205 Corp.
24, rue Commandant-Faurax
69006 Lyon
France
T. 33 (0)4 37 47 85 69
M. contact@205.tf
Newsletter
205 Corp.
24, rue Commandant-Faurax
69006 Lyon
France
T. 33 (0)4 37 47 85 69
M. contact@205.tf
Newsletter
Alcalá is based on the “Biblia poliglota complutense” (Polyglot Bible of Alcalá). It was the first edition of a complete polyglot Bible, as well as the first printed version of the New Testament in Greek (Septuagint) with gloss. Conceived between 1502 and 1517, it was produced under the patronage of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros.
The first drawings of Alcalá go back to 1995. A second version started in 2011, commissioned by a publisher for a French
and Malagasy edition of the Bible by J.N. Darby. Alcalá was developped in three styles: roman, italic and bold. Today, a new cut is added: Alcalá Black Display, its intended to compose titles and headings.
Alcalá has all requested qualities for editorial design, especally newspaper and magazine layouts. Its sharp design guarantes high readability, space saving and smart printed rendering in small sizes, as well as a great look in bigger uses. Look at its alternative punctuation! For book design, Alcalá Roman contains titling capitals and its Italic contains a serie of special ligatures.
While other characters has extended families, Damien Gautier decided to develop a reduced one. Alcalá has the only the cuts you need!
As every 205TF typefaces, Alcalá has an extented Latin glyphset which allows to compose many languages.
The Andersen typeface was born out of the lack of typefaces adapted to children’s stories and the fact that they are often written to be read aloud. The major innovation was the creation of a complementary punctuation system. Indeed, in addition to classic glyphs, Andersen has 11 totally new punctuation marks that can be used to express feelings. As with Spanish punctuation, these glyphs are placed at the beginning and end of a sentence to help the reader to find the right tone. Also, the forms of the letters have been designed in such a way as to make it easier for dyslexic children to read them, by working on the distinction between similar forms such as b, d, p, q, 9, and 6 . Its design comes from the synthesis of the Humanes model and contemporary elements for the purposes of bringing a softness to the letterforms. The contrast is mostly low so that the typeface works just as well in titles, text, and captions. Andersen's versatility makes it possible to use it for both children’s literature and other media such as posters, as well as publishing in general.
The CX80 typeface is a “machine”* as rudimentary as it is atypical. Four kinds of serifs are combined in the same font: sans serifs, triangular serifs, sharp rectangular serifs, and smooth rectangular serifs. Each letter can exhaust all possible combinations: up to 256 variations for any one sign!
The user is free to play with the possibilities provided by the typeface. Either they choose to be an iconoclast by associating different serifs (simply using their keyboard), or they may prefer one of the four basic styles that correspond to each of the serifs.
Behind this intentionally economic design, CX80 reveals a unique potential; particularly as weight can be adjusted at will using variable font technology.
CX80 reveals its formal and conceptual sources of inspiration through its modular and composite appearance. The name openly refers to the Codex 80 type classification imagined by Jean Alessandrini** in 1980. Seeking an alternative to traditional classifications, he proposed a new taxonomy adapted to the typographic renewal of the time.
A second influence is the modding of scooters. During the 1980s (when Damien Gautier was old enough to buy his first Piaggio Ciao), teenagers were in the habit of customizing their mopeds by adding functional and decorative elements. This culture of outrageous tinkering and modding also runs through the typeface.
With CX80, Damien Gautier continues his exploration of vernacular typographical forms produced by amateurs and industrial designers. Forms that he loves for their freshness and ingenuity, that here once again show their surprising potential.
* CX80 echoes other typefaces by Damien Gautier: LeChaufferie, Robin, and Heliuum.
** Jean Alessandrini (1942), French typographer, illustrator, and writer.
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: Type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong.
