In 2023, we breathed new life into the beloved Scandinavian sans serif TT Firs Neue by dramatically refining and renewing the typeface to adjust to cutting-edge requirements. Quickly after, we launched the textual content font pair for this typeface — an elegant TT Firs Textual content.
This text is devoted to the way it all started, why we determined to replace TT Firs Neue, what we added and modified, and the way TT Firs Textual content was born.
How TT Firs planted roots
The story of TT Firs started again in 2014 when TypeType was simply beginning out. The concept for the font’s design was born in Helsinki: Ivan Gladkih, the studio’s co-founder, went on a household journey there for a weekend.
«We went to the Fazer café, which was initially only a café named after its founder. Later, they started producing the well-known chocolate below this model. This dessert store is situated in the town heart of Helsinki and was based in 1891. It appears to be like like a easy canteen, however they serve wonderful signature desserts, so the place is at all times crowded. The café blends seamlessly with the encompassing space. There, I noticed an outdated signal with the Fazer title. Once I regarded nearer, I thought it was one thing very eye-catching, distinctive, and fascinating. And that is how the thought of designing a Scandinavian-themed font got here to my thoughts. I was impressed by the letter ’A’ on the signal with a huge horizontal stroke at the highest and commenced sketching the long run Firs.»
Ivan Gladkih, CTO, co-founder of TypeType
«At that point, we drew every thing intuitively, with none analysis. We made a temper board with Scandinavian design references and Scandinavian-themed fonts. Whereas designing this sans serif, my major concern was what individuals would wish to use it for and the way it would mix with designs. Implementing the Cyrillic alphabet was a explicit problem as a result of there are not any comparable fonts that includes Cyrillic glyphs. If we used the horizontal factor of the letter ’A’ in the Cyrillic letters ’Д’ and ’Л,’ which is a reference to the Nineteen Sixties of the Soviet interval, it could be logical to design different pseudo-soviet letters—and that’s how branchy ’К’ and ’Ж’ had been designed. Total, I relied totally on my private sense of issues.»
Ivan Gladkih, CTO, co-founder of TypeType
So, in 2015, the primary model of our Scandinavian sans serif got here to life. The typeface consisted of 9 roman and 9 italic font kinds, and the character set was minimal. The daring font model was reasonably stable however had nuances associated to the distribution of distinction and weights. We will let you know extra about that later. Nonetheless, the font turned out to be genuinely distinctive and positively infused with a Scandinavian ambiance.
«We had a custom at that point to title all fonts so that their names resulted in ‘s.’ Whereas I was desirous about how one can title a Scandinavian sans serif, I realized that certainly one of the distinctive options of Scandinavia is fir bushes. That is how the font adopted the title TT Firs, which caught on and nonetheless exists in the third font’s version.»
Ivan Gladkih, CTO, co-founder of TypeType
After the discharge of TT Firs, it lived a lifetime of its personal — we watched it from apart and noticed many examples of individuals utilizing it in their designs. Though it didn’t characteristic hinting or any OpenType options, it was distinctive, charming, and beloved by customers. That’s why we thought-about updating and enhancing the typeface.
How TT Firs «branched out» and grew to turn into TT Firs Neue
We really beloved TT Firs. Nonetheless, the extra fonts we launched, the higher we understood that this Scandinavian sans serif is not maintaining with the standard of our font library. So, in 2017, we determined that it was time to get began on its revamp.
First adjustments
At that point, we collaborated with Filipp Nurullin, a visitor typeface artwork director at TypeType. He was the one to do the primary revision of TT Firs and conduct the primary analysis.
Filipp tried to reimagine the font with inventive imaginative and prescient to make it extra fashionable and efficient for numerous initiatives. So, sharp angular cuts appeared in the font, for instance, in the letter «g,» which has a rounded half mixed with a sharp angle. There’s additionally a squared angle in the letter «f.» On one hand, this factor doesn’t appear logical. On the opposite, it presents a distinctive technique to spotlight lowercase characters that beforehand regarded extra impartial.
