Recent releases #33, catch-up edition (Apr 17, 2025)
Back from a short break to almost a month’s worth of typeface releases and type-related announcements. To keep things manageable, I’ve saved some of the most recent news for next week’s edition.
Aieou Tools released Untimes, a single-style, blobby serif typeface designed by César Bourgeois and Marta Gaggi. [aeiou.tools]
Alphabets Patrick Nell released APN Chora, a contemporary humanist roman with an accompanying
italic, capturing Venetian, Aldine, and Dutch characteristics, further rationalized and interpreted from a 21st-century perspective
, designed by Patrick Nell. [alphabetspatricknell.com]
ALT.tf released ALT Nadrey, a single-style typeface with soft serifs, rounded letterforms, and smooth transitions
, designed by O'Plérou Grebet. [alt-tf.com]
APK Type released APK Narrative, a contemporary grotesque family combining the best aspects of recent APK fonts
, designed by Peter Korsman. Available in seven weights in roman and italic styles, plus a monospaced variant of the regular weight. [apk-type.com]
Atipo released Abridge, a condensed sans serif influenced by industrial typography. [atipofoundry.com]
Blancoletters released Basati Rounded, the softened counterpart to Basati, a top-heavy display typeface inspired by Basque lettering designed by Juan Luis Blanco and released in 2023. [blancoletters.com]
Blaze Type released Phill, a sans serif designed by Karol Mularczyk which offers endless possibilities for creating bold, attention-grabbing headlines
through variation axes for weight, width, and slant. [blazetype.eu]
Brandon Nickerson released BN Cyther, a wide, slightly-contrasted display sans. [bnicks.com]
Also from Brandon Nickerson, BN Giant is a bold display sans inspired by Gigantic (Dave Rowland, 2019). [bnicks.com]
Capitalics released Spirala, a flared sans that alludes to broad-nib calligraphy designed by Mateusz Machalski. [capitalics.wtf]
CSTM Fonts published on Future Fonts the initial version of Onweer, a slightly nostalgic take on Franklin Gothic
, designed by Ilya Ruderman, Yury Ostromentsky, and Micha Strukov. This first release covers basic Latin and Cyrillicc characters, and features variation axes for width, weight, slant, and contrast. [future-fonts.com]
East of Rome released Menhir, a Jugendstil-inspired typeface designed by Lewis McGuffie, whose cited influences include Tip-Top (Klinkhardt, 1902), Wodan (Stempel, 1902), Herold (Berthold, 1901), Eckmann-Schrift (Rudhard’sche, 1900), and Block (Berthold, 1908). The typeface supports the Latin and Cyrillic scripts and is complemented by a set of icons designed by Renée Clarke. [eastofrome.com]
Element Type released Intern Sans, the monochrome counterpart to the Intern (2023) color font, designed by Doğukan Karapınar and İbrahim Kaçtıoğlu. [elementtype.co]
F37 Foundry released a pair of typefaces with compatible proportions and a dramatic range of widths, designed by Ryan Williamson and Rick Banks. F37 Elastica Sans is an industrial grotesque with humanist features
, while F37 Elastica Serif is a bracketed slab serif in the Clarendon/Ionic tradition. In the narrower widths, the compact shapes and large x-height test the limits of how compressed a serif font can become, resulting in distinctive letterforms that assemble into unique textures.