“For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly large forms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths, 5 weights, 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and no contrast. Resulting in a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve.” Thomas Huot-Marchand
Immortel, designed by Clément Le Tulle-Neyret, is a type family with four variants developed according to the Hippocratic theory of humors that explains these latter through the presence of one of the four principal fluids. Each one is the cause behind the development of a character trait: phlegm represents a lymphatic, sluggish, slow character (Immortel Infra); yellow bile, an angry and prideful character (Immortel Colera); blood, a jovial and warm character (Immortel Vena); and black bile provokes hopelessness and melancholy (Immortel Acedia).
This type family is envisaged like a human being, able to reveal different temperaments through the forms that it adopts. Each variant can be substituted for another without causing any change in the bulkiness of the text, as the metric system, which provides a structural link between the variants—set width, x-heights, the length of ascenders and descenders, height of capitals—is constant.
Typographically, each variant is inspired by the work of type designers, following the course of history:
— Immortel Infra finds its source in the work of Robert Granjon, a typeface engraver from the 16th century;
— Immortel Colera in the work of Jean Jannon, an engraver from the 17th century;
— Immortel Vena is influenced by the work of Jacques-François Rosart, an engraver from the 18th century;
— Immortel Acedia takes its inspiration from the engraving Melencolia I by Albrecht Dürer (1514) and attempts a synthesis between two traces of a priori opposing tools, one made by the flat tip and the other by the narrow point. In this sense it is closer to a 21st century typeface.
Immortel Infra and Vena, variants intended to be used with running text, possess two italics: the first, called “Median”, slightly slanted, is ideal for composing long text; the second, called “Italic”, with its very sharp angle and ornate instrokes and terminals, is ideal for emphasis.
To best serve running text, the Infra and Vena variants possess two grades: this signifies that these two variants have two slightly different weights that conserve the same set width so as to have a more or less dark text color according to the page layout and/or the sensitivity of the user. Grade 2 can also be used to compose knocked out text on a dark background.
This type family began life in October 2016 in the Atelier national de recherche typographique (ANRT, Nancy – France). It development was pursued thanks to the support of the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) in 2018.
Le François is a unique typeface for several reasons.
Firstly, it only contains capital letters, in three distinct series: uppercase, “high” and “low” small caps. However, the capitals are in strong contrast to ancient historical engravings. With its geometrical form, Le François echoes French characters such as Peignot, and its contrast between thick and thin strokes evokes the elegance of letterings such as Yves Saint-Laurent, also created by Cassandre.
Secondly, thanks to several ligatures and its specific spacing, you can compose distinctive words and titles. Just as Avant Garde Gothic, it plays with the strong contrast in lighting created by the capital letters, resulting in a dynamic graphic rhythm.
The synergy created between classic French and more modern references give this typeface a strong personality. Le François can therefore be an alternate typeface in many historical and patrimonial contexts. It is also perfectly adapted to fashion, luxe and gastronomy, as it distinguishes itself not only by its elegance, but also its bold audacity.
Molitor, designed by Matthieu Cortat in 2019, is a modernist yet joyous typeface; a dive into an Art Deco pool, named after the eponymous and emblematic building in Paris. Theatrical and spectacular, Molitor recalls an adventurous, fresh and optimistic modernism, an iridescent wave on the chlorine surface of an olympic pool.
A lineal with barely contrasted and slightly flared lines, Molitor features 12 styles separated into two optical sizes: Text and Display. Each optical size has a roman and an italic in Light, Regular and Bold. In the text version, the proportions of the capitals obey the canons of the imperial roman capital, reinterpreted in the manner of the modernist stone-cut inscriptions of the 1920s and 1930s. The lowercase letters have a traditional structure with a short x-height. In its display version, the proportions of Molitor are exacerbated, approaching the dramatic spontaneity
of French Art Deco.
While the straight and oblique lines only extend in height, the round shapes expand in all directions. With a design different from the wider and much more playful regular, the italic of the Molitor is quite typical. Despite its sharp 16° slant, it retains rigorously circular round shapes. Finally, as Art Deco gave the general public access to the “geometric avant-garde”, Molitor allows users to define their own size and style thanks to variable font technology.