Additionally, Filipp reworked the legs of «A» and arms of «Ok» and «Ж» to make them look more durable, extra intense and provides them a European really feel. Branchy letters from the earlier model remained to function alternates. This fashion, we received a fundamental set of glyphs utilized in TT Firs by default and represented this font and an alternate set (spoiler: we’ll hold following this logic with alternates whereas engaged on future iterations).
Throughout the work, it turned clear that certainly one of the distinctive options of Scandinavian typography is diacritical marks positioned inside letters. For example, a attribute letter «U,» the place the umlaut is typically positioned inside, like berries in a shot glass.
So, diacritical marks are both built-in into letters, pressed up towards them, or positioned on their aspect. We made this peculiarity certainly one of our font’s key options and emphasised its Scandinavian spirit by designing a set with such diacritics (a comparable however enhanced set remained in the newest model of TT Firs Neue).
This replace additionally contained quite a few show ligatures. They had been surprising, distinctive, and added expressiveness and visible mass to the font.
«I suppose it’s actually cool that simply by utilizing these ligatures, designers can boost the visible model of a letter, phrase, textual content, or emblem with out implementing any extra graphic parts. It might sound shocking, however I’ve by no means seen such ligatures in use. Though I would love to, as a result of they’re really superior and „survived“ till the present font model (solely in a modified kind — Ed. observe).»
Ivan Gladkih, CTO, co-founder of TypeType
That is how the reimagined model of TT Firs got here to be. We launched it in 2018 below the title TT Firs Neue (1.100). At that point, the typeface included greater than 900 glyphs (in distinction to the primary model, which had about 400 glyphs). TT Firs Neue, model 2.000, will characteristic greater than 1700 glyphs—however let’s tackle every thing in flip.
Apparently, TT Firs Neue’s notion has been altering a lot. The extra initiatives used it, the extra impartial it appeared as a result of it had turn into ubiquitous: we noticed it in YouTube movies, branding, logos, and extra.
«The font has turn into visually impartial, nonetheless odd it could seem. All its expressive and tremendous recognizable types, resembling triangular „Д“ and „Л,“ and „t,“ „f,“ „g,“ and „j“ with squared angles, turned strange as if they had been at all times presupposed to appear to be this. This got here as a shock to me. As the saying goes, font works in mysterious methods. At first, our typeface appeared one thing extraordinary, and after a whereas, you suppose it’s only a font, and there’s nothing particular about its look.»
Ivan Gladkih, CTO, co-founder of TypeType
A new starting: Designing TT Firs Neue 2.000
As time went on, the studio advanced and mastered new instruments. Our fonts grew along with us. After transitioning to Glyphs, we received our palms on variation axes. This device helps us create variable fonts as effectively as keep logic inside a typeface.
That’s why, in 2022, we thought up a new makeover for TT Firs Neue, which had been beloved by each us and our customers. The font was wonderful already, however we determined that we needed to make it even higher! We meticulously revised the tiniest particulars and polished them to perfection. As a outcome, we didn’t simply replace the font—we virtually rebuilt the typeface from scratch.
Half 1: In search of imperfections
To start with, our Lead Designer, Antonina Zhulkova, revised the present TT Firs Neue and steered potential enhancements. Let’s go via them collectively.
Notice that we will typically seek advice from the phrase «bizarre» (or its synonyms) all through the textual content. What do we imply when speaking concerning the weirdness of a font or particular person characters? We see it as a little flag: «One thing stands out from the general image.» First, we shortly «scan» the font, getting a sense of it. TT Firs Neue is harsh, Nordic, static, engaging, recognizable. It’s straightforward to bear in mind primarily due to the horizontal joints between diagonals. The letter «A» Ivan talked about earlier may function a emblem for this font. One other element forming the font’s model is squared terminals in some characters. These are the integral components of the typeface’s character. The remainder of the expressive parts are evaluated with a essential eye in phrases of their goal. We mark issues as «bizarre» or «surprising» and analyze whether or not this graphic contradicts the core idea of the font or emphasizes it. If one thing enhances the font’s character, enhancing and supporting it, we may hold it. If a element has no affect on the font’s character or goes towards it, this element doesn’t belong right here.
