Favorite Underused Fonts

FF Tisa designed by Mitja Miklav quickly became a new-millennium favorite of graphic designers, in print as well as on the web. Its large x-height and sturdy, well-spaced forms aid its legibility at text sizes, while its low stroke contrast and range of weights allow it to successfully function at larger sizes as well. Since the designer considered wayfinding systems a potential use for the... Read More

Rudolph Ruzicka designed his font Fairfield as a legible text font. His philosophy: "The reader expects optical assistance with reading. He does not want to be distracted while interpreting and understanding the ideas of a text." Fairfield font is based on the forms of Venecian Old Face fonts as well as on the designs and details of Art Deco, giving the font a distinctive appearance

Developed over a ten year period, FF Balance is an experimental sans serif that subverts the conventions of the style. Its horizontal strokes are heavier than the verticals and its top strokes appear slightly heavier than the bottom. Another unusual feature is the family’s uniwidth metrics. All weights and numerals of the family... Read More

FF Kievit explores the synthesis of the sans serif form to the structure and proportions of a traditional Renaissance Roman such as Garamond or Granjon. Work began on the typeface in 1995 when Mike Abbink was a student at Art Center in California. The family spans nine weights and includes small caps, true italics, and multiple figure sets – everything necessary for creating sophisticated... Read More

Viktor Solt-Bittner began FF Danubia with a study of typefaces from the 18th century. He experimented with the typical elements of neoclassical type – like the abrupt changes in contrast from hairlines to thicker strokes – developing them further, and redrawing them. At times, he departed from these models, for example while defining the basic italic forms. The lower case letters s, v, w, and x... Read More

Morris Sans is a newly revised and extended version of a small geometric family of typefaces originally produced by Morris Fuller Benton in 1930 for ATF. His initial design consisted of an alphabet of squared capital letters with a unique twist that characterized its appearance: corners with rounded exteriors and right-angle interiors. The types were intended for use in the fine print found on... Read More

The seventeenth century Dutch old faces have a distinct character of their own, and were the source for eighteenth century English type designs, such as Caslon. Christoffel van Dijck was one of the great Dutch typefounders, although this face, which bears his name, may not have been cut by him, it is nevertheless representative of the best designs from that period. The Van Dijck italic, for... Read More

The Burin family of typefaces consists of Roman and Sans variations. Burin Roman has very distinct lowercase characters b, c, d, g and y with a quirky use of tapered strokes and hairlines. Burin Sans is a light display face with an extended tail on the lowercase y.

FF Bau is a large workhorse family of sans serif typefaces drawn in the “Grotesk” genre. Christian Schwartz is its designer, working under the inspiration of Grotesk types cast by the Schelter & Giesecke foundry in Leipzig. Schelter & Giesecke sold these popular Grotesks for many decades; they were first introduced around 1880. When the Bauhaus moved nearby in Dessau in the mid-1920s, these... Read More

“Legato” is a musical term, meaning that the notes are played in a “connected” manner. This idea of connecting discrete units to enhance overall expression can be applied to the letters setting a text in precisely the same way. In designing FF Legato, Evert Bloemsma studied the extent to which the characters of the alphabet visually connect and build proper word and line images, then setting... Read More

ITC Mendoza is a serif typeface with old style characteristics. A generous x-height and a lack of contrast between thick and thin strokes, gives the ITC Mendoza Roman font family good legibility and provides a sturdiness which enables the face to withstand low resolution output and less than ideal printing conditions. It is ideal for continuous text use, particularly in small point sizes.

The spark behind the creation FF Hydra family came from observing 19th and early 20th century French poster lettering. Its designer Silvio Napoleone found that the styles of this period combined whimsical, economic, and impactful qualities. A typeface that incorporated these characteristics could be especially relevant to today’s design aesthetic. Naploeone began by sketching an extremely... Read More

Xavier Dupré designed FF Tartine Script and FF Jambono in 2000–2001, while he worked as a type designer in a packaging design agency in Paris. Dupré just wanted to have a complete font up his sleeve when he needed to whip up a logo for someone. FF Tartine Script is an informal face specially developed for food packaging, but it is also good for logos, or in short texts, or wherever you like.

This lively sans combines plain shapes with calligraphic touches. FF Sanuk’s roman letterforms are clean and crisply drawn, but their stylish detailing showcases Dupré’s artistic spirit. Modestly sloped, indeed, nearly upright italics convey a contemporary air while maintaining a high degree of legibility. The seven-weight family progresses in tone from a delicate hairline to a chunky fat face,... Read More

The Slate typeface family melds superb functionality and aesthetic elegance into a remarkable communications tool. Few typefaces possess the beauty and power of this design.Slate is the work of Rod McDonald, an award-winning typeface designer and lettering artist. At one point in his forty-year career, McDonald participated in a typeface legibility and readability research project conducted by... Read More

ITC Golden Type® is a revival of a typeface designed in the late nineteenth century by William Morris, who was a great Victorian designer, poet, artist, craftsman, social reformer, and printer. In his search for a solid and pure letterform to use in his private press editions, he was inspired by the roman types in books printed by Nicolas Jenson in the fifteenth century. The type he designed,... Read More

Chaparral is the work of type designer Carol Twombly and combines the legibility of slab serif designs popularized in the 19th century with the grace of 16th century roman book lettering. The result is a versatile, hybrid slab-serif design. Unlike "geometric" slab serif designs, Chaparral has varying letter proportions that give it an accessible and friendly appearance in all weights from light... Read More

The first sketches for the FF Clifford typeface were done in 1994. These drew inspiration from Alexander Wilson’s Long Primer Roman type, which was used to set an edition of Pliny the Younger’s “Opera,” printed by the Foulis brothers in 1751. The Italic is loosely based on Joseph Fry and Sons’ Pica Italic No. 3, from their 1785 specimen. These Roman and Italic designs combine to create FF... Read More

The text typeface Apollo™ was designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1962-64, and was one of the first fonts produced by Monotype for use on their new phototypesetting machine at that time. The legible and robust Apollo has a small x-height, gently bracketed serifs, moderately open counters, and a primarily oblique axis. Frutiger designed the roman to have enough heartiness to produce a good impression... Read More

Coptek is the work of David Quay and gets its name from the high tech look imposed on the design of copperplate script. The capitals are initials which fit well with a lower case alphabet whose letters join in the style of true handwriting.

Fournier was made by Monotype In 1924. The design is based on types cut by Pierre Simon Fournier circa 1742, some of the most influential designs of the eighteenth century. Fournier's types were among the earliest of the "transitional" style of typeface and were a stepping stone to the more severe "modern" style made popular by Bodoni later in the century. They had more vertical emphasis... Read More

Linotype Syntax™ Serif is the serif typeface that complements Linotype Syntax, both created by Swiss type designer Hans Eduard Meier in 2000. With this new design, Meier has at last given shape and structure to the invisible muse that inspired him in the 1950s when he conceived his monoline sans serif based on humanist or Oldstyle letterforms. The calm legibility of this workhorse text family... Read More

Linotype Syntax Letter is reminiscent of the style of the Roman Rustic capitals and is an earthy, almost snappy companion to the other Linotype Syntax typefaces. Instead of subtly expressing the rhythmic dynamism of handwritten letters, this face is more overt about its connections to writing movements, such as the lead-in and exiting terminals, and the organic branching of round strokes from... Read More