Michael’s Top Picks

Plantin is a family of text typefaces created by Monotype in 1913. Their namesake, Christophe Plantin (Christoffel Plantijn in Dutch), was born in France during the year 1520. In 1549, he moved to Antwerp, located in present-day Belgium. There he began printing in 1555. For a brief time, he also worked at the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands. Typefaces used in Christophe Plantin's books... Read More

The Arlt super family pays tribute to the writings of Roberto Arlt, Argentinian writer from early 20th c. who wrote some original novels, all of which 'Siete Locos' ('Seven Madmen') is the most celebrated piece. Arlt has a Baroque style interpreted with an expressionist, more contemporary flair. This means the type is full of intense contrasts and vivid, expressive feelings. The italics make a... Read More

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

Michael Gills, formerly a resident designer at Letraset, created the Fling typeface in 1995. Fling's letterforms are based on the Ronde--or round--script style from France. The design includes intricate and generous capital letters, which are contrasted with a more reserved lowercase letters. This allows for a sophisticated and elegant appearance in text.Fling's letterforms are highly legible... Read More