Visible compensators
It’s important to perceive that the primary model of TT Firs was designed in FontLab 5, and the earlier replace was created in Glyphs. So, we needed to work with the file that was moved from FontLab 5 to Glyphs in a barely incorrect format.
This posed some challenges. For instance, the earlier font model contained ink traps in the daring kinds. This added an further aptitude to the font and addressed the difficulty of glyphs clumping in small level sizes. After shifting to Glyphs, lighter font kinds additionally acquired ink traps, however they solely served as workarounds. Throughout the revision, we got here to two conclusions. On the one hand, these compensations had a practical goal: to make variability work. On the opposite hand, they made daring characters look extra expressive, and the general graphics appeared inconsistent.
For example, the letter «N» in the Skinny font model often appears to be like calm, and in the Black font model, the compensators seem to remodel its character barely. Nonetheless, if in «N,» they don’t seem to be excessively noticeable and have a technical perform of not letting daring stems clamp with diagonals, in the letter «M,» they turn into thinner and rather more aggressive. And in the ampersand, they modify their shapes once more.
Thus, ink traps weren’t featured in all font kinds and regarded completely different even inside one font model, creating visible noise.
Completely different overhangs in rounded characters
The logic of rounded characters was flawed. For instance, the uppercase «O» in the Skinny font model regarded round however barely stretched vertically. In the common font model, it reached most roundness and expanded horizontally in Daring and Black. Lowercase characters made this impact much more outstanding.
Completely different terminal character
«Apparently, this was certainly one of the options that helped me distinguish the outdated TT Firs Neue model from the brand new one if I noticed the font out on the road someplace. These outdated terminals entice consideration; I referred to as them ’scorpion’s tails.’»
Marina Khodak, TypeType Lead Designer
For example, the letter «a» had a clean and symmetrical terminal, the place the left bracket half regarded virtually the identical as the proper one. Sure, it was a little extra sloped on the left, however total it regarded comparable. The letter «з» has a crammed oval on the proper, whereas the left terminal flattens out, and the angle sharpens dramatically—just like the scorpion’s tail earlier than a strike.
That is as noticeable in the uppercase «S» and «З» as in the rounded characters («C,» «G»). The higher high a part of the letters appears to lose its weight and roundness.
In normal, each choices have the proper to be, however we wanted to perceive which one was higher for our font: rounded, full terminals or sharp «tails.»
«On condition that the font appears to be like fairly robust and critical, it was logical to make terminals resemble those in the letter ’a’: symmetrical however with out the lack of weight.»
Marina Khodak, TypeType Lead Designer
One other drawback was that, in addition to the personalities, terminals had various widths. That is clearly seen in the letters «t,» «j,» «l,» and «f.» For example, the terminal of «j» is considerably wider than that of the letter «l,» and this appears to be like odd, particularly considering that the terminal’s form is fairly expressive and crowd pleasing.
Inconsistent selection of types
In older variations of our fonts, there may be a noticeable pattern to make the black font model extra uncommon. Now, we don’t do that anymore. First, letterforms needs to be constant in all font kinds to make variability work correctly (the variety of factors in font kinds have to be equal). Second, we contemplate such design selections a break in the font household’s logic. That’s why some types of the outdated TT Firs didn’t cross our new self-censorship.
For instance, the quantity 4 in the Black model had a sloped stem angle, permitting for extra unfavorable area inside. At that second, we most likely thought it was essentially the most optimum resolution. Nevertheless it wasn’t the very best. We wanted to discover one other one which wouldn’t make us break the glyph’s kind.
Interletter areas (aproshes)
Spacing required refinement.
Triangular characters
Inconsistent kind logic, various grasp widths, not sufficient slant in «A,» «Л,» and «Д.»
