TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Thu Nov 28 19:06:30 EST 2024

FONT RECOGNITION VIA FONT MOOSE

LUC DEVROYE

ABOUT

A2 Type [Henrik Kubel]

A2-Type (or simply, A2) is a type foundry set up in the autumn of 2010 by the London based design studio A2/SW/HK. The designers are Henrik Kubel and Scott Williams. A2's bespoke type design is mainly the responsibility of Henrik Kubel, though every typeface is developed and approved by both partners. Kubel is self-taught, making his first typefaces while studying at Denmark's Design School from 1992 until 1997. Their typefaces:

• 4590
• 60 Display.
• Amplify (2013) won an award at TDC 2014.
• Antwerp (2011). A readable text family designed by Kubel during an Expert Type Design Class in 2011 at Plantin Genootschap in Antwerp.
• A2 Archi (2005, Henrik Kubel): an octagonal face.
• A2 Aveny-T (2000, Henrik Kubel): Poster typeface commissioned as aprt of the identity of the Aveny-T theatre in Copenhagen.
• Agriculture.
• Archi.
• Banknote.
• A2 Battersea (1999, Henrik Kubel): inspired by Meta, DIN and Transport Alphabet. Followed in 2012 by Battersea Slab.
• Bauhouse.
• A2 Beckett (2008). A condensed sans family with the masculinity of Impact.
• Boing.
• Copenhagen
• A2 CPH Tram (2009, Henrik Kubel): revival of an odd mini-serifed type found on the exterior of Danish trams, ca. 1920.
• A2 CWM (2008, Henrik Kubel): constructivist type designed for the headlines and cover of Cold War Modern Design 1945-1970. Octagonal.
• Dane.
• A2 Danmark (2008, Henrik Kubel): a display stencil family.
• A2 Ergonomics (2011).
• Flavin Medium. A neon tube font.
• A2 Flowers (2005, Henrik Kubel): arrows, fists, flourishes, ornaments.
• A2 FM: slab serif family.
• Foundation (2018) in Sans (Number 44, Condensed, Wide), Serif, and Serif Didot subfamilies. These are all revivals of skeletal typefaces. Foundation Sans Number 44 was inspired by Circular Gothic No. 44 (1879, Charles E. Heyer, for the Great Western Type Foundry). Foundation Sans Condensed and Foundation Sans Wide are derived from two types described as Caractères pour Marques de Linge (typefaces for marking on linen) in the Signes section of the first volume of Spécimen Général des Fonderies Deberny et Peignot (ca. 1934). Foundation Serif is based on Caractère No. 7, another Caractère pour Marques de Linge in that 1934 Deberny & Peignot specimen book. Kubel's inspiration for Foundation Serif Didot was a sheet of lettering (dated 1939) he discovered in the archive of the influential Danish architect and graphic/industrial designer Gunnar Biilmann Petersen, 1897-1968.
• Grand. A stencil typeface.
• A2 Grot 10 (2009, Henrik Kubel): a take on the Grot Series by Stephenson Blake. Grot 12 followed in 2015.
• A2 Impacto (2005-2011, Henrik Kubel): Impact?
• A2 Klampenborg (1997, Henrik Kubel): industrial style sans.
• Kunstuff.
• London (2010).
• Magna.
• Maximum.
• A2 Mazarin (2017). A2 writes: Originally designed as a Garamond-inspired metal typeface by Robert Girard ca. 1921-1923, and published under the name Astrée by Deberny Peignot, the typeface was soon recut and renamed Mazarin by the English foundry Stephenson Blake in 1926. That single style original has now been expertly restored and reimagined as a contemporary typeface in multiple styles.
• Melissa Script (2010).
• A2 Monday (2003-2016, Henrik Kubel): based on 19th century English vernacular serif signage type.
• Moscow Sans (2014-2015). Award winning custom fonts and pictogram system for Moscow Metro. Art directed and designed by A2 (Scott Williams and Henrik Kubel) with Margaret Calvert as type and pictogram consultant. Cyrillic script designed in collaboration with Ilya Ruderman.
• Naive.
