Case Micro

For small print that is supposed to be read.

Designed by Erik Spiekermann, Anja Meiners and Ralph du Carrois as part of a superfamily along with the optical sizes Case and Case Text. The typographical proof that size does matter.

8 Styles
Rag
Rag
Rag
Rag
Rag
Rag
Rag
Rag

Those who apply themselves too much to little things often become incapable of great ones. — François de La Rochefoucauld

OpenType
Institut Pasteur 1887
École Normale Supérieure
Metoprolol 100–1A
See Specimen PDF for further OpenType features.

Story

“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.

Corporate type designers know this situation all too well: Your client wants something new, something to call their own, something that stands out from the competition. However, in reality, they often end up wanting the same thing: their own version of a Neo-Grotesque in the style of Helvetica®, Akzidenz Grotesk® or Univers®.

Anja Meiners and Ralph du Carrois and even Erik Spiekermann have sat in client briefings like these. As a trio they have been responsible for numerous highly respected custom-type projects, but often they too have found themselves depending upon such a variant or adaptation.

Case is the essence of these experiences. 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.

Case is currently available in three optical sizes: the core family is suitable for the vast majority of applications, especially larger applications such as logos, wordmarks and headlines, the Text family for longer reads and the Micro version for – surprise, surprise – small text. Depending on the area of use, it can guarantee readability of 5pt, in some cases, even less.

An important distinguishing criterion of the family members is their respective spacing. In comparison to the two versions for text applications, the main family’s spacing is narrow, whereas it is wider on the Text and widest on the Micro. For better readability, both Case Text and Case Micro have a higher x-height, an l with a ‘foot’ and slightly more open shapes than its bigger sister. The Micro has more distinguishable character forms (r, i, j) or wider glyphs (f, t) as well as significant contrast at the joints of the stems and bows.

A unique selling point are the real italics, since they are a rarity in the genre. Type designers are often satisfied with obliques here. Even rarer are Variable Fonts, but fear not, these are already included in the superfamily package. At no extra cost.

The planned extensions, some of which are already underway, relate to language support, the widths (at least a Condensed and an Extended version), a monospaced version and drumroll please … a UniCase. A little wordplay is allowed after all.

Finally, to come back to the name: one of the characteristics of all Case styles is that in order to optimize some of the letters for the design of logos and wordmarks, the terminals of letters such as c, a, s and e all have the same horizontal endings, including uppercase and small caps. And since the name of the typeface should look good when set in the font itself and all Spiekermann fonts after ITC Officina® only have four letters, the name came about almost automatically.

We believe “in any case” that Case has the potential to become a classic of tomorrow. More than 30 years after Erik Spiekermann’s most important classic FF Meta® was released, its designer, together with Anja Meiners and Ralph du Carrois, have their sights set on the twenties.

(Helvetica, Univers, ITC Officina and FF Meta are trademarks of Monotype registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain other jurisdictions. Akzidenz-Grotesk is a trademark of Berthold Types Limited.)

A
#65

Glyphs

Uppercase

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Lowercase

a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z

Latin Accents

Á
Ă
Â
Ä
À
Ā
Ą
Å
Ã
Æ
Ć
Č
Ç
Ĉ
Ċ
Ð
Ď
Đ
É
Ĕ
Ě
Ê
Ë
Ė
È
Ē
Ę
Ğ
Ĝ
Ģ
Ġ
Ħ
Ĥ
Í
Ĭ
Î
Ï
İ
Ì
Ī
Į
Ĩ
Ĵ
Ķ
Ĺ
Ľ
Ļ
Ŀ
Ł
Ń
Ň
Ņ
Ŋ
Ñ
Ó
Ŏ
Ô
Ö
Ò
Ő
Ō
Ø
Õ
Œ
Þ
Ŕ
Ř
Ŗ
Ś
Š
Ş
Ŝ
Ș
Ə
Ŧ
Ť
Ţ
Ț
Ú
Ŭ
Û
Ü
Ù
Ű
Ū
Ų
Ů
Ũ
Ŵ
Ý
Ŷ
Ÿ
Ź
Ž
Ż
á
ă
â
ä
à
ā
ą
å
ã
æ
ć
č
ç
ĉ
ċ
ð
ď
đ
é
ĕ
ě
ê
ë
ė
è
ē
ę
ğ
ĝ
ģ
ġ
ħ
ĥ
í
ĭ
î
ï
i
̇
ì
ī
į
ĩ
ĵ
ķ
ĺ
ľ
ļ
ŀ
ł
ń
ň
ņ
ŋ
ñ
ó
ŏ
ô
ö
ò
ő
ō
ø
õ
œ
þ
ŕ
ř
ŗ
ś
š
ş
ŝ
ș
ß
ə
ŧ
ť
ţ
ț
ú
ŭ
û
ü
ù
ű
ū
ų
ů
ũ
ŵ
ý
ŷ
ÿ
ź
ž
ż

