FF Real
FF Real Text and FF Real Head: two neutral, yet friendly families, for more than just book typesetting – now with unique, independent italics
Naturally, Erik Spiekermann’s biography needs its own font and – naturally – it must come from Spiekermann himself. The designer has used the book “Hallo ich bin Erik” as an opportunity to realize an old wish. He had always wanted to use a special, lean, medium-bold poster style of the Akzidenz Grotesk® typeface as a template for a new font. This Grotesque is, in Spiekermann’s own words, the only true, unadulterated, royal sans serif. He named the new typeface FF Real. Spiekermann first drew two styles, one for text and one for headlines. Ralph Olivier du Carrois later cleaned up and adjusted their outlines. Next, both designers expanded the drafts to FF Real™ Text and FF Real™ Head 13 styles each. In 2017, all styles for both families are expanded to a total of 52 styles with newly designed italics.
The references to the early sans serif fonts of the 20th century are clearly recognizable in the shapes of FF Real. A large x-height, open counters, a slightly structured character and the almost imperceptible contrast in stroke thickness recall fonts like Helvetica®, Arial® or Univers®, fonts that also take their bearings from the early sans serifs. With small, individual details and some special letter forms, however, Spiekermann succeeded in giving FF Real Text its own friendly and lively character. He was also able to design a legible typeface with letters that are clearly distinguishable from one another – something no less important. As in many other Spiekermann fonts, the lower-case “g” has been designed in the two-story Roman version. The small “l” has a foot and the upper-case “I” has serifs. In addition, the diagonal bar in the “y” is slightly offset, and the points are designed so as to be round. The debate between Spiekermann and du Carrois over the last two design variants ended in a compromise. To compensate for the offset bar in “y”, which Spiekermann wanted, du Carrois was able to add alternative characters with angular points.
FF Real Text is available in 13 finely graded weights, from Hairline to Black. The more narrow styles emphasize the noble character of the font and the bolder styles appear very compact and friendly. Small caps, ligatures, various number sets and some symbols round out the selection of characters.
The newly developed italic, a product of collaboration between Spiekermann and du Carrois in 2017, is based more on the design principles of a cursive Antiqua than the more or less slanted letters familiar from many sans. In comparison to the upright version, the italic has a clearly higher contrast in the stroke width, more dynamic and rounded letters as well as new shapes for “a” and “g”. As a result, FF Real Italic almost appears as its own font, one that does fit best with the upright styles, but can also be used on its own as a lively sans serif. FF Real Head expands the FF Real Text into a super family. The basic shape of the letters as well as the number of weights is identical in both families. FF Real Head, however, is aimed at use in larger font sizes and the optimizations for legibility – the round foot in the “l” or serifs in the “I” – are not included. The additional character options are identical to that of FF Real Text. Alternative characters with angular points, small caps, ligatures, various number sets, a number of symbols and the newly developed italic are available here, as well. In the biography “Hallo ich bin Erik”, FF Real Text and FF Real Head have survived their baptism by fire and demonstrated that both typefaces cut a very good figure as book text. The two well-equipped, perfectly legible fonts and their neutral yet friendly character also work extremely well in other projects, as well, whether in print or on the Web. This expanded italic increases the potential application of this extended family and, thanks to its individual and independent design, it can also be used alone anywhere you need to add a dynamic and personal note. As a very special feature, Erik Spiekermann not only produced his font digitally, but also had it cut into wood at a size of 16 cicero.
The newly developed italic, a product of collaboration between Spiekermann and du Carrois in 2017, is based more on the design principles of a cursive Antiqua than the more or less slanted letters familiar from many sans. In comparison to the upright version, the italic has a clearly higher contrast in the stroke width, more dynamic and rounded letters as well as new shapes for “a” and “g”. As a result, FF Real Italic almost appears as its own font, one that does fit best with the upright styles, but can also be used on its own as a lively sans serif. FF Real Head expands the FF Real Text into a super family. The basic shape of the letters as well as the number of weights is identical in both families. FF Real Head, however, is aimed at use in larger font sizes and the optimizations for legibility – the round foot in the “l” or serifs in the “I” – are not included. The additional character options are identical to that of FF Real Text. Alternative characters with angular points, small caps, ligatures, various number sets, a number of symbols and the newly developed italic are available here, as well. In the biography “Hallo ich bin Erik”, FF Real Text and FF Real Head have survived their baptism by fire and demonstrated that both typefaces cut a very good figure as book text. The two well-equipped, perfectly legible fonts and their neutral yet friendly character also work extremely well in other projects, as well, whether in print or on the Web. This expanded italic increases the potential application of this extended family and, thanks to its individual and independent design, it can also be used alone anywhere you need to add a dynamic and personal note. As a very special feature, Erik Spiekermann not only produced his font digitally, but also had it cut into wood at a size of 16 cicero.