In what turned out to be a second consecutive catch-up edition, here’s a look at the typeface releases of the past month, up to May 14th.
205TF released Indiana, a geometric sans with short ascenders and descenders that mirrors the engineering of modern pneumatics, blending flexibility with strength, comfort with energy, and speed with calm
, designed by Malou Verlomme. Available in six weights in upright and italic styles. [205.tf]
Alexandre Créquer released Mosa, an all-caps display typeface with flared serifs that incorporates phototype-era influences. Available in five weights. [alex-creq.com]
Atipo released Gottak, a geometric sans available in six upright weights with matching italic styles. [atipofoundry.com]
Commissioned by the city of Strasbourg as part of its UNESCO World Book Capital 2024 designation, Azimut is a series of three interrelated designs by Benjamin Blaess, Julien Priez, and Mathieu Réguer. While most classical type families focus on consistency and harmony across their styles, Azimut shifts the standard structure of the modern type family to offer a typographic trio with heterogeneous forms and eclectic uses. Each variant of Azimut summons a different point of view on typography and its relationship to writing, the shape of text, the form of the book
, explains Dan Reynolds in the accompanying essay. Available under the Creative Commons BY-ND 4.0 license. [azimut.strasbourg.eu] (via Caren Litherland)
Bastarda Type released Maíz, a modular display typeface designed by Jason Guzmán Munevar and Seb Castellanos de la Hoz in collaboration with Juan Pablo Fajardo and Ana Peña, based on an experimental alphabet presented by Antonio Grass at the 1973 edition of the Bienal Americana de Artes Gráficas in Cali. The typeface’s three styles feature progressively larger star-shaped counterforms. Available as a free download. [bastardatype.com]
bb-bureau released Tacmitac, a modular display typeface designed by Benoît Bodhuin. The typeface is constructed with overlapped discs and squares whose relative size is controlled with the weight and width variation axes. [bb-bureau.fr]
Bfgs.Studio released Agneta, a contemporary grotesque designed by Guido Schneider. Available in ten weights, in upright and italic styles. [bfgs.studio]
Blaze Type released Rules Serif, a serif interpretation of Rules (2022) designed by Matthieu Salvaggio and Tim Vanhille. It channels a refined, editorial spirit while maintaining the structural rigor and versatility of its grotesque roots
. [blazetype.eu]
Brandon Nickerson Studio released BN Nektar, a single-style heavy display typeface inspired by ITC Serif Gothic (ITC, 1972). [bnicks.com]
Also from Brandon Nickerson, BN Mr. Miesha is a single-style, high-contrast display serif based on the earlier BN Miesha. [bnicks.com]
A third release from Nickerson, BN Gummie is a single-style rounded slab serif typeface. [bnicks.com]
Bureau Brut released Round Ultra, the narrowest member of the Round collection. As in the Round, the circular shapes are intersected by straight stems, achieving a subtle balance between fluidity and geometric structure. Only the other characters are condensed, further emphasizing the round shapes and enhancing their distinctive visual impact.
[bureaubrut.com]
Capitalics released Nocturne Sans, a sans serif designed by Mateusz Machalski as a complement to Nocturne (Warszawskie Kroje, 2016). The original concept drew inspiration from the plaques commemorating Warsaw’s World War II battle and martyrdom sites, designed in 1949 by Karol Tchorek. Nocturne Sans continues this narrative, translating the historical and emotional depth of its serif predecessor into a clean, modern form.
[capitalics.wtf]
CubicType released Koch Up, an all-caps, single-style display typeface designed by David Jones based on strokes and shapes from Rudolf Koch’s Book of Signs (Dover Publications, 1955) assembled into letterforms. Released into the public domain. [drj11.itch.io]
Dalton Maag released Jovie, a soft-serif typeface designed by Franziska Hubmann, with influences from genre classics such as Cooper (1919) and Windsor (~1905). Available as a variable font with a weight axis, in solid and highlight styles. [daltonmaag.com]
DJR released Job Clarendon Narrow, designed by David Jonathan Ross and Bethany Heck as a stepping stone in unifying the design spaces of Job Clarendon (2021) and Job Clarendon Text (2024). Rather than a direct interpolation midpoint between the straight sides of the former and the rounded sides of the latter, the curvature of the Narrow design has been manually adjusted for each individual weight. [djr.com]
Daytona Mess released Ancial, a single-style open source cyberuncial typeface, drawn exclusively with the trackpad and mouse
by Anne-Dauphine Borione. [daytonamess.itch.io]
Dinamo released ABC Stefan, a digitization of artist Stefan Marx’s handwriting, designed by Johannes Breyer, Erkin Karamemet, and Tanja Modraković. Four variations in the letterforms are shuffled via OpenType instructions to mimic natural inconsistencies. The plain handwriting style is complemented by two styles of bubble lettering. Other features include squiggle swashes, stylistic sets for crossing out text, and a set of emoji symbols. [abcdinamo.com]
Also from Dinamo, Bubblegum is a modular geometric display typeface in proportional and monospaced variants, designed by Fabian Harb, Michelangelo Nigra, and Marc Rouault. Currently available on request as an early-access release. [abcdinamo.com]
Displaay Type Foundry released Perfektta, a sans serif of narrow proportions designed by Martin Vácha and Daniel Quisek, inspired by the Italian road signage typeface Alfabeto Stretto. We were fascinated by the rhombus shaped zero. That unusual construction became the base for our first sketch of the typeface. From there, we gradually developed the other letterforms using the same principle.