[f37foundry.com, f37foundry.com]
F37 Foundry also published the initial version of F37 Azadi, a bi-scriptual, single-style, heavy display typeface with incision-like counterforms that seeks to blend Latin and Arabic scripts seamlessly, designed by Shaqa Bovand. [f37foundry.com]
Fatype released the initial version of States, a single-style sans serif with letterforms that celebrate an array of grotesque eccentricities that undeservedly ended up in the dustbin of history
, designed by Anton Koovit. States is available in sharp and rounded versions (with the latter being a reference to clogged up printed letters
), interpolated in the variable font on a ‘pressure’ axis. [fatype.com]
Fontfabric released Nexa Serif, the serif complement to Nexa (2012) designed by Ani Dimitrova, Kiril Zlatkov, Ivelina Martinova, and Viktoria Usmanova. [fontfabric.com]
Frere–Jones Type released Seaford, a humanist sans whose design is rooted in long-form text serifs and evokes their familiarity and comfort
. Seaford was originally designed by Tobias Frere–Jones, Nina Stössinger, and Fred Shallcrass for Microsoft’s Office suite, and proposed in 2021 as one of the five possible successors to Calibri. [frerejones.com]
Giulia Boggio released Bastardo Rounded, the softened counterpart to Bastardo Grotesk (2021). [giuliaboggio.xyz]
Also from Giulia Boggio, DGM Typeset is a typeface in sans and slab serif variants that blends the vintage feel of a classic Olivetti Type with a digital flare and a modern duality
. [giuliaboggio.xyz]
Gradient released MSCHN, a geometric sans combining sharp and soft corners inspired by the typography of factories, machinery, and architectural signage, where utility and clarity take precedence
, designed by Milos Mitrovic. [wearegradient.net]
Hassen Khattak published on Future Fonts the initial version of HK Moreeh Naskh, a bi-scriptual Latin and Naskh-style Arabic typeface designed by Amr Bakr and Alaa El-Hadidy. [future-fonts.com]
JTD Type released Ultramega, a geometric sans with a large x-height inspired by Zhurnalnaya Roublennaya (Polygraphmash, 1947), designed by Rachel Kriebel. [jtdtype.com]
Lineto released the initial version of LL Riforma Flex, a multi-axis variable edition of LL Riforma, designed by NORM. It features a weight axis, as well as subtle adjustments for the width and optical size. [lineto.com]
M59 published on Future Fonts the initial version of MF Normavaganza Extra, the OG free range, all cap, no sweat, double contrast slabby slab
, designed by Fabio Pop with origins in the designer’s KABK Type and Media final project. [future-fonts.com]
Noir Blanc Rouge released Obliqa Glitch, a single-weight pixel typeface designed by Bastien Sozeau, available as a variable font whose italic axis controls the slant by shifting successive rows of pixels to the right. As the slant increases, characters subtly fragment and shift, simulating a real-time digital glitch that adds movement and drama to each letterform.
[noirblancrouge.com]
Ooper Case released on Future Fonts the initial version of Elim text Malayalam, a humble, calm and unassuming text typeface
designed by Alen Antony Francis, inspired by the likes of Malayalam Series (Monotype, 1958) and Manorama (Linotype, 1984) and supporting the Latin and Malayalam scripts. [future-fonts.com]
Pizza Typefaces released Wayle, a neo-grotesque sans designed by Adrien Midzic, available as a variable font with weight and slant axes. [typefaces.pizza]
Plau released Spalla, a high-waisted, caps-only display typeface with classical proportions, touches of Italian Art Deco, and a spirit that shifts between the dramatic and the elegant
, designed by Rodrigo Saiani. [plau.design]
Resistenza Type Foundry released Squadra Stencil, the stencil variant of the Eurostile-influenced Squadra, designed by Giuseppe Salerno and Paco González and released earlier this year. [rsztype.com]
Sharp Type released Eterne, a superfamily designed by Kia Tasbihgou. Eterne Display began as a direct response to printed magician’s ephemera
, taking cues from 19th-century French types such as Caractères Elzévirs Gras Allongés (Deberny & Cie). The drama and gesture
of the display typeface are reflected in Eterne Text, a Scotch Roman informed by Old Style Antique no.7 (Miller & Richard, ~1858). [sharptype.co, sharptype.co]
Source Type released Bernie, a rounded slab serif designed by Laurenz Brunner and Stefan Fitze, and presented as the latest in the offbeat tradition of soft-serifs, a style that traces back to German designer Lucian Bernhard, renowned for his bold lettering on iconic 1920s poster advertisements
. [sourcetype.com]
Type Forward released Karst, a geometric sans serif with contemporary, edgy character
, designed by Stan Partalev and Mirela Belova. [typeforward.com]
Type-Ø-Tones released Brise, a stencil serif typeface designed by Laura Meseguer. Rooted in the architectural idea of the brise-soleil, Brise explores how deliberate gaps can give rhythm, clarity, and breath to type.