Numerals & Currency Symbols

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
¤
$
¢
£
¥
ƒ
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
(
)
+
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
=
(
)
+
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
=

Small Caps

!
&
(
)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
?
[
]
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
{
}
¡
¿
ß
à
á
â
ã
ä
å
æ
ç
è
é
ê
ë
ì
í
î
ï
ð
ñ
ò
ó
ô
õ
ö
ø
ù
ú
û
ü
ý
þ
ÿ
ā
ă
ą
ć
ĉ
ċ
č
ď
đ
ē
ĕ
ė
ę
ě
ĝ
ğ
ġ
ģ
ĥ
ħ
ĩ
ī
ĭ
į
ij
ĵ
ķ
ĺ
ļ
ľ
ŀ
ł
ń
ņ
ň
ŋ
ō
ŏ
ő
œ
ŕ
ŗ
ř
ś
ŝ
ş
š
ţ
ť
ŧ
ũ
ū
ŭ
ů
ű
ų
ŵ
ŷ
ź
ż
ž
ș
ț
ə
̀
́
̂
̃
̄
̆
̇
̈
̊
̋
̌

Punctuation

.
,
:
;
!
¡
?
¿
&
@
·
*
#
/
|
\
(
)
{
}
[
]
-
­
_
«
»
"
'

Mathematical Signs & Symbols

+
×
÷
=
>
<
±
~
¬
^
µ
%

Arrows & Shapes

Ligatures

fi
fl
ff
ffi
ffl
ffj
fj
ft

Greek

π

Languages

Afrikaans
Albanian
Asu
Basque
Bemba
Bena
Breton
Catalan
Cornish
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Embu
English
Esperanto
Estonian
Faroese
Filipino
Finnish
French
Friulian
Galician
Ganda
German
Gusii
Hungarian
Icelandic
Inari Sami
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Jola-Fonyi
Kabuverdianu
Kalenjin
Kamba
Kikuyu
Kinyarwanda
Latvian
Lithuanian
Lower Sorbian
Luo
Luxembourgish
Luyia
Machame
Makhuwa-Meetto
Makonde
Malagasy
Maltese
Manx
Meru
Morisyen
North Ndebele
Northern Sami
Norwegian Bokmål
Norwegian Nynorsk
Nyankole
Oromo
Polish
Portuguese
Quechua
Romanian
Romansh
Rombo
Rundi
Rwa
Samburu
Sango
Sangu
Sena
Serbian
Shambala
Shona
Slovak
Slovenian
Soga
Somali
Spanish
Swahili
Swedish
Swiss German
Taita
Teso
Turkish
Upper Sorbian
Uzbek
Volapük
Vunjo
Walser
Welsh
Credits & Details
Mastering, Production

Andreas Frohloff
Christoph Koeberlin

Marketing

Ivo Gabrowitsch (conceptual contribution, naming, copywriting, imagery, specimen)
Loris Olivier (graphic design)
Lucy Beckley (English translation)

Design Period
2019–2020
Release Date
October 12, 2020
Recommended Use

Advertising & Packaging
Editorial & Publishing
Small Text
Software & Gaming
Responsive Designs