Plaax (with an x) is an extension of the typeface Plaak (with a k) completed with lowercase letters. Plaax is a large family of 20 cuts.
This typeface takes its inspiration from the characters that one can find on the nameplates of French streets. For a long time, Damien Gautier has been interested in these letters that everyone sees on a daily basis without really knowing them. No one seems to pay them any attention and yet they reveal themselves to be particularly interesting due to their great diversity. Though we can imagine that it is always a question of the same typeface, a closer study shows that a number of alphabets co-exist. One common point: elementary, robust forms, that seem more to have been traced than drawn by a few industrial draughtsmen, eager to be able to compose names of streets, avenues and boulevards in the restricted space of a standardised enamelled plate (well almost, this is France after all!)
It is definitely not a question of smoothing out and unifying all of the drawings finishing with a slick and homogenous typeface! On the contrary, Damien Gautier wants these typefaces to conserve the disparity of the typographic forms that have been noted.
In an apparent logic of organisation and of design that somewhat amusedly reminds us of the method used by Adrian Frutiger for the Univers typeface, the different series of the Plaax conserve the independent designs in a certain number of details (accents, the specific forms of a few letters: f, g, j, k, r, t, y, etc.)
This typeface is composed of 20 styles that display the typographic wealth of this source of inspiration. “Plaax 1 – Sathonay”: very narrow characters; “Plaax 2 – Griffon” and “Plaax 3 – Pradel”: narrow characters; “Plaax 4 – Terme” and “Plaax 5 – Foch”: wide characters; “Plaax 6 – Ney”: extra-wide characters.
Each series (from 1 to 6) contains a number of weights. By activating the “Ligatures” function, a particular series of ligatures refer to the origin of this typeface…
Thanks to its many variants and its design that is rid of any outdated pastiche, this typeface reveals itself to have a large range of possible uses: press, publishing, signage, visual identity.
Romain 20 is a well-rounded and clear-cut interpretation of a French elzevir, revisited to suit twenty-first century taste. Designed by Alice Savoie, the family is released in 2020 after 8 years in the making.
Romain 20 is a contemporary adaptation of a metal typeface originally named “Romain Vingtième siècle”, distributed by the French Fonderie Allainguillaume at the very beginning of the twentieth century. Savoie stumbled across the typeface in a 1902 edition of the journal La fonderie typographique and was immediately seduced by its texture on the page.
The typeface features a unique combination of flavours, with some attributes that are very much reminiscent of French publishing and jobbing work of the period. Soft bowl terminals are balanced by sharp bracketed serifs. The typeface combines a certain idea of French elegance with a hint of Art Nouveau frivolity.
The typeface was initiated as a revival of the text cuts of the roman and italic styles. A bold and a bold italic were later added to the family for greater versatility. The generous and sturdy proportions of the regular and italic styles have been fine-tuned to be optimal at text size, while the bold variant can prove particularly efficient in display. The italic retains generous proportions, making it fairly comfortable to read in continuous settings. The bold is particularly dark.
Type design: Alice Savoie
Typeface development: Fátima Lázaro
Font mastering: Roxane Gataud
Salmanazar is a typeface which has its roots in nineteenth century French type design, and in particular, the specimen of Antique Warnery no.1, published in 1922. Originally intended to be used for the composition of titles (the smallest body size being 20pt), its undecided yet vigorous strokes have been updated for contemporary use, while retaining its typically strong details from the belle-époque typefaces. Indeed, Salmanazar has a distinctly crafted look, with its own unique characteristics such as its vertical proportions, and its increasingly unusual contrast in the grotesque landscape. Its asymmetrical counters, and slightly heavy weights impose a certain darkness and a particular flavor in continuous reading, bringing to mind American Gothics, such as Franklin Gothic or the German humanistic sans serif Ludwig. Industrial in style, this typeface features a range of 4 weights, along with their corresponding italics. Each weight reveals a subtly different behavior, and this makes it suitable for different purposes.