[type-o-tones.com]
Typogama released Rootzin, a single-style, reverse-contrast, slab serif typeface designed by Michael Parson. [typogama.com]
WrittenShape released Reptil, an interpretation of Turtle (Letraset, 1971) designed by Raphaël de La Morinerie and Ethan Nakache. [writtenshape.com]
Updates, reissues, and expansions:
Black Foundry added support for the Arabic script to Vesterbro, a serif typeface that merges characteristics from Scottish and Garalde models
, designed by Jérémie Hornus, Alisa Nowak, and Ilya Naumov and originally released in 2017. The Arabic extension, designed by Hirbod Lotfian, preserves the expressive charm of the original while embracing the fluidity and calligraphic heritage of Arabic script
. [black-foundry.com]
Canada Type reissued Babbage Pro, a single-weight typeface that derives its inspiration from the pure utilitarian form of a typewriter font, humanized with a subtle infusion of naïve capriciousness
[coreyholms.com], originally designed by Corey Holms in 2003. The new version features an expanded character set, with contributions by Patrick Griffin. [canadatype.com]
The DJR Font of the Month Club update is a lowercase design for the informal script typeface Indoor Kid, designed by David Jonathan Ross in collaboration with comics writer/editor/publisher Ellis Bojar and originally released in March 2024. The lowercase design blends influences from the pre-digital era of comic books. [djr.com]
DSType finalized the design for Rigor, the smallest optical size of the eponymous collection designed by Pedro Leal and Dino dos Santos, originally published in 2024 as an early-access release. The typeface now supports the Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew scripts. [dstype.com]
Groteskly Yours Studio updated Porte Neue, an epigraphy-inspired, high-contrast sans designed by Eugene Tantsurin and Anna Remm and originally released 2019 as Porte. The typeface has been expanded to six weights, and is now also available as a variable font. [groteskly.xyz]
Jad Maza published on Future Fonts an update to Bantayog Sans, a bi-scriptual softened sans forged from the characters cast on historical markers in the Philippines
, supporting the Latin and Baybayin scripts. Initially released in 2023, the typeface now features an expanded character set, and a crisp companion named Bantayog Sharp. [future-fonts.com]
James Plattner published on Future Fonts an update to Egads, a display sans that leans into the energy of classic geo-sans typefaces like ITC Kabel and Grizzly, but subverts that familiar feeling of order with its highly exaggerated bottom-heaviness
, initially released in February. The new version features three weights and an expanded character set. [future-fonts.com]
Just Another Foundry updated JAF Lapture, an interpretation of Leipziger Antiqua (Typoart, 1971) with distinctive characteristics that combine elements of both blackletter and roman type
, designed by Tim Ahrens and originally released in 2004. The new version includes condensed styles, as well as a range of extra-heavy weights. Support for the Cyrillic script, designed by Oleg Macujev in 2019 for the regular text styles, has now been extended to the entire collection. [justanotherfoundry.com].
Lechuga Type finalized Ciclo Display, a high-contrast serif typeface with a pronounced tilt on the stress axis designed by Antonio Mejía Lechuga based on Bernhard Modern (ATF, 1937). Ciclo Display was originally published in 2024 as an early-access release, and a text counterpart is currently in development. [fonts.antoniolechuga.com]
Manic Type published on Future Fonts an update to Zeplin, a reverse-contrast display typeface that is all about expression and chill vibes
, designed by Jamie Chang based on research into the forms of Antique Olive (Fonderie Olive, 1962) and initially released in 2022. The new version features two variations axes that enable the redistribution of weight by shifting the position of the counters. [future-fonts.com]
Ornamental & Title Type updated Neuf, a revival of Gravure Taille-Douce (Fonderie Typographique Française, 1920s), designed by Eliott Grunewald and originally released in 2022 in a single bold weight closely following the source material. The new version features four weights, and a rounded variant. An additional weight in upright and italic styles is currently in development. [ott-foundry.com]
Pangram Pangram finalized PP Museum, a modulated sans inspired by early sketches of Hermann Zapf’s Optima (Stempel, 1958), designed by Andrea Biggio, Mathieu Desjardins, Francesca Bolognini, and initially published in January as an early-access release. [pangrampangram.com]
