Our April 2011 Staff Picks have arrived! Let these favorite fonts shower your designs with inspiration in the coming month.
Hotel
We here at FontShop San Francisco love the Bay Area, and we love retro, so Jim Parkinson‘s showcard lettering typeface Hotel, inspired by signage still seen in Oakland, CA, is a staff pick shoe-in.
Le Monde Courrier
Download Le Monde Courrier specimen PDF(246 KB).
Jean-François Porchez‘s Le Monde Courrier is but one part of the extensive Le Monde superfamily. Named after the French publication for which it was designed, Le Monde is sometimes serious, sometimes playful, but always maintains a level of sophistication. The Courrier variant straddles the line between typewritten and handwritten, and was designed to be impervious to the imperfections of various printed media.
Also included in April’s Staff Picks is Meran Condensed Black by OurType, just one of the FREE OurType fonts being offered until May 31. Read about our OurType promotion here.
Spring has sprung here in the Northern Hemisphere and so have our March 2011 Staff Picks! Here’s just a sample of fonts that will surely make your designs bloom.
The Axel Family, designed by Erik Spiekermann for FontShop AG, was intended as a solution for spreadsheet users who were stuck with Arial and Verdana for their tables. Axel’s legibility and economy are results of its condensed, open design and its expertly hinted TrueType outlines. And speaking of economy, the four-font package rings up at under $80.
Image courtesy of
Dharma Type
Not all scripts have to be “flowery” this spring. For one that makes a bold statement, try HT Maison from Flat-it Type Foundry. HT Maison was inspired by 1950s Italian shopfront lettering, and fits right in with designer Ryoichi Tsunekawa‘s collection of retro type.
Image courtesy of
Process Type Foundry
Seravek from Process Type Foundry is a linear sans serif designed to perform in identity, editorial, and information design with a quiet efficiency. Its tool belt is fully equipped with OpenType features such as small caps and figure variants, as well as Western, Central European, and Turkish language character sets.
This is just a taste of what we’ve picked for you this month. Check out the rest of our March 2011 Staff Picks here.
January 28, 2011 – 9:16 AM
The first FontShop Staff Picks of 2011 are up. Now that we’ve got our new blog rolling, I thought we could show off a few of our picks in more detail.
First up is Henrietta Samuels from Samuelstype. Like the aforementioned FF Mister K, Henrietta Samuels is full of extra ligatures and stylistic alternatives to help avoid identical forms of a single character, or combination thereof. (Notice the differing ‘ra’ ligatures above.) There’s a certain quirky, imperfect decadence to the typeface that makes it unique. Exclusive to FontShop.
Download the PDF (229 KB).
Reservation Wide, designed by Silas Dilworth of the TypeTrust, is an extended neo-grotesque face intended for headlines. Dilworth originally designed Reservation Wide for the Food Network, which uses the typeface (originally named Majestos) on its website and in on-air promos. Its terminals have a slight angle, keeping it open and approachable—one might even say appetizing. As an avid Food Network watcher, it has a place near and dear to my stomach.
Download the PDF (279 KB).
Calluna from exljbris is a playful text face that comes fully loaded with all of your favorite OpenType features. Jos Buivenga happened upon the basic structure of Calluna while “fiddling around a bit with Museo“. A fortunate accident, which you can read about in the specimen PDF. Also fortunate (which may be an understatement): you can download the Regular weight of Calluna for free. Once you’re hooked, pick up the 8-style family pack.
Remember to check out the rest of our January 2011 Staff Picks.