Available as a variable font with weight and slant axes. [displaay.net]
DualType published on Future Fonts the initial version of Fetza, a display serif typeface designed by Gen Ramírez. It was originally inspired by English wood type from the early twentieth century and traditional signage in colonial style Mexican towns; however, it evolved into brighter, more organic, and stronger letterforms
. Available as a variable font with weight and width axes. [future-fonts.com]
F37 Foundry released F37 Ginger Mono, the monospaced adaptation of F37 Ginger, a geometric sans influenced by Futura (Bauer, 1927) and ITC Avantgarde Gothic (ITC, 1970) first published in 2013. The monospaced family, designed by Rick Banks, Romain Tronchin, and Ryan Williamson, is complemented by the F37 Ginger Mono Soft and F37 Ginger Mono Rounded variants. [f37foundry.com, f37foundry.com, f37foundry.com].
Famira Fonts released Apostil, a monolinear handwriting typeface designed by Hannes Famira, available in three weights. [store.typenetwork.com]
Forgotten Shapes released Reform-Grotesk and Information, digital revivals by Pierre Pané–Farré of Reform-Grotesk (Stempel, ~1904) and its later revision Information (Klingspor, 1953), initially known as ‘Reform-Grotesk B’. The typefaces are presented along with extensive research conducted by the designer into the origins and development of the historical material. [forgotten-shapes.com, forgotten-shapes.com]
Frost Type launched FROST Numbers, a typographic project where numbers are the foundation, establishing the structure and rhythm of the typeface
. The first typeface from the series is FT Goddard, a dot matrix typeface designed by Harrison Marshall on a 5×5 grid inspired by the LED matrix signage in London Underground stations. The typeface is available in a series of styles, each representing different state of light and clarity
, that can be layered for chromatic effects. It also comes with a set of matching icons. [numbers.frostype.xyz]
Grilli Type released GT Standard, a contemporary response to the modernist pursuit of standardization
designed by Noël Leu, Reto Moser, Katja Schimmel, and Lorenzo Poderini. The type system, showcased in detail on the dedicated minisite, is built on four variation axes (weight, width, slant, and optical size) and is available in proportional and monospaced variants. [grillitype.com]
Jen Wagner released Suffix Serif, a serif typeface available in six weights in upright and italic styles. [jenwagner.co]
July Type released JT Percy, a study of stone-carved letterforms by Edward Dżułaj. Early inspiration came from the inscriptions at the Royal Institute of British Architects, crafted by Percy John Delf Smith, a student and later assistant of the legendary Edward Johnston
. Available in a pair of roman and italic styles, with support for the Latin and Cyrillic scripts, the latter designed in collaboration with Pavel Pavlov. [julytype.com]
Letters from Sweden released Grez, a single-style, all-caps display typeface designed by Ulrika Hellberg entirely from handmade shapes cut out of black paper, assembled into a digital font with four variations per letter. [lettersfromsweden.se]
Manufacturas Tipográficas Madrileñas released Cebada 17, a calligraphic display typeface inspired by vernacular lettering, designed by Juanjo López: in any self-respecting store or market, a few small signs with the price will be labeled with this kind of unbridled Carolingian calligraphy, surrounded by other more modern price holders already made by machine
. [store.typenetwork.com]
Martin Majoor released Comma Sans, a humanist sans of economical proportions based on the modulated sans Comma Base (2021), adapted to low contrast and streamlined with vertically-cut terminals. The typeface matches its predecessor’s eight uniwidth weights, available in upright and italic styles. More details are available in Nadine Chahine’s interview with the designer. [martinmajoor.com]
Monokrom released R-I-B-BI, a typeface designed by Frode Helland that composes the nuclear font family – Regular, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic – on each side of the digital divide by utilizing the mechanical limitations and digital manipulations of a bygone era
. The proportional variant is a nod to automatic font synthesis: double-rendering to approximate a bold style and sheared letterforms as a faux-italic. The monospaced variant uses typewriter hacks such as underlining for emphasis and double-striking for bolder characters. [monokrom.no]
Mostardesign released Sofia Pro Compact, a new member in the Sofia Pro collection first released in 2012. Designed by Olivier Gourvat, the Compact family has slightly narrower proportions than the original. [motyfo.com]
NaN released NaN SuperX, an homage to phototyping era typefaces with a disproportiontedly big x-height
, designed by a team composed of Hugues Gentile, Fanny Hamelin, Fadhl Haqq, Léon Hugues, Jean-Baptiste Morizot, Luke Prowse, Florian Runge, and Jolana Sýkorová. The collection includes NaN SuperX Serif, a high contrast old-style serif with leaf-shaped tear-drops and a dynamic italic rooted in pointed-nib calligraphy