• New Grotesque Square series (2015). A newspaper typeface modeled after a Stephenson Blake typeface. Followed by New Grotesque Round in 2015-2016.
• New Rail Alphabet (2009). A refreshed and expanded version of Margaret Calvert's alphabet from the 1960s which saw nationwide use with British Rail, BAA, and the NHS. Developed in cooperation with Margaret Calvert.
• New Transport (with Margaret Calvert). A digital version of Transport, the Jock Kinnear and Margaret Calvert typeface for the British road signs. New Transport will be commercially released in September 2013.
• Register (2012-2017). A text typeface family inspired by French renaissance types.
• Regular (2012-2016). Think Futura in new clothes. Accompanied by Regular Slab.
• Sans, Slab and Serif typefaces for a redesign of The New York Times Magazine in 2015. The starting point for the Serif font is the Stephenson Blake Garamond-ish metal typeface Mazarin also known as Astrée from French foundry Deberny & Peignot. The slab fonts used for pull quotes and headlines are a continuation of the magazines existing Stymie font but in a condensed format. The sans fonts are linked to the industrial grotesque types, with metal type specimen versions of Futura and Akzidenz fonts as loose models for inspiration.
• Nosferato.
• Ole.
• Outsiders (+Outsiders Light and many other weights). A slab serif family.
• Parsons Green Medium.
• A2 Record Gothic (2019, Henrik Kubel), after Robert H. Middleton's American grotesk, Record Gothic (1027, Ludlow). Kubel writes: In celebration of Record Gothic's eclectic history, we designed four related but independent styles: Slab, Mono, Stencil and Outline.
• Square.
• Staton.
• Tagstyle.
• Test.
• Triumph.
• A2 Typewriter (2000, Henrik Kubel): based on Olivetti Typewriter 22.
• A2 Vogue Floral: a fashion mag modern display face in two styles.
• Vogue Paris. Granshan 09 Type Design Competition. 1st Prize, Display fonts.
• A2 Zadie (2005, Henrik Kubel): inspired by Edwardian railings surrounding the Royal Army Military College in London. Used on the cover of the Zadie Smith bestseller On Beauty (2005, Penguin Press, NY). Granshan 10 Type Design Competition. 3rd Prize, Display fontt described as an ornamental blackboard bold type.
• In 2014, Scott Williams and Henrik Kubel (A2 Type) co-designed A23D, a 3d-printed letterpress font. It was fabricated by model making specialists Chalk Studios. The font is presented by New North Press, which specializes in traditional letterpress printing. Adrian Harrison made a short film about the birth of the font, charting its progress from preliminary sketches to first inking and printing at New North Press. A23D won an award in the TDC 2015 Type Design competition.
• English 1766 (2017). Kubel's take on Caslon.
• Regular (2017). A sans family inspired by Memphis, Karnak, Stymie and Futura.
• Schwiss (2018). Inspired by Akzidenz Grotesk and Helvetica.

At ATypI 2013 in Amsterdam, he spoke about New Transport. Winner of the type design prize at the Tokyo Type Directors Club TDC 2019, with Matt Willey, for the New York Times Magazine Olympic font.

EXTERNAL LINKS
A2 Type
 [Buy fonts]
 [Designer info]
Klingspor Museum page
MyFonts search
Monotype search
Fontspring search
Google search

INTERNAL LINKS
Commercial fonts (small outfits) ⦿ Type design in the United Kingdom ⦿ The Danish type scene ⦿ Dingbats (original) ⦿ Typewriter fonts ⦿ Stencil fonts ⦿ Map/Travel dingbats ⦿ Octagonal typefaces ⦿ Fists, pointing hands ⦿ Type design and constructivism ⦿ Blackboard type ⦿ Signage typefaces ⦿ Typefaces with arrows ⦿ DIN ⦿ Fashion mag typefaces ⦿ Military typefaces ⦿ 3D fonts ⦿ Experimental type ⦿ Letterpress ⦿ Neon tube or faux neon typefaces ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Caslon ⦿ Corporate typefaces ⦿