Fontwerk’s latest typeface release: Case.
As the publisher puts it: “‘The Curious Case of Erik Spiekermann,’ ‘For lowercase, uppercase, for every case’ … There are puns aplenty for a typeface with this particular name. But we’ll spare you any more and concentrate on the facts.”
Those facts: Erik Spiekermann, working in collaboration with Anja Meiners and Ralph du Carrois, has developed a Neo-Grotesque in three optical sizes. The core family is ideal for logos and display text; the Text family is perfectly crafted for, well, text; and the Micro family offers readability of all things diminutive. The latter two feature a higher x-height, alongside more open shapes; for max readability, Micro also offers traits that make characters more easily distinguishable, and enhanced contrast at the joints of stems and bows.
The facts aside: Spiekermann, Meiners and du Carrois have sat through their fair share of briefings in which clients request their very own Helvetica or Univers. Case is, perhaps, a beautifully nuanced reply.
As Fontwerk writes, “They left out everything that they felt was unnecessary in the world’s most popular typeface genre, but they made sure to keep all the best bits. Building on the concentrate of the best bits, they added new ideas and conceptual solutions for a modern static grotesque. The result is the missing element in an otherwise strained and bloated genre: a typeface whose clear basic personality looks familiar and creates trust, but at the same time is novel and individual and is therefore perfect for strong brand-building. An ideal font for complex branding projects born out of years of working on such complex branding projects.”
Try Case out here.
