News of a huge update to McQueen, a beautiful in-use case of McQueen in action and Romaine features as our Big Glyph star of the month
|
McQueen revamped and reimagined
|
|
|
As we ease our way into 2024, we’re looking forward to this new year with a renewed appreciation for doing what we love. We’ve started this year in deep work mode, busy behind the scenes working to bring some brand new fonts to the mix as well as welcoming some exciting updates and new additions to the Fontwerk family (more on that soon). In this Werknews, we share news of a huge update to McQueen, a beautiful in-use case of it in action and Romaine features as our Big Glyph star of the month.
|
|
 |
 |
|
McQueen is one of our most eccentric and eclectic typefaces to date – a popular anti-hero with two faces. Designed by the veritable type-tastic trio of Loris Olivier, Noheul Lee and Katja Schimmel, McQueen is full to bursting with character and swagger.
In this latest and extensive revision to the Collection, Olli Meier joins the already diverse group of designers. Olli lends his hand to completely revamping and updating the family by harmonizing all characters, creating eight new styles for both McQueen and McQueen Grotesk and optimizing the variable font into one overarching font with ‘Optical Size’ axis.
Both McQueens clamor for attention but with different game plans. While McQueen is like an outfit from Lady Gaga – showy, spectacular, stage ready, McQueen Grotesk is like a pair of modern sneakers – in it for the long run. When paired together they complement each other perfectly.
If you didn’t have the typeface on your radar before, now is the best time to test drive it. Existing customers receive discounted conditions for the extensions on request.
|
|
 “McQueen’s playful and distinctive design adds a touch of creativity and uniqueness to the brand, making it memorable.” says Designer Amandus Engh Bjerk. |
|
Tax needn’t be taxing and when it comes to expanding a business in an ever-evolving world, high growth companies need more than just accounting, they need insights and business intelligence. Enter Aicono, a Norwegian-based startup that provides auditing and tax consulting for tech companies.
When looking to create a brand that would help articulate their message, the design company Edge Branding found a match in McQueen, specifically the Light, Medium and Bold weights and employed it across the visual identity for Aicono.
As Amandus Engh Bjerk, senior designer at Edge Branding explains: “The choice of McQueen was a very conscious decision. McQueen’s playful and distinctive design adds a touch of creativity and uniqueness to the brand, making it memorable.” Used throughout their branding and in both digital and analog settings, McQueen’s versatility and charm “effortlessly attracts attention.” This makes it the perfect fit for a startup that is leading the way in intelligent, future -proof accounting.
|
|
This month’s Big Glyph features Aad van Dommelen’s Romaine and the letter k. The letter k originates from the Greek letter Kappa, which in turn was taken from the Semitic kaph, the symbol for an open hand. Unlike many other letters in the Latin alphabet, the letter k has hardly changed shape.
Romaine is also unique in its form and shape, while all other digital Garamonds or Granjons have rounded or cut serifs, Romaine has sharp ends. Aad van Dommelen assumed that Granjon only rounded off due to physical limitations. For the same reason, he also neglected the curve in the bottom of the serifs. In print, they mostly look protruded instead of hollow. It seemed clear to him that this curve should only serve to prevent unsightly bumps caused by squeezing edges and to produce straight feet.
|
|
From the very outset, Pangea by Christoph Koeberlin was intended to be omnicultural and multilingual. You may remember that just over a year ago we announced that Pangea now speaks Arabic and Hebrew and that these fonts are included as part of the standard package which also includes Latin, Cyrillic and Greek. We are currently working on additional language support and plan to release further non-Latin typefaces going forward.
Existing customers can download the expanded fonts free of charge by logging into their Fontwerk account.
|
|
You may remember that in our last newsletter we announced that Neue DIN now conforms to the upcoming new DIN standard, DIN 91379*.
This is just one example of how we can customize and hone our typefaces to help make them work harder and better for you. If there is a Fontwerk typeface that needs a tweak or adjustment to fit your brief, we’d be delighted to help!
Or if you’re in the market for a completely brand new custom font, we can also do that too. Do get in touch, we would love to help.
*Not sure what DIN 91379 actually means?
Put simply DIN 91379 is a standard that will require German authorities and organizations to recognize and machine-read a normative subset of the Latin Unicode character set in the exchange of data between authorities or with citizens and business. You can read more about it in our previous Werknews.
|
|
We were surprised (and a little bit delighted) to see our name appear in the ADCE’s brand new European Creative Rankings for 2023!
As a very small team, it’s a joy to get recognized in among some huge names. We’re looking forward to seeing where 2024 will take us.
|
|
|
We pride ourselves on working in close partnership with our designers. Giving them the time and space to concentrate on their creative work, whilst we take care of all the other fiddly bits (engineering, marketing, sales, licensing etc.). We