Production Type updated Proto Grotesk, a sans serif inspired by Breite Halbfette Grotesque (Bauer & Co., late 19th century), designed by Jean-Baptiste Levée and originally released in 2014. The new version features matching italic styles for all weights, as well as support for the Greek and Cyrillic scripts. [productiontype.com]
Simplebits updated Cartridge, a geometric sans inspired by 1970s-era type used on Atari 2600 video game packaging, designed by Dan Cederholm and originally released in 2021. The new version features five weights, in sharp and softened variants. [simplebits.shop]
Store Norske Skriftkompani updated Gangster, a Renaissance-style serif designed by Arve Båtevik as what I think Garamont, Jannon, Granjon, Grandjean, and Goudy’s fonts would look like, if they had the tools we have today
. Initially released in 2022 as a single-weight roman and italic pair, Gangster has now been expanded to a range of seven weights. [skriftkompani.no]
Teo Tuominen published on Future Fonts an update to Kerub, an incisive, condensed display serif originally released in 2023 as Ra. The shapes have been redrawn for the new version, which also features two additional weights. [future-fonts.com]
Brian Dove’s type designs, previously available through Big Fog, the design studio he co-founded with Valerie Burgess in 2021, are now available from the newly launched Big Fog Foundry. Updates include:
The debut of Unie, a single-style, blocky unicase display typeface. [foundry.bigfog.co]
The expansion of Gayot New, a contemporary interpretation of Gayot (Mecanorma, 1973) initially released in 2022 in a single black style. The design has now been extrapolated to a range of eight weights. [foundry.bigfog.co]
The expansion of Clearly, a condensed flared serif typeface inspired by a range of Old-style and Victorian era serifs (as well as their modern interpretations)
, initially released in 2023 as a single style. It’s now available in a range of seven weights. [foundry.bigfog.co]
Alex Slobzheninov established a new font distribution platform named Contemporary Type. The platform features seven foundries, with a series of previously-unreleased typefaces:
Fantasia Type released Brass, a display typeface related to the typographic history, in particular to the golden age of photocomposition (for example the VGC photo-mechanical title letters among others) and to the Letraset and Mecanorma rubdown transfer sheets era
[instagram.com], designed by Franziska Weitgruber and Michele Galluzzo, originally made available by request in 2020. [contemporarytype.com].
Daria Cohen released Onlysans, a uniwidth ‘postgeometric’ sans that maintains the appearance of rationality – clean, precise, modern – yet harbors strange mischievous details
. [contemporarytype.com]
Morula Type released MRL Transit, a display typeface that draws inspiration from Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) fonts, reimagining their functional origins with a rounded, retro flair
, designed by Valerio Monopoli. The typeface features a width variation axis. [contemporarytype.com]
Rüdiger released RR Opague, a synthetically distilled postmodern geometric sans
designed by Philipp Neumeyer, whose historical influences include Lining Gothic No.82 (Barnhart Brothers & Spindler), Venus (Bauer, 1907), and the MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan Co. Gothics series. [contemporarytype.com]
Also from Rüdiger, RR Repose is a single-weight, caps-only, condensed display sans available in quadrospaced and proportional variants. Each variant comes in three styles that control the amount of rounded corners. [contemporarytype.com]
Along with Contemporary Type, Alex Slobzheninov also launched the Flight Mode foundry, featured on the platform with four releases:
FL Prefere is a serif typeface resulting from a font-a-day creative exercise: forcing elements to align along an imaginary horizontal resulted in flat counters, brutal geometry and some blind letters
. [contemporarytype.com]
FL Rare is an efficient grotesk fused with traces of handwriting
, organized along variation axes for weight, optical size, and slant. The accompanying Cursive styles provide an expressive alternative to the obliques. [contemporarytype.com]
FL Art Grotesk is a neo-grotesque sans that pushes its weights and widths beyond the norm, becoming almost ornamental in its most narrow, wide, thick and thin cuts
. [contemporarytype.com]
FL Science Sans is the humanist counterpart to FL Art Grotesk, with which it shares the dramatic range of widths and weights. [contemporarytype.com]
The other two foundries on Contemporary Type are ArrowType and Plain Form.