That is a essential nuance as a result of these junctions, horizontal bars, are a style-forming factor of the font. In TT Firs, they had been essentially the most strongly expressed in comparability to the opposite typefaces in our assortment.
For example, this junction is very noticeable in «A» and «V.» Notice that that it appears to be like the identical in these two letters and the letter «X.» Nonetheless, in «Y» and «W» it’s not featured, making them simply strange letters with none expressive parts. Thus, the logic of glyph design is damaged throughout the Black font model.
The identical challenge might be seen in the lowercase triangular characters (Cyrillic and Latin): «v,» «w,» «x,» «y,» «л,» «д,» «м,» and «и.»
Let’s now take a look at the entire household. Other than ink traps in the daring masters, there may be a lack of readability in junctions. The letter «M» in the Daring font model has a horizontal at the underside however not at the tops. In the Skinny font model, it’s additionally solely featured at the underside. Furthermore, the width of this element varies in completely different font kinds: in Skinny, it’s a lot wider than in Daring or Black.
The letter «N» doesn’t embody such parts at all. In addition to, ink traps are current in the daring grasp however not in the skinny one.
Take a take a look at the letter «W.» Like «M,» it ought to have featured a junction in the higher a part of the diagonal intersection and sharp angles in the underside half. Nonetheless, for «W» in the Skinny model, all of the intersections go via this junction and will not be included in the daring grasp, and ink traps will not be featured both.
It appears to be like just like the logic was flawed each inside particular person font kinds and between completely different font kinds.
«For the replace, we may contemplate the next approaches: shift in direction of expressiveness or flip away from it. For instance, we may add ink traps in all places. Throughout the group, we determined that, in that case, this graphic selection wouldn’t refresh the undertaking in any means, and opting out of it would make the font look extra fashionable. In addition to, there may be no level in including ink traps to mild font kinds as they don’t seem to be clearly seen there. One other challenge was whether or not to add junctions in all places or do away with all of them. If we had not built-in them, we would have had a extra impartial design. Such a resolution didn’t go well with TT Firs Neue however was carried out into TT Firs Textual content (we will inform about it later — Ed. observe)»
Marina Khodak, TypeType Lead Designer
So, we determined to hold horizontal parts. Nonetheless, there was a query of how they need to look: like in the «M» or in the «W.» These letters have essentially the most noticeable distinction between the development of junctions.
In her interview, Antonina steered making a extra standardized model: add junctions like in the letter «W» in all places and make them medium in width. She made a sketch that impressed the additional improvement of the font household.
Spherical characters
«Once I started engaged on the font, I fully redesigned spherical characters. the outdated model of the font, at all of the font kinds featured there, we can see that the proportions of rectangular characters fluctuate. For example, in the Skinny font model, the letter „H“ is very slim, and the correlation between „H“ and „O“ in this font model is not the identical as in Common, Daring, and Black. Primarily, the letter „H“ in Skinny was not simply extraordinarily slim; it additionally appeared a lot narrower than the letter „O.“ The „O“ regarded extra spherical, and the „H“ was very elongated vertically. At the identical time, the Daring font model didn’t characteristic this distinction. So, it regarded as if „H“ expanded with rising weight, altering its proportions.»
Marina Khodak, TypeType Lead Designer
The identical factor occurred to lowercase characters. By evaluating the letter «o» and the single-storey «a,» we can see that these letters have very comparable proportions in the Skinny font model: the «a» is a little narrower than the «o» however nonetheless appears to be like extra rounded. Nonetheless, in the Common font model, the «a» turns into extra vertical, whereas the «o» expands horizontally. With rising weight, this tendency, very similar to in uppercase letters, turns into extra pronounced. The letter «a» and comparable characters turn into narrower, buying a vertically oriented kind, and the letter «o,» in distinction, turns into wider.
In addition to, in the Skinny font model, the left sides of the «o» and the single-storey «a» are just like one another, however as the font weight will increase, the similarity disappears. Additionally, the junctions of the spherical characters appear lighter in the Daring font model.