and NaN SuperX Sans, a hybrid humanist sans with grotesque detailing or the contrary
. [nan.xyz]
Newlyn released New Vision, a neutral geometric neo-grotesque typeface for the demands brands face today
around communicating factual information authoritatively, designed by Miles Newlyn in ten upright weights. [newlyn.com]
Nice to type released Golzheim, a pair of sans and slab serif typefaces combining the elegance of neoclassical forms, the rugged charm of typewriter aesthetics, and the playful spirit of comic influences
, designed by Gabriel Richter and Jonas Schneider. Available in ten weights, in upright and italic styles, and supplemented by a set of over 300 emoji symbols. [nicetotype.jp]
OH no Type Co. released to the foundry’s Drawer section the backslanted connected script Swear Smoke, initially designed by James Edmondson as an offshoot of Swear (2020). [ohnotype.co]
Order Type Foundry released the Sita collection rooted in 19th-century Scottish typography, designed by Edouard Berard in complementary sans and serif subfamilies with a shared structure. Sita Serif is an interpretation of Double Pica Roman no. 2 (Miller & Richard, 1822), while Sita Sans layers on the skeleton of its serif counterpart influences of early British grotesques such as Grotesque No. 88 (Stephenson Blake, 1919) and Sans Serif No. 4 (Miller & Richard, 1912). [order.design]
Pangram Pangram released PP Watch, a wide-set sans serif inspired by the fine detailing of Swiss timepieces and the typography engraved on classic watch faces
, designed by Niklas Herrmann, Mathieu Desjardins, and Francesca Bolognini. Available in nine upright weights. [pangrampangram.com]
Poem released Offenbach, a revival of the thin weight of Rudolf Koch’s eponymous typeface, released posthumously by the Gebr. Klingspor foundry in 1934 with additions by Hans Kühne. Stylistically, Offenbach is a hybrid, pairing wide roman capitals with narrow gothic minuscules, a mixture Koch had experienced in several of his typefaces like Jessen or Wallau.
The typeface, released under the Creative Commons BY-ND 4.0 license, is the result of a weeklong workshop conducted by Jérôme Knebusch in 2022 with students from the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach. [poem-editions.com]
Production Type released the initial version of Europa Prima, a sans serif that absorbs influences without pastiche, acknowledging the canon of twentieth-century utility sanses while transcending them
, designed by Charly Derouault. The typeface supports the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts and is available in four upright weights. [productiontype.com]
Quintana-Font released Loica Sans, an interpretation of neo-grotesque typographic style with a subtle exuberant attitude
designed by Javier Quintana Godoy. Available in nine weights, in upright and italic styles. [quintana-font.cl]
Raoul Gottschling released Plätze, a sans serif inspired by the eclectic lettering on Berlin subway signage. The typeface, which also features spurless alternates of some letters (a nod to the Nollendorfplatz sign), is available in eight weights in upright and italic styles. [raoulgottschling.de]
ReType released Lavigne Nova Sans, a companion to Lavigne Nova (2009, 2024) designed by Ramiro Espinoza. The typeface shares numerous formal characteristics with the historical designs that have defined the grotesk genre (vertical stress, balanced counters, low contrast, and a look similar to German and Swiss fonts from the first half of the 20th century)
, with humanistic features imparted by the relationship to its serif counterpart. [re-type.com]
Sharp Type released Cordier Script, a typeface designed by Benjamin Gomez that channels the virtuosic calligraphy of Louis Barbedor, the 17th-century French master penman, reimagined as a contemporary script typeface
. [sharptype.co]
Soft Type published on Future Fonts the initial version of Soft Text, a typeface developed as the voice for instructional materials in workshops by lettering artist and type designer Kyle Letendre. Learning environments sometimes feel intimidating to newcomers, and a softer tone can make all the difference in material feeling approachable
. [future-fonts.com]
Storm Type Foundry released Hercules Sans, a not exactly neutral, but playful, creative
sans serif designed by František Štorm. The typeface had been shown earlier this year as part of the updates to Hercules Neo, a serif typeface of Modern/Scotch influence. [stormtype.com]
Sudtipos released Ecléctica, a genre-blending serif typeface designed by Iván Castro, whose details are the result of mashing up writing and type theories at its conception
. The typeface also features an all-caps titling style with slashed stems. [sudtipos.com]
Threedotstype released Extract Grotesk, a contemporary sans-serif typeface that draws inspiration from the rigid yet expressive grotesque letterforms of the early 20th century
, designed by Marian Misiak and Radek Łukasiewicz. This typeface is part of an upcoming collection which will also include a slab serif counterpart. [threedotstype.com]