Laucke Siebein Type is a new type foundry established by Dirk Laucke, Johanna Siebein, and Clemens Buchegger. The foundry’s initial catalogue includes:
Notch, a typeface conceived as a visualization for sythetic sound. It’s a constructed and variable typeface orchestrating its appearance by four visual axes: Notch shifts from sharp to rounded corners, Slope adds weight/volume, Gain amplifies weight unproportionally and on top Band provokes conical shapes
. [type.studio-laucke-siebein.com]
Mimesis is a sans serif influenced by Mercedes-Antiqua (Woellmer, 1904), adopting its Art Nouveau forms, refined with a more disciplined approach, deliberately handling the original’s ornamentation in a rational manner
. [type.studio-laucke-siebein.com]
In other news:
- The ANRT Nancy video archive now contains the final presentations for the research projects from the class of 2023–2025, featuring talks from Khải Nguyễn, Jeanne Saliou, Johannes Ammon, Juliette Ogier, Fangzheng Li, Camille Martinet, and Ariq Syauqi.
- I took so much to publish this post that it’s now the final day of Glenn Fleishman’s (successful in the meantime) crowdfunding campaign for a new edition of Six Centuries of Type & Printing which,
starting with early documented efforts and surviving artifacts from China and Korea, […] takes you through each generation of increasing sophistication in metal and relief printing until the abrupt 20th century shift into flat offset printing, which was made possible through photographic and digital improvements, and phototypesetting and digital composition
. - For Typeroom, Giannis Papaioannou interviews George D. Matthiopoulos, author of the recently-published Ελληνική Τυπογραφία [Greek Typography],
as he reflects on the artistry, heritage, and evolution of Greek typography
. - TypeTogether released Letters for the future: Ten years of the Gerard Unger Scholarship, a publication edited by Linda Kudrnovská that
provides a comprehensive history of the scholarship, introduces the typefaces produced thus far, and features interviews with the scholarship recipients
. - Read the preface written by Stephen Coles for Emigre Fonts, Type Specimens, 1986–2024, recently published by Letterform Archive.
- New from Lazy Dog, Il disegno del carattere. 1460–2014 (IT), edited by Alessandro Colizzi and Riccardo Olocco, is the third anthology in a series dedicated to the history of visual communication.
The book offers a comprehensive selection of documents, highlighting key moments in Western typographic history with an approach that balances historical significance and contemporary relevance. Through original texts by engravers, designers, and computer scientists, Il disegno del carattere guides readers in understanding the creative and technological foundations that have shaped the evolution of typographic aesthetics.
- Triest is preparing a second edition of
History and Form of the Latin Script (DE/EN/FR), edited by Rudolf Barmettler, Rupert Kalkofen, and Roland Stieger, and originally published in 2024.
Based on Hans Eduard Meier’s (1923–2015) standard work The Development of Script and Type (first published in 1959), the editors have completely revised the book, supplementing and expanding it with state-of-the-art scientific findings.
- The tenth installment in the Poem Pamphlets series focuses on the craft of silent film intertitles: in Victor Vance, title-artist, Julien Van Anholt tells the story of the Warner Bros-associated letterer whose
distinctive style of lettering, constant over the years, was based on a virtuosic use of the brush
. - Relatedly, the complete run of Poem Pamphlets is now available as a box set.
- Safari Technology Preview 126 added support for
text-wrap: pretty
, a CSS property to enable a better text layout algorithm. The specification states thatthe precise set of improvements is user agent dependent, and may include things such as: reducing the variation in length between lines; avoiding typographic rivers; prioritizing different classes of soft wrap opportunities, hyphenation opportunities, or justification opportunities; avoiding hyphenation on too many consecutive lines…
, and Safari’s implementation seems to be more sophisticated than the one Chromium-based browsers have been employing since 2023. - Future Fonts’s HyperTalks, now at its third edition,
features lightning talks and special performances from type and graphic designers from around the world
. The event will be livestreamed free of charge on May 9, 2025 at 10AM-12 PDT. - One for your RSS reader: the Fontra blog features periodic updates on the development of the open source, web-based font editor.
On the Atlas website, I haven’t made much progress on infrastructure work but there’s a new page that groups foundries by the year they were founded.