x-height than I have been using lately, plus taller ascenders. Many of the characters needed a lot of correction to bring them into my taste. In general, I have decided that many of my fonts create a type color that is too dense. Aramus is an attempt to get away from that look. Although Amitale has been a very successful book family and excellent to work with, I find I still need something more open with a lighter color. Aramus is the first look at the new direction. The original hand-cut serifs vary a lot, different for almost every character. This gives a little looseness and helps the lightness I am looking for. It will be interesting to see where this all goes. This is a normal serif for me in that it has caps, lowercase, small caps with the appropriate figures for each case. This font has all the OpenType features in the set for 2009. I didn't bother with the CE accents (though I can add them upon request. They will be in the final new book family). There are several ligatures for your fun and enjoyment: bb gg ff fi fl ffi ffl ffy fj ft tt ty Wh Th and more. Like all of my fonts, there are: caps, lowercase, small caps, proportional lining figures, proportional oldstyle figures, & small cap figures, plus numerators, denominators, superiors, inferiors, and a complete set of ordinals 1st through infinity. Enjoy!

At one time or another, everyone has filled out a job application. Jobseeker JNL emulates a hand-printed alphabet and numerals as one would find on such forms, but it is also useful for any project where a simple handwritten block print is needed.

Joseph is a slab-serif face designed by TOMO. With a wood type look - letterpress print, this fatty comes in handy when is time to design an informal —yet strong—looking communication piece. Imagine this typeface on a T-shirt, even a mug! Sweet.

With some slight variation, Merchandising JNL was modeled from the lettering on a display box for Meyercord Decal letters and numbers. The phrase "make your own signs with decals" was lettered in a casual brush-like style, and is reproduced for the first time digitally.

ALYRAK is born from the anxiety of the future dystopia of the human race. The fear of Artificial Intelligence, robots, and technology that potentially invade living things. Represented in a font and visual to emulate the vibe every time you type it from your keyboard.

Maebashi is a display font in Japanese style. This font comes with a Japanese feel and you can feel it every time you use this font. It's the perfect font for multipurpose projects like logos, branding, posters, headlines, and more (especially for Asian-themed projects).

If you need a fantasy font that will brighten up your book about Drakula or your game about Tricksters or other fantasy characters or your movie needs magic then this font is for you. Any time if you need magic, the font is for you!

Anamorphic is a display monospace handwriting font. The typeface is a distinct hand drawn font using a felt tip marker. The Anamorphic name is derived from Greek words meaning “formed again”. Anamorphic is great for display work, invitations, writing, architecture, posters, logos and headings.

The look and feel of pen lettering is captured in this nostalgically-styled font from Jeff Levine. Add a touch of the 1920's or 1930's to your projects with Pendraw JNL to evoke the look of old-time show cards and signs.

This font was a product of self-initiated project I started a while back. It started and finished as a project that I was working on while procrastinating at school, for fun; however, I spent enough time to not give it out for free.

Graceful, elegant, and at times eccentric, Homage Script was inspired by James Hellmuth’s hand-lettered design for the cover of “Homage to the Alphabet” — a gigantic tome produced in 1980 to provide full-showings of photolettering fonts available for traditional typesetting at Phil’s Photo.

Ray Cruz releases another typeface family, this time inspired by 1970's pop culture. Fat Albert Regular, Outline and Shadow are bold poster types that evoke the fun and funk of an era gone by. Go on bro, get Fat Albert and get down.

Felt tip-written and full of expressive lines, Brandy BF exudes much verve and energy; and unlike many scripts, sets rather well in all caps situations. Use Brandy BF as a superb choice for everything from upscale restaurant menus to projects requiring a personable touch.

Born out of an insatiable addiction to handwriting fonts, Andrea's Handwriting fonts are simple, readable and easy on the eyes. Each font is cool, casual and fun all at the same time. Perfect for printing your personal thoughts be they silly, pensive or absolutely nonsense!

The Roger family was designed in memory of a friend of ours who passed away recently. We created a humorous design for him because he was always laughing and never failed to see the funny side of things. We miss his great outlook on life.

American type designer Jim Parkinson created this display FontFont in 1996. The family contains 2 weights and is ideally suited for advertising and packaging, film and tv, editorial and publishing as well as poster and billboards. It comes with proportional lining and proportional oldstyle figures.