TipoType released Suncoast, a condensed sans serif with a large x-height, available in grotesque and humanistic detailing. [tipotype.com]
Tour de Force released Rebuke, a serif typeface designed by Dušan Jelesijević with eclectic features: lower serifs from Didone category, upper triangular straight serifs, extended serifs that connect two neighbouring letters, calligraphic endings and vintage design spots
. [tourdefonts.com]
Type Salon released Spektra Tekst, the text optical size of Spektra (2020), designed by Alja Herlah and Luka Prelog and originally released in 2024 through the foundry’s experimental branch, Dotless Type. [type-salon.com]
Typeverything released Delwe, an interpretation of Belwe (Letraset, 1976) designed by Andrei Robu. While it echoes the original’s spirit, Delwe removes the Venetian details in favor of a more streamlined, functional design, optimized for clarity, versatility, and digital use.
Available in serif and slab serif variants, in nine upright weights. [typeverything.com]
TypeMates released Gustine, a clear and confident geometric typeface with sharp and dynamic details
designed by Natalie Rauch. The Gustine Vaganza sub-family doubles down on Gustine’s DNA and brings new twists, flavour and personality to its forms
, taken to its extreme in the heavy, high-contrast Gustine Extra. [typemates.com]
TypeTogether released Poltik, a two-toned family with a reverse contrast text and eye-catching headliner for a stylish, expressive presence
designed by Patrycja Walczak. The typeface, with which the designer won TypeTogether’s 2023 Gerard Unger scholarship, was inspired by the numerals on a 1970s Polish nightstand clock. Available in five text weights developed from the original display pair, in upright and italic styles. [type-together.com]
TypeType Foundry released a pair of script typefaces designed by Antonina Zhulkova. TT Gentlemens is a dynamic handwritten typeface that combines the seriousness and precision in writing with elegance and sophistication
, while TT Disruptors is a ductile marker-drawn handwritten typeface
with worn edges, varying stroke thickness, and elongated ascenders
. [typetype.org, typetype.org].
Typonym released Marsam Text, a condensed version of Marsam (2024), a slab serif that roams that arid desert between the severe, enboldened geometry of the ‘Egyptian’ neo-grotesque slab serifs and the graceful, bracketed serif forms of traditional Clarendons
, designed by Evan Deterling. Through its narrower proportions, the Text version aims to provide better typesetting in some editorial contexts. [typonym.xyz]
Typotheque released Pristine, a bi-scriptual Latin/Thai sans serif which blends high contrast, soft curves, and crisp terminals to create a tone that is warm, informal, and approachable
, designed by Mint Tantisuwanna. In Pristine, Thai and Latin were designed in parallel, allowing each script to inform the other while respecting their unique traditions. Rather than forcing visual uniformity, the design embraces cultural nuance—using different details to evoke a shared tone
. Available in four upright weights. [typotheque.com]
Typozon released Chosmos, a heavy display typeface that’s bold, chunky, and unapologetically dynamic in its organic forms
. Designed by Cristian Vargas in upright, slanted, and backslanted styles, it confidently navigates the space between wit and sophistication—playful in spirit, yet disciplined in execution
. [typozon.xyz]
Underware released Kermit, a friendly and approachable font that encourages children of all skill levels to read, even if they are anxious about their abilities
, commissioned by Microsoft and designed by Akiem Helmling, Sami Kortemäki, and Bas Jacobs. The typeface, developed using the foundry’s writable font technology, includes a time axis. The Kermit ministe documents the design process with essays from Microsoft’s Rob McKaughan, the Underware team, and Gerry Leonidas, also available in the print publication Time to play. [underware.nl]
WiseType released WT Bobine, a dot-matrix typeface designed by Arthur Calame. The constructive element is a four-sided star in the regular style and a denser, eight-sided star for the bold. [wisetype.nl]
Zakznak released Fialka Sans, a sans serif designed by Zakhar Kryvoshyya, available in seven upright weights. [zakznak.com]
London Type have a refreshed foundry website, featuring a set of new typefaces:
IR Lüthold Sans and IR Lüthold Sans Text, a pair of sans serif typefaces designed by Ian Ritchie and Paul Harpin based on the DIN 1451 road signage type. [londontype.co.uk, londontype.co.uk]
LDN Kings Road, a ’60s-inspired, bottom-heavy, rounded sans serif designed by Paul Harpin. Available in nine upright weights. [londontype.co.uk]
LDN Mental Block, a geometric modular typeface designed by Geoff Waring. I wanted something that could be used as a design tool as well as a font that you can read. The letters become graphic shapes in themselves, and because they are a sort of stencil you can colour the different elements of the single characters.