Marina finally modified the letter proportions to clear up this drawback. We’ll present and let you know extra concerning the final result under.
Characters with bowls
The following facet on the evaluate record was the damaged logic of the correlation and distribution of the oval types between font kinds. Furthermore, the bowl heights appear too giant, particularly in the Skinny model. The letter «Я» is smaller and narrower than the letters «Р,» «В,» and «Ь.»
«For instance, by evaluating the letter „P“ in the Skinny and Common masters, we can see the distinction in correlation. In Common, the waist is increased than in Skinny, which makes the letter resemble a small flag on a stick. As if the oval is not an important a part of the letter however merely one other extra factor.»
Marina Khodak, TypeType Lead Designer
S, З, J
The character of these letters considerably stands out from the opposite glyphs in the set, which is particularly noticeable in lowercase letters.
The higher left a part of the bowl in «З» is a little quick. «S» options extreme fluidity, «J» has an overly vibrant terminal—the one letter in the font the place the terminal reduce is angled. In all different characters, terminals are reduce horizontally. TT Firs is a static, harsh sans serif, and if such fonts have a dynamic look, this needs to be justified.
Ligatures
There have been additionally issues concerning the set of ligatures. For example, the lowercase set consists of «fi» and doesn’t embody «ffi.» Sure uppercase ligatures are lacking their reverse variations — there may be «AV» however no «VA,» and «TA» however no «AT.» That is not a mistake however raises questions on what’s actually taking place there.
The logic between masters in the ligatures is additionally flawed. In the «AR» letter mixture, «A» is narrower than «R» in the Skinny font model, and in the Black font model, this proportion shifts, and «A» turns into considerably wider, taking over virtually as a lot area as «R.» The identical goes for «RJ.»
«LA» contains a bizarre connection, which is inconsistent in completely different masters.
One other odd design selection is the widespread horizontal stroke in «EA.» It is fascinating on its personal however isn’t fully thought via, so in the Black font model, every thing clumps collectively, and the ligature appears to be like extra just like the Cyrillic «БА» as a result of the underside a part of «E» types an oval form.
«TE» additionally appears to be like unusual and resembles a hair comb. When a letter turns into harking back to one thing else, it turns into an icon or an illustration. It appears the graphics might have been overemphasized throughout its design.
Lastly, right here is the «АТ» ligature, which is sadly fully illegible due to its overcomplicated kind.
The Common font model was too daring
After the primary TT Firs replace, the Common font model regarded too daring due to the font’s transition from FontLab 5 into Glyphs. We make the conclusion concerning the extreme weight in response to the same distribution of weights in font kinds of quite a few typefaces. Customers have expectations about how (in concept) a Common or Daring font model ought to look, and font designers have the information of values.
Antonina Zhulkova supplied the next answer: to take all of the values from the outdated TT Firs Neue and make the Common font model a little lighter. At that second, this answer was optimistic as a result of we thought it could be a fast replace the place we would solely be making minor changes to the font. Nonetheless, after we selected the entire font makeover, Marina Khodak got here up with one other answer, which we will let you know about later.
Illogical stylistic set
Earlier, we talked about that, aside from quite a few peculiar ligatures, the primary TT Firs had a set with built-in diacritics. The issue was that the diacritical marks had been made just for a number of characters, and the design was inconsistent. In some glyphs, the diacritic was positioned intently to the letter; in others, it both had a squished kind or was built-in into the character. Some characters didn’t have diacritical marks at all. We wanted to set up a uniform logic for every thing.
Diacritics additionally diverse between font kinds. For instance, in the recognizable «O» with «ears,» a dieresis was carried out solely in the Black font model. In Skinny, the dots are positioned subsequent to the character, and in Common, they seem caught to the character. The identical occurs to the letter «A» and another characters. This appears to be like odd and requires looking for a unified logic.
Addition to the character set
The language set of the prolonged Cyrillic alphabet for all letter instances (lowercase, uppercase, small capitals) didn’t correspond to our present requirements.
There have been no circled numerals, fractions, or small-cap numbers.