Cocobella is a beautiful chic and elegant hand painted font. The characters are uneven which gives Cocobella an edgy unique look. Cocobella will work best for clothing brands, fashion magazines, advertising, books, greeting cards, invitations, weddings and any time you feel sophisticated and chic.

Joe Shmoe is the regular guy, the one who doesn't attract too much attention, but is always there when you need him. So is Joe Shmoe font: it is an easy-going, regular, nothing fancy kinda font and it comes with all the accents!

Morgothick is an ugly not-so-decorative blackletter font, hand-drawn like straight from the dark Middle Ages of drunk monks and dim chambers. Most readable, suits for multiple purposes. Morgothick supports West and Central European languages as well as Baltic, Turkish and Romanian.

Sticky Brash is my laid back kids comic book font - suitable for anything that needs a fresh and quirky attitude, and super legible at the same time. Originally handdrawn, and then manually traced digitally, in order to make those insane clean curves and lines!

Bilestone inspired from vintage baseball, sign painting, and labeling, is suitable for logos, product names packages, labels, old fashioned coffee shops, bars and everything with specific characteristics of past times. Bilestone is a great combination to create something good and with a vintage feel.

The 1911 sheet music for “A Hot Time In Monkeytown" is an example of Art Nouveau hand lettering that could not be ignored as a typographic design source. The end result is Nouveau Moon JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Wickenburg is a rough and tumble grunge slab typeface that has taken a lickin' but keeps on coming back for more. It is a powerful heavyweight serif that makes a strong design statement. Pick up this bad boy and take him for a ride!

Judging the amount of superhero series, I thought it was time for a superhero-font. Meet Backyard Hero - your friendly neighbourhood good guy. He will fight off aliens and criminal masterminds, help old ladies across the street and give your designs an unexpectedly good look!

Picz JNL is a rockin' font made up of guitar picks and is perfect for any projects representing good times. Use it moderately in short phrases or as initial caps, or combine it with Sock Hop JNL for a matching look. Limited character set.

Slightly slanted brush tip handwriting script that looks both elegant and streetwise, very suitable for all your poetry, lyrics and memoires. The font comes with a couple of swashes to use as you please and includes all eastern European, Baltic, Scandinavian and Turkish characters.

Sign and Design JNL is a casual brush alphabet modeled after an Alf R. Becker design that appeared in Signs of the Times Magazine. Thanks to Tod Swormstedt of ST Media and the American Sign Museum for providing the reference material to make this font.

Arc Neuvo has a retro, art deco feel and provides a few quirky glyphs to add to the fun.

Reika is a super soft and positive script inspired by the summer funny mood, simple street food and fresh drinks. It’s all about smiles, delicious, not too serious time spending with family or friends. Reika looking smooth thanks to 95 ligatures like an ak ch ck th in im ax ux and many others. Script includes Stylistic Alternates of some Uppercase and Lowercase and 12 lengths of End-Swashes (tales). You can use this font for example in logo and package design, in food business, kids and confectionery products. Reika support Western European characters and works with following languages: English, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Faroese, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish. Quick combinations for Opentype features: Alternates - just add «2» End-letter - just add «underscore» End-swashes (tails) - just add -1, -2, -3…up to -12, where number is length of tail. This combinations works only with activated Standard Ligatures option in Opentype panel (Adobe Illustrator / Photoshop).

Gementine is a modern serif font that exudes an elegant charm and understated sophistication. Its graceful lines strike a delicate balance between subtlety and strength, making it an ideal choice for branding logos aimed at the feminine market, particularly within the fashion industry. Each letter is intricately detailed, showcasing well-proportioned elements that impart a soft touch while retaining a commanding presence. Gementine evokes an exclusive and refined aura, perfectly suited for brands seeking to showcase gracefulness and beauty in their logo designs. With its seamless blend of finesse and assertiveness, this font stands as a prime option for brands aiming to embody the beauty, grace, and empowering essence of femininity within their brand identity.

When was the last time you listened to elevator music and found yourself humming along? And perhaps the tune you were listening to, got stuck in your ears for the rest of the day...the rest of the week? That's often what happens with elevator music: maybe you don't notice it - but it is there, and it could most likely be one of your all time favourites! :) My Elevator Music font does somewhat the same: it's nice and pretty harmless - but it works, perhaps even without you noticing! :) I've added 4 slightly different versions of each lowercase letter - and that goes for both Regular and Scratch versions. And they both have multilingual support, because elevator music is universal!