Available in solid and hatched styles which can be layered for chromatic effects. [londontype.co.uk]
LDN Kew Script a curly, monolinear informal script typeface designed by Paul Hickson and Patricia Hickson, channeling the transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco. Currently available in a single style, with more weights in development. [londontype.co.uk]
Updates, expansions, and reissues:
ArrowType updated Name Sans, a modern interpretation of the tile mosaic name tablets of the New York City subway
designed by Stephen Nixon and initially released on Future Fonts in 2020 and finalized in 2023. This incremental update features improved kerning among a host of small refinements. [arrowtype.com]
Bloom Type Foundry reissued Agate, a serif typeface originally designed by Baptiste Guesnon in 2016 as a display font for the Strates architecture magazine and also used for typesetting experiments in the early days of variable fonts. The redrawn version, named Agate Recut, is available in six upright weights. [bloomtype.com]
Boomtype published on Future Fonts an update to Crushual, a Latin/Thai bi-scriptual condensed slab serif designed by Boom Promphan Suksumek as the final project for Type Media 2021-2022 and initially released in 2022. The new version features refined letterforms and better spacing. [future-fonts.com]
Commercial Type transferred to the foundry’s main library the Eugenio collection, originally commissioned in 2017 by Francesco Franchi for the redesign of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica and previously made available as a set of early-access releases in the Commercial Type Vault. Eugenio Serif, designed by Miguel Reyes with assistance from Hrvoje Živčić and Christian Schwartz, is an interpretation of Giambattista Bodoni’s types, in particular the smaller 16pt and 24pt specimens shown in Manuale tipografico (1818). Its complement, Eugenio Sans, is a geometric sans designed by Greg Gazdowicz with strokes that terminate at flat verticals, creating open apertures and clean spaces between letters, which makes the typeface highly readable and keeps it from feeling nostalgic
. Eugenia, a third member of the collection exploring Bodoni’s italic designs, many of which have exuberant swashes and exist at various points on a continuum between traditional italics and connecting scripts
, was folded into Eugenio Serif. [commercialtype.com, commercialtype.com]
Commercial Type also moved to the main library Royal Gothic, a revival by Paul Barnes of the eponymous typeface (Patent Type Foundry, ~1870), whose no-nonsense, gritty, industrial appearance, with narrow capitals and an increased contrast
was expanded with the help of Luke Charsley and Tim Ripper to several upright and italic styles. [commercialtype.com]
CSTM Fonts published on Future Fonts an update to Backslanted, a font series including backslanted typefaces of various styles, weights and angles
originally released in 2023. The new version expands the character set of Backslanted Script to cover Extended Latin and Georgian scripts. [future-fonts.com]
Displaay Type Foundry updated Denim, a sans serif designed by Daniel Quisek and Martin Vácha and originally released in 2021. The new version adds support for the Cyrillic and Greek scripts, designed by Ilya Bazhanov and Marek Čuban. [displaay.net]
DSType finalized Rigor Ionic, the text optical size of the eponymous slab serif typeface designed by Pedro Leal and Dino dos Santos and initially released 2024. Along with Rigor it forms a pairing of a grotesque sans and slab serif designed to bring together distinct historical sources into a cohesive system. [dstype.com]
DualType expanded the character set for Raketa, a modulated display sans that draws from the study of expressive calligraphic brushwork, translating its fluidity into clean, structured forms
, designed by Gen Ramírez and initially released earlier this year. [future-fonts.com]
Emtype Foundry added to Akkordeon, a sans serif designed by Eduardo Manso and originally released in 2017, a variable font version with a ‘wght’ axis that maps to a non-linear combination of width and weight. [emtype.net]
FDI Type Foundry made freely available FDI Lettograph, a revival by Ralf Herrmann of Signal (Berthold, 1931), a connected script typeface designed by Walter Wege. The FDI typeface, funded through a crowdfunding campaign, was exclusively offered to backers and to supporters of Typografie.info and Typography.guru for a period of one year prior to general availability. [fdi-type.de]
Feliciano Type has reissued — and, in the process, redrawn — Eudald, a serif typeface designed by Mário Feliciano and initially released in 2006 as Eudald News. Conceived as a typeface for text use, Euldald finds inspiration in the eighteenth-century typefaces cut in Spain by Eudald Pradell (1721–1788).