Different evaluate factors
Some characters’ graphics wanted revision. For example, the logic of stylistic units was damaged; there was a set for the Cyrillic alphabet with fancy legs of «К» and «Ж,» however their relative letter «Я» didn’t have such a leg. The center stroke of «E» was too quick. The oval of the double-storey «g» was too overpowering and regarded unbalanced. Antonina steered making a extra seen distinction between ovals and take a look at shifting the bar between them. The form of the department in «б» made the letter too just like the quantity 6.
The junctions at intersections; for instance, in the letter «n.» They served for optical compensation. In the Skinny font model, the width of this factor was just one level. It needs to be both extra outstanding or non-existent.
The higher a part of the stem in “n,” to the proper of the arch, had the identical weight as the remainder. Antonina steered making this “thorn” narrower. It’s a widespread apply to make it slightly thinner than the principle stem. This fashion, it doesn’t look too sturdy and enormous.
Inconsistent diacritics. The Cyrillic and Latin breve had been similar in some kinds and completely different in others. The flame was too calligraphic and didn’t match the font’s character.
Additionally, the up to date graphics required the very best brand-new spacing and hinting.
Half 2: Font refinements
At this stage, Marina Khodak turned the undertaking’s Lead Designer. Constructing upon Antonina’s analysis and discovering her personal options, Marina initiated a full TT Firs Neue overhaul. For the two.000 model, the font was virtually rebuilt from scratch.
Let’s cowl essentially the most fascinating adjustments.
Balanced Common font model
Common is the principle font model of the typeface. The duty was to make it secure and simple for customers to change the outdated TT Firs Common they initially used with TT Firs Neue with out making every thing look bolder. That’s why it was very important to keep similarities between the fundamental font kinds in nearly all of the typefaces.
«When it turned clear that we had been doing a extra in-depth rework on the font, we re-calculated all font kinds. As a outcome, the load of the Common model in TT Firs Neue 2.000 was 70 factors — it was the way it ought to be. In addition to, we added a Regular font model to the font with a stem weight of 90 factors. We typically add this font model to sans serifs due to excessive demand. In the outdated TT Firs Neue, the Common model weighed 90 factors, and the brand new one — 70. We stored the worth of 90 factors for the customers who favored this particular weight in the earlier model of the font.»
Marina Khodak, TypeType Lead Designer
Designed common logic for the set with compressed diacritics
To align the diacritical marks that caught to letters to the general logic, Marina analyzed the frequency of characters in Scandinavian languages.
«Our font featured a set with these compressed diacritics, and I wished to perceive why these marks had been added and utilized to just some particular characters. I had a model that they had been solely added to the letters featured in Scandinavian languages: Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Danish. The Finnish language doesn’t belong to Scandinavian group, however it is additionally referred to as that as a consequence of its geographic affiliation. I additionally thought-about English as essentially the most broadly spoken language, and Cyrillic-based languages as these we are native to. My concept didn’t maintain up. It turned out that the set doesn’t embody all of essentially the most incessantly used letters of these languages. We merely crafted compressed diacritics for all uppercase letters. This design selection turned the font’s distinctive trait, so now virtually any textual content that options diacritical marks might be stylized.»
Marina Khodak, TypeType Lead Designer
Other than the ss13 set with tightly positioned diacritics, we added the ss14 set, the place diacritical marks are built-in into the letters.
«TT Firs Neue 2.000 has a rigorously thought-out logic for its stylistic units. Nonetheless, many designers don’t use them as a result of they both don’t know they exist or merely discover this device inconvenient. So, we at all times suggest exploring the specimen and going via the font’s performance earlier than putting in it. Inside it lies a wealth of options that, when utilized, will reveal the typeface from a new perspective and add recent dimensions to its look.»
Ivan Gladkih, CTO, co-founder of TypeType
If you wish to be taught extra about discovering and utilizing stylistic units and different options, try our article.
Refined ligatures
The outdated model had incomplete units of ligatures. Marina’s place to begin was that our font belongs to Scandinavian sans serifs. That’s why she selected this route for the analysis.
