Yalta Sans – A Graceful Learning Curve

Stefan Claudius designs type, but this has not been his only profession. “Type design is currently my main occupation,” he says, “but I have spent more time as a typographer and graphic designer.” Claudius also teaches typography and typeface design at several German colleges and design schools.

“Teaching has considerably broadened my horizons,” he continues. “I have had to research things that I previously knew little about, to ensure that I provide my students with the best information.”

Claudius also acknowledges learning a great deal about the process of typeface design while developing his Yalta Sans family.

From his first trial sketches in 2005 to the official announcement of Yalta Sans eight years later, Claudius was as much a student of typeface design as he was a typeface designer. His first drawings were basically experimentations – pushing characters to their limits, discovering how subtle, and not so subtle, modifications might change the demeanor of the design.

“Fortunately, typeface design is a field in which things don’t move all that rapidly,” Claudius observes. “Although, of course there are always fashions and fads. The most positive aspect for me is that I have matured along with the typeface.” Thanks to breaks in the development process, Claudius was able to cast a fresh critical eye over his work.

As it happened, the most challenging part of the design development came almost at the end of the process. “When I first showed the typeface to Monotype, I thought it was more or less complete,” Claudius reflects. “However, it turned out that additional intermediate weights were required. And the personality of the typeface needed to be made more consistent across the various members of the family.”

These realizations meant that Claudius would need to redraw the entire family (with the help of an intern designer and digital design tools) and then completely revise the italic styles to complement the new romans. The final result is a strikingly handsome design that blends diverse sensibilities into a remarkably versatile and extremely legible typeface family.

Click here to learn more about – and to license – the Yalta Sans family.

Allan Haley is Director of Words & Letters at Monotype Imaging. Here he is responsible for strategic planning and creative implementation of just about everything related to typeface designs.