[felicianotype.com]
Feliciano Type also updated with three additional weights Sebenta, a slab serif inspired by an early twentieth-century monospaced typeface available from Fundição Tipográfica Gini (Manuel Guedes, Lda.), presented in a specimen from 1938
, designed by Mário Feliciano and originally released in 2021. [felicianotype.com]
Fontfabric added to Mont, a geometric sans designed by Svetoslav Simov and Mirela Belova and originally released in 2018, a variable font with a weight axis. [fontfabric.com]
Fuerte Type added italic styles to FT Pilar, a sans serif influenced by the rationality of the classic Swiss Neo-Grotesque typefaces from the mid-20th Century, balanced with subtle quirks and details that introduce warmth and give it a distinct presence in the crowded landscape of contemporary sans-serifs typefaces
, designed by Fermín Guerrero and originally released in 2022. [fuertetype.com]
Hot Type expanded the character set of Hot Sans, a sans serif whose design builds upon mid-20th century modernist ideas, heavily influenced by the successful European classics of times gone by, namely Neuzeit Grotesk and Mercator
, designed by Marko Hrastovec and originally released 2022. The new version includes support for the Cyrillic script and the Vietnamese alphabet. [hottype.co]
Kostas Bartsokas added support for the Cyrillic script to Canicule Display, a vivid serif with an organic flair echoing memories of the pen, where the elongated serifs of the lighter weights gradually become glyphic as the weight increases
, designed by Kostas Bartsokas and initially released in 2022. [future-fonts.com]
Love Letters finalized the design of Optic, a heavy, squarish display typeface with a large x-height and softened outlines, designed by Sebastien Sanfilippo and initially released in 2023. The finished typeface is available in three widths and five weights, in upright and italic styles. [future-fonts.com]
In another Future Fonts graduation, Manic Type wrapped up the design of 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 finished typeface includes support for the Cyrillic script and the Vietnamese alphabet. [future-fonts.com]
Mass-Driver published an update to MD Thermochrome, a typeface designed to evoke dot-matrix and thermal printer fonts
, designed by Rutherford Craze and originally released in 2024 in a single style. The new version features a weight axis that controls the dot size, producing uniwidth styles that can be layered for chromatic effects. [mass-driver.com]
Maxitype updated Cornbread, a script typeface based on the lettering, and with the participation, of Philadelphia graffiti artist Darryl ‘Cornbread’ McCray, originally released in 2024. The updated version features a ‘drip’ variation axis. [maxitype.com]
Naipe Foundry expanded Borogodó, a high-contrast sans serif that cultivates couture looks with a tropical feel
, designed by Álvaro Franca and Felipe Casaprima and initially released in 2024. The updated version features five upright weights in three optical sizes. [future-fonts.com]
Optimo updated Hermes, an interpretation of a typeface sample named Epoca produced by a Hermes 3000 typewriter, originally designed by Gavrillet & Rust (Gilles Gavillet and David Rust) and released in 2003. The typeface was redrawn by Amélie Gallay and extended to five weights across three widths, in upright and italic styles. [optimo.ch]
PampaType reorganized and expanded Borges Título, the display styles designed by Alejandro Lo Celso to complement the Borges (2004) text serif. The solid display style has been renamed Borges Titling, while the open display style has been expanded into the four-weight Borges Open. [pampatype.com, pampatype.com]
The Northern Block reissued Dohrma, an interpretation of Othello (ATF, 1934) designed by Jonathan Hill and originally released in 2010. The updated family features a solid style in three textures (Black, Soft, and Grit) and an outline style, with matching oblique styles. [thenorthernblock.co.uk]
The Northern Block also updated Zaius, a bold sans-serif typeface inspired by the iconic lettering of Planet of the Apes (1968), originally crafted by legendary typographer Ed Benguiat
. Designed by Jonathan Hill and originally released in 2009. The new version features four styles and an expanded character set. [thenorthernblock.co.uk]
Type Du Nord updated Yolker, a typeface designed by Libbie Bischoff to look like eggs just dropped into a pan
with the letters occupying approximately the same area, originally shown in June 2021 as part of the designer’s 52 Fonts Project. The update features Yolker Color, a new style designed by Sophia Tai. [typedunord.com]
Zetafonts added the ultranarrow Arrogantissimo subfamily to Arrogante, an early-access serif typeface that combines a Didone structure with calligraphic fluorishes designed by Andrea Tartarelli, Mario De Libero, and Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini and initially released at the beginning of 2025. [zetafonts.com]
Sportsfonts, established by Christoph Koeberlin in 2015 as a type foundry specialized in sports, now has a dedicated website. It showcases a series of recent in-progress designs available on request, as well as two new collections of numerals released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license:
Libero Neue is a contemporary typeface that upholds the values of the football of the good old days
, and an update of Libero (2014): we modernised the shapes, made everything a bit tighter and more refined, while staying true to the classic style
. [sportsfonts.com]
Sportsfonts Legends is a homage to some of the greatest football players and the iconic numbers on their backs
, with styles named after Diego Maradona, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, and Pélé. [sportsfonts.com]
Font Club Belgica, founded in 2024 in Ghent, Belgium by Frederik Berlaen and Dries Wiewauters, was officially launched. The initial catalog features a series of designs by Wiewauters that were previously released with Colophon Foundry.
