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LUC DEVROYE

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The best commercial typefaces of 2021: Luc's selection

This is my own selection of the best commercial typefaces published in 2021, grouped by category. The list will grow until December 31, 2021.

Text typefaces: Cambium (James Todd). Based on roman inscriptional lettering. Goluska (Rod McDonald and Canada Type). A text typeface inspired by Dwiggins and named after Glenn Goluska. Epicene Text & Display (Dave Foster and Noe Blanco, KLIM Type). Brill (+Greek, + Cyrillic) (Tiro Typeworks: John Hudson, Alice Savoie, Paul Hanslow and Karsten Luecke). Started as a custom typeface in 2011, it went finally retail in 2021. Sienna (Paulo Goode). Indigo Antiqua 2 (Johan Ström). Capricho (Dieter Hofrichter). In the style of the post-Romain du Roi period. Selva (Fanny Hamelin at Colophon). A Scotch roman and accompanying script. Avona Serif (Alanna Munro).

Sans typefaces: Adapt (Supertype). Escalator and Elevator (Jesse M. Ragan). Two geometric sans families. Urbanist (Corey Hu). A geometric sans family, together with two variable fonts. Grato and Gratimo (Mona Franz and Jakob Runge, TypeMates). Muoto (Matthieu Cortat, Anthony Franklin and Sander Vermeulen). ABC Gravity (Robert Janes at Dinamo). With a variable font and styles that vary from wide to compressed. Ingeo (Juan Luis Blanco). TT Fors (Antonina Zhulkova, Pavel Emelyanov and Yulia Gonina). Code Next. A 20-style geometric sans by Svetoslav Simov, Mirela Belova and Stan Partalev. Otterco (Adam Ladd). A 32-style condensed geometric sans. Kolka (Andrejs Kirma). Arpona Sans (Felix Braden). A 20-style humanist sans with rhombic tittles. Lightbox21 (Ben Jones, Protimient). Inklination (Eduardo Manso). Apparat (Botio Nikoltchev).

Rounded sans typefaces: Graut (Arve Båtevik). DIN 2014 Rounded (Isabella Chaeva, Vasily Biryukov and Alexander Lubovenko at Paratype). GT Maru (Thierry Blancpain for Grilli Type). Exporting Japanese roundness.

Type systems: Arizona (Elias Hanzer for ABC Dinamo). Legit Sans and Serif (+Soft) (Hans Heitmann, Finaltype). Including a very legible sans family meant for long texts.

Art deco typefaces: Interbellum (Kristof Van Proeyen). Parafina (Mario Feliciano). Pacaembu. Advertized as a tropical art deco sans, this seven-style sans serif typeface by Alvaro Franca and Felipe Casaprima finds its roots in Brazilian soccer. Sharf (Barbara Bigosinska, Blast Foundry). Tankobon (Studio Aurora).

Hipster typefaces:

Script typefaces: Nightingale Script (Nicky Laatz). Rogelio Script (Joelmaker). Kutaraja (Baron WNM).

Calligraphic typefaces: Lucille (Mila Garret). Toxide (Muhammad Ridha Agusni). Celtic and uncial calligraphy. Ballon Midair (Donis Miftahudin). Bahagia Script (Teuku Saifullah).

Brush typefaces:

Sketched, Layered or Poster typefaces: Chapman Ave (Hoodzpah). A layered chrome font. Singolare (Sofia Mohr). EraMax 123 (Russell McGorman).

Blackletter typefaces:

Dingbats and ornaments:

Programming fonts or typewriter type: Vctr Mono (Travis Kochel). Bakemono (Francesco Canovaro, Zetafonts). A true monowidth even when weights are changed. Xanti Typewriter (Xanti Schawinsky at CAST). Bauhaus-inspired typewriter type. Monograf (Milan Pleva). SK Ilke Mono (Salih Kizilkaya). Centra Mono (Josh Finklea).

Garalde typefaces: Graveur (Juanjo Lopez). Based on Robert Granjon's typefaces at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp. Chassi (Rui Abreu). Change Serif (Mateusz Machalski).

Display typefaces: Miju (Jérémie Gauthier). Milanesa Serif (Andres Felipe Ramirez at Vastago, published by Sudtipos). Northway (Damelev Studio). Eliptico (Tien-Min Liao). Gisrida (Storytype). Kolligio (Khair Unnas). West (Daniel Perraudin, Fontwerk). PP Eiko (Caio Kondo for Pangram Pangram). Granblue (Diana Ovezea). Lucette Black (Alice Savoie). Monumentum (Eugene Bunin). Burgie (Alit Suarnegara). Procerus (Ceyrun Birinci). An 18-style ultra-compressed movie credit font family. Nyck (Marko Hrastivec, Hot Type). A fun display family inspired by Josef Tyfa and Addison Dwiggins. Kofffi (Ryan Thomas). Geeeki Soft (Ryan Thomas). Hugh (Wisnu Cipto Wibowo, Fateh Lab).

Slab serif typefaces: TT Rationalist (Marina Khodak and the TypeType Team). Postulat (Alexey Chekulaev at Paratype). A 16-style geometric slab serif. Chom (Stawix Ruecha).

