Weekly Roundup: January 20
Here is the tenth regular update by TYPE of font releases, custom type launches, and type-related events.
Conductor
Frere-Jones Type’s fourth release is here: Conductor. Tobias Frere-Jones and Nina Stössinger began drawing Conductor by looking at “delicate, blocky numerals from vintage Bulgarian lottery tickets,” but as the design progressed, they began including “elements of vernacular shopfront lettering and mid-century type design.” Conductor, a slight departure from Frere-Jones Type’s previous works, includes eight fonts and no Microplus versions; it is available on the Frere-Jones Type website.
Engria
Schizotype Fonts published Dave Rowland’s Engria, an eight-style that sits imperfectly between the labels sans and serif. Engria features “Wedge-like chunks that resemble engraved forms, as the name Engria hints at.” Rife with OpenType features and optimized for text sizes, the typeface is available on FontSpring.
Upgrade
Petr Van Blokland released his first “traditional” typeface in almost a score. The sans serif typeface, published by TYPETR through Type Network, “reflects the approach […] van Blokland took throughout the design process.” While Upgrade launches with 24 styles (12 weights) and a wide variety of alternatives and OpenType features, van Blokland plans to expand the family to include a text optical size and a variable version. You can find Upgrade on Type Network.
Vala
Oscar Guerrero’s latest typeface, Vala, was inspired by “window lettering of a small shop near his home in Bogotá, Colombia.” Published by Monotype, the script typeface—made for posters, headlines, and hip logotypes—includes an expanded set of swash capitals, ligatures, and alternative glyph designs. Vala is available on FontShop.
Emy Slab
Latinotype published Enrique Hernández V.’s Emy Slab. He took inspiration from “the classical proportions of Egyptian typefaces but with soft terminals that give the font a more friendly and modern look.” The typeface includes two styles of seven weights, each with italic, for a total of 28 fonts. You can find Emy Slab on the Latinotype website.
Signal PK
Production Type published Emmanuel Besse’s latest typeface: Signal PK. Described as the “epitome of late modernism, inextricably bound with service design,” Signal PK packs a “fistful of pictograms” by Donald Choque, fitting the autobahn aesthetic. You can find the typeface on Production Type’s website.
Corsair
Corsair, designed by Samarskaya & Partners, was published by Rosetta. The typeface aims for an “honest, approachable, and organic look that’s careful, but that doesn’t overthink it.” Corsair was originally commissioned by Best Made Co., but has since expanded to include Cyrillic and Greek as well as Latin. Corsair is available on the Rosetta website.
Sincopa
Fer Cozzi’s jazz-inspired Sincopa comes to us via Sudtipos. The rough serif typeface “is named after syncopation, the unexpected, uneven, or offbeat rhythms in music.” Aesthetically, the name fits; moreover, it’s three distinct styles are based on the music of “three queens of jazz – Billie, Nina, and Ella.” Sincopa is available on the Sudtipos website.
Send your announcements and tips to TYPE’s digital editor, Lucas Czarnecki.