PDU, originally released in 2010, is faithful digitization and exploration into the limits of the Plaque Découpée Universelle, a stencil based system originally designed by Joseph A. David in 1876
. The typeface is available in solid, stencil, and outline variants and is supplemented by a set of matching patterns. [fontclubbelgica.com]
MAD Sans and MAD Serif, originally released in 2017, are interpretations of the series of vector fonts developed by Dr. Allen V. Hershey. The two typefaces, entirely comprised of straight segments between points on a 45 UPM grid, are available in open and filled variants, with upright and italic styles in four weights. [fontclubbelgica.com, fontclubbelgica.com]
Nib is a serif typeface that combines chiseled and pointed pen forms into a multifunctional workhorse typeface
, originally released in 2019. In larger sizes, Nib’s angular, chiseled features dominate, offering a sharp, irregular look. However, in smaller text settings, its calligraphic roots emerge, adding subtle warmth and approachability.
[fontclubbelgica.com]
Pep, originally released in 2019, is a modular display typeface inspired by experiments such as Fregio Mecano, Futura Schmuck, and Bruno Munari’s ABC Con Fantasia. Based on distinct six geometric elements, Pep is available in monochromatic and color variants, with either solid characters or separate shapes. [fontclubbelgica.com]
Cru is a geometric sans serif rooted in the bold, attention-grabbing aesthetic of 19th-century American woodtype
such as Condensed Gothic (Leavenworth, ~1836), originally released in 2023. [fontclubbelgica.com]
Typotheque have released a collection of new, original CJK fonts, as well as a series of articles documenting the design process:
- A journey to the Himalayas: planning and designing large-scale Chinese font families by project lead Zheng Chuyang on the challenge of designing a system of 40,000 characters across nine weights.
- The weight of Chinese characters: designing an ultra-bold typeface by Xue Tianmeng
explores how stroke thickness affects perceived weight in Chinese characters, explaining the complexity of designing balanced, readable type across various weights and styles
. - Understanding CJK regional character variants by Eric Q. Liu:
Chinese characters, or Han characters, vary across East Asia due to regional language evolution and reform. Although Unicode unifies them into a single Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) block, fonts also need to align with regional preferences.
- Typesetting principles of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) text by Peter Biľak
covers vertical and horizontal text orientations, line height requirements, text alignment and hyphenation practices, and distinct rules for line breaks and punctuation placement.
Books, magazines, and specimens:
- Walter Käch’s seminal Schriften, Lettering, Écritures (1949, DE/EN/FR) has been reissued by Dinamo in collaboration with Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, with a new introduction by Dan Reynolds and a foreword by Curator of the Graphics Collection Barbara Junod. North American readers can order the book from Katherine Small Gallery.
- The Ohno book, a serious guide to irreverent type design by James Edmondson, to be published by Chronicle Books in October, is available for preorder.
Along with a visual feast of fonts and signage and type ephemera, the book includes guidance and practical information for graphic designers and typographers, including: expert advice on designing type fonts, how to balance practical concerns with creativity, why OH no names fonts after an obscure funk band and a French school of decorative arts, what it takes to earn a living as a type designer, and much more.
- New from Éditions B42, Après la typographie: imprimerie industrielle et avant-gardes artistiques (FR) by Victor Guégan revisits, from the angle of typography, the graphic revolution ignited by the interwar avantgardists, primarily in Germany (Herbert Bayer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, El Lissitzky, and later Max Bill).