Copperplate: Ecatherina (Dmitrii Mikitenko). Altesse (Jean-François Porchez). Amanda Manopo (M Irvan Syouqi S). La Graziela (Hendry Juanda).

Wood type revivals: Paraiso (Lucas Descroix). Manuka (Dave Foster and Noe Blanco, KLIM). Compressed typefaces for large sizes. Described by Klim Type: With deviant details pilfered from Teutonic timber type, Manuka grafts a contemporary antipodean aesthetic onto 19th century German root-stock. Tight spacing, closed apertures and sharp joins make a compelling texture, like sunlight sparkling through a forest canopy.

Letterpress emulation: Steamtown (Mika Melvas).

Didone typefaces: NN Didot Moderne (Arnaud Chemin at Nouvelle Noire). Fiona Pro (Sebastian Hilgetag). An extra-condensed set of fonts. Bw Pose (Alberto Romanos). Magari (Alejandro Paul). In the fat face and Normande genres.

Baroque typefaces: Elaine (Pedro Leal, DS Type).

Fashion mag typefaces: Gesmont (Agung Syaifudin). 1769 Display (Jérémie Gauthier). Faubourg (Marie Boulanger at Positype).

Revivals: Companion Old Style (Steve Matteson). A revival of Frederic Goudy's Companion Old Style (1927). . Margaret Neue (Tibor Szikora). After Zoltan Nagy's Margaret (1963). Ronaldson Pro (Patrick Griffin at Canada Type). A revival and extension of Alexander Kay's Ronaldson Old Style (1884, MacKellar, Smiths and Jordan, Philadelphia, PA), which is widely viewed as America's first original text typeface. Gravira (Ralph M. Unger). A revival of Herbert Thannhaeuser's Gravira from 1935. LaFarge (Gregory Shutters). Reviving (and extending to 15 styles) the historic mosaic titling capitals found in the New York City Subway, designed by architect Squire J. Vickers and his staff between 1915-1927. Neon Nbl (Alessandro Colizzi for, CAST). A revival of Giulio da Milano's Neon (1933-1934, at Nebiolo). Tuppence (Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich). A revival of the Victorian typeface Blackfriars (1910, Stephenson Blake). Tekst (Lewis McGuffie). A revival and extension of the famous Russian book typeface Literaturnaya. Crabath (Tomas Brousil). Rather an exponential expansion than a revival, this 72-strong family is based on the 1761 specimen book of Czech typefounder Vaclav Jan Krabat. P22 Graciosa (Matthias Beck). Mercure (Charles Mazé at Abyme). Mercure is based in part on Beaudoire's Elzevir, and also goes back to the epigraphic origins of Perrin's Augustaux. Oceanwide (Dave Lawrence). A revival and modification of a forgotten geometric sans by Adrian Frutiger for British Petroleum. P22 Glaser Houdini (Richard Kegler). A layerable family, after Milton Glaser's Houdini from 1964. Werner (Claudio Rocha, Now Type). A revival of A.D. Werner's art deco inline typeface Dubbeldik (1972, Mecanorma). Normandia (Patrick Griffin and Hans van Maanen at Canada Type). This revives Alessandro Butti's fatface Normandia (1946-1949, at Nebiolo). Orla (Pedro Leal, DSType). Based on Skeleton Antique No2 by Stephenson Blake. P22 Underground Pro by Richard Kegler (1997), Paul D. Hunt (2007), Dave Farey (2021), James Todd (2021) and Patrick Griffin (2021). The ultimate implementation of Johnston's Underground?

Stencil typefaces: Plakato Pro (Underware). The Stencil (Lucas De Groot).

Variable fonts: Baikal. A 132-style Swss sans by Ian Party (Newglyph). GT Ultra (Noël Leu, Grilli Type). A sans and serif family with three axes---weight, italic angle and contrast. Flexible (Art Grootfontein). Seiva (Fabio Haag Type). Stadio Now (2020). A revival by the Zetafonts team of Aldo Novarese's Stadio (1974), a reverse contrast sans that was published only as a rub-on transfer typeface. It comes with a multi-axis variable font that greatly enlarges the design space. PF DIN Max (Panos Vassiliou). With weight, width and italic axes, this superfamily covers Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. Garet (Stan Partalev and Mirela Belova at Spacetype).

Multilingual typefaces: Kairouan (Tarek Alsawwa). Tashweeq (Mostafa El Abasiry). Dardashah (Mostafa El Abasiry). Awesome Pro (Diab Jaser). Ploni (Avraham Cornfeld). An 8-style geometric sans designed for simultaneous use of Latin, Hebrew and Cyrillic. Waon Pro (Kazuo Kanai). Harmonizing Latin and Japanese.

Wonderful, adorable, refreshing typefaces: Liebe (Tan Type). In the art nouveau-inspired intestinal style that characterized 2021. Bumpy (Beatrice Caciotti). Nellie Display (Break Maiden). Astronef Super (Jean-François Porchez). PGF Americas (Pedro Gonzalez). Lifting the carved lettering of Rudolf Koch to new heights. The Strattos (Suandana ipandemade). Plethora (Alejandro Paul). A variable font family influenced by Julius Herriet Sr.'s Old Style Ornamented. Klangfarbe Script (Mott Jordan).

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Best typefaces of 2021 ⦿