«I thought-about essentially the most incessantly used letter combos from Scandinavian languages. We may simply design ligatures out of them, however they didn’t at all times look harmonious when mixed. So, we selected two logical approaches: the primary was frequency, and the second was aesthetically pleasing and fascinating letter combos. In line with this evaluation and logic, we created pairs that had been included in the font.»
Marina Khodak, TypeType Lead Designer
Listed here are some fascinating examples of the ligatures we made:
- Unconventional «DE.»
- In «Eл and «Fл design continuity with a widespread horizontal stroke of the outdated font stays constant.
- A type of the letter «G,» generally present in Scandinavian typography, made a sturdy look in the earlier font model. We added it to ligatures, rhyming the horizontal accent with «Eл and «FÐ.»
- Ligatures with «doubled» letters additionally got here from the Finnish language.
- «WE» appears to be like fairly charming.
Uppercase letters in the outdated font had many particular ligatures—they underwent vital adjustments, however the logic remained the identical. TT Firs Neue, model 2.000, presents two sorts of ligatures: easy and those from the ss15 set — letter inside a letter.
We rigorously reviewed all ligatures and diacritical marks to make sure they give the impression of being excellent in textual content.
Amplified Cyrillic-based language help
The up to date font consists of expanded language help, particularly for Cyrillic-based languages.
«A couple of years in the past, we realized that the world of Cyrillic-based alphabets is very broad. That’s why, in 2022, we began incorporating prolonged Cyrillic character units — not just for the principle Cyrillic-based languages but additionally for the languages of smaller ethnic teams utilized by greater than 1 million audio system, resembling Tatar, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and extra. And TT Firs Neue isn’t an exception to this new strategy.»
Ivan Gladkih, CTO, co-founder of TypeType
Added extra charming italics
TT Firs Neue turned the primary sans serif for which we put further effort into the detailed improvement of italic font kinds. Normally, essentially the most fundamental Slant with artifact compensation is designed as a pair for sans serifs. The font’s proportions keep the identical. Nonetheless, in this case, we selected one other strategy.
«We put a lot of time, effort, and coronary heart into refining the up to date typeface. We wished to do extra — one thing actually particular.»
Marina Khodak, TypeType Lead Designer
So, whereas engaged on the sketches of italics, we determined to make them extra dynamic by rising the slant angle from 10° to 12° and modifying the proportions of the spherical characters. With out this essential change, giant, rounded types didn’t let the attention «glide» on the slanted line. Now, the extra dynamic design of the italic kinds higher fulfills its fundamental goal of highlighting key concepts in the textual content when paired with a static, upright font. In addition to, this italic model turned out to be simply stunning.
Different transformations
After the replace, the typesetting has turn into extra steady, robust, stable, and uniform. We redesigned junctions, widths, oval ratios, distinction, spacing, and proportions, fixing all the issues we lined in the earlier part.
For example:
- We fully redrew spherical characters and balanced their proportions in all masters, leading to extra uniform shapes.
- Junctions in the triangular characters turned visually constant.
- We eliminated the sharp terminals, the so-called «scorpion’s tails.»
- The terminals of the letters «t,» «f,» «j,» «g,» and comparable have been smoothed out, turning into extra uniform in weight and size. That is particularly noticeable if you strive evaluating two «g» variations.
- The ss7 stylistic set with rounded terminals was added. This set was later included into the principle character set of TT Firs Textual content, as effectively as ss9, the place the letter «G» didn’t have this engaging horizontal factor.
- Extreme distinction in the letter «e» was eliminated in the daring font model.
- «C» and «O» acquired extra balanced proportions between masters.
- The department in «б» was redesigned.
- We balanced out diacritical marks in weight and kind, clearly seen in the Cyrillic breve.
- The letter «Э,» which used to characteristic bizarre proportions and excessive distinction, now has every thing in order.
- The tail of the letter «Ц» and the terminals of «Ф» turned extra assured and clear.
- We modified the type of the quantity 5, eliminating its “weirdness.” The extra traditional model of the quantity labored higher for this design.
- Ampersand’s form was modified as effectively and have become extra expressive.
«It’s humorous that the form turned out similar to the one from the primary TT Firs model, although I didn’t have it as a reference. Clearly, it is guided by the font’s model and naturally belongs right here.»
Marina Khodak, TypeType Lead Designer
- The lowercase ampersand model remained however with out the horizontal factor, making the general kind look extra balanced. Additionally, the problems with interpolation and utilizing the variable font have been resolved.
- In the first character set of TT Firs Neue, the letters «Л» and «Д» have a trapezoidal form, supporting the look of the letter «A.» We designed major textual content types for the alternate set. Their character was softer and extra naïve than that of the complete font. In TT Firs Neue 2.000, we stored these alternate glyphs to amplify the typeface’s performance and redesigned them in the mandatory model. Later, these characters will likely be those to kind the first set of TT Firs Textual content, which we will cowl in extra element under.
The end result of the TT Firs Neue 2.000 design
As a results of all our arduous work and dedication, we received a completely balanced Scandinavian sans serif with expressive graphic parts and excessive versatility in use.
TT Firs Neue 2.000 consists of:
- 23 font kinds: 11 roman, 11 italic, and one variable font with two variation axes: weight and slant;
- 1719 characters in every font model;
- 40 OpenType options;
- 235+ languages help.
«Surprisingly, the second version of TT Firs is significantly well-liked in European branding. It is well-loved by numerous museums, architectural businesses, and cafés — every thing that falls into the class of Scandinavian vibe. Which means our imaginative and prescient got here to life as anticipated.»
Ivan Gladkih, CTO, co-founder of TypeType
From a lone fir to an complete forest: Designing a textual content font pair
As we used TT Firs Neue, we seen that it was fairly expressive and began desirous about designing a font pair for it — TT Firs Textual content.
Normally, font pairs are product of fonts from completely different teams, like serif and sans serif, that distinction with one another. We selected a barely completely different path by preserving the TT Firs Neue proportions and designing a textual content pair for it. Mainly, we did this to hold the font trying almost the identical whereas making certain that each one the characters are suited to textual content setting.
We outlined the duty as follows: to design a easy textual content font primarily based on TT Firs Neue 2.000, take away expressiveness and additional particulars, and reduce the character set to the necessities.
We primarily based our work on analysis carried out earlier for the TT Neoris font and revised sure glyph types to replicate higher-frequency ones—these extra generally utilized by designers.
Listed here are a few of the small print we altered:
- Junctions in the triangular characters had been eliminated, making the types much less expressive;
- Some types received a extra traditional look (for instance, «G» or «Q»);
- Squared terminals had been changed by rounded ones in «f,» «g,» «j,» «l,» and «t»;
- The proportions of characters with junctions had been visually compensated;
- Nearly all ligatures had been eliminated, and those that remained serve for technical functions reasonably than aesthetic;
- Italic font kinds underwent the identical transformations.
«As a outcome, we received a sans serif with extra conventional textual content types of characters. The font turned out to be reasonably impartial however nonetheless recognizable. It has a explicit model and vibe of TT First Neue.»
Toma Streltsova, Lead Font Designer
The end result of the TT Firs Textual content design
TT Firs Textual content is an elegant geometric sans serif with a Nordic character that blends uniqueness and neutrality.
TT Firs Textual content consists of:
- 23 fonts kinds: 11 roman, 11 italic, and one variable font with weight and slant variation axes;
- 898 characters in every font model;
- 31 OpenType options;
- 235+ languages help.
«We achieved a sturdy sans serif with a refined Scandinavian aftertaste, which completely matches TT Firs Neue 2.000. It’s clear to us that TT Firs Textual content is a „workhorse“ for a broad number of duties. We can see this in motion as the typeface has already turn into well-liked with our customers.»
Ivan Gladkih, CTO, co-founder of TypeType