- Keith Houston’s new book, Face with tears of joy: a natural history of emoji, will be published in July by W.W. Norton and is available for preorder.
In this rollicking tech and pop culture history, Keith Houston follows emoji from its birth in 1990s Japan, traces its Western explosion in the 2000s, and considers emoji’s ever-expanding lexicon.
- Published by Slanted, Graphic languages: a visual guide to the world’s writing systems, is
a vibrant visual journey and guide through the world’s most influential writing systems — brought to life by Oliver Häusle in collaboration with leading international type designers and script experts
. - Plaintext #2, the second issue of Plain Form’s publication for contemporary type design, is available for pre-order until June 15th.
From fiction to theory, from mystical analyses to visual works, Plain Text aims at exploring typographic imaginaries, moving beyond a strictly historical and technical framework, with a taste for the unknown and the dormant potential of writing.
- 205TF’s annual publication Irregular #4 features recent additions to the foundry’s catalog of experimental typefaces and Sculpting light, an essay by Federico Parra Barrios on designing Exposure (2022) and Hour (2023), which you can also read online.
- The July Type specimen, Riso-printed in four alternate colors, features the typefaces from the foundry’s current catalog, as well as several forthcoming releases by Edward Dżułaj and collaborators Rafał Buchner, Pauline Fourest, Ferdinand Del Fabbro, and Nika Langosz.
- Hamburgerfonts is a culinary-themed type specimen created by The Office for Ordinary Things for Contrast Foundry in the format of a children’s mix-and-match book.
- Underware’s sold-out Safari Typo Amsterdam (De Buitenkant, 2017), a
brief typographic tour of letters in public space in the Dutch capital, presented by type designer Bas Jacobs
, is now available as a free PDF download.
Speaking of out-of-print publications, Production Type have been making available on their website a series of essays initially published as part of the foundry’s various specimen books:
- History of the Hershey fonts by Frank Grießhammer.
- Maths vs. machines by Véronique Vienne.
- Lombardic capitals: the first Latin monospaced script by Marc H. Smith.
- A (very small) history of (very) small types by Sébastien Morlighem.
- From Stoichedon to programming: a concise history of monospaced typefaces by Alice Savoie.
In other news:
- The results of the Type Directors Club 71 competition have been announced. Congratulations to the awardees!
- TypeTogether’s 2025 Gerard Unger Scholarship is open for submissions until June 1st.
- The final projects of the 2023–2025 class at the EsadType postgraduate type design course have been published online. You can read the dissertations of Yaprak Buse Çağlar, Kateryna Korolevtseva, Oksana Sheinman, Arnab Chakraborty, and Manau Quellec.
- The culmination of over twenty years of work, the BaTyR Renaissance typography database
gathers information related to the history of printing materials (typefaces, engraved plates) used in Europe from the 15th to the 17th century
. - Font Licensing Mess (EN/ES) is an independent research project by María Ramos and Ana Moliz.
Over the past few decades, the digital type industry has experienced significant growth. However, the legal and commercial frameworks governing font use have not evolved with the same clarity. As a result, the system is often opaque and fragmented, making it difficult to understand, even for those working within the industry.
- Two new videos from the Herb Lubalin lecture series are up on Vimeo. In Gráfica de la República, Jordi Duró
explains how the ‘Cubist’ graphic style invaded Spain in the 1930s
. And Julien Van Anholt, whose essay Victor Vance, title-artist was recently published in the Poem Pamphlets series, talks about Silent Film Intertitles. - From Typofonderie, an incursion into the design of Le Romain du Roi, the exclusive typeface of Louis XIV.
- Blaze Type published a two-part history of stencil typefaces by Sebastien Hayez: here are part one and part two of Stencil, an avoided history.
- Automatic Type Design 3: mapping the (type) design space, a review of the ANRT Nancy conference by Silvia Sfligiotti for the Fontstand blog.
- A eulogy by Jean-Baptiste Levée for type designer and educator Franck Jalleau (1962–2025).
- Behind the scenes with Licko & VanderLans, an interview by Stephen Coles with the Emigre co-founders.
- Ralf Herrmann has launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund an open source revival of Rudolf Koch’s 1920s serif typeface, Koch-Antiqua (Klingspor, 1922).
- Also on Kickstarter, Sam Roberts of BLAG Magazine is raising funds to finish the short biopic When Better Letters met Brian Walker that tells the professional story of the retired signwriter from Hackney, London.
- John D. Berry, whose fundraiser for a written history of ATypI is very close to its financial target, published a draft chapter about ATypI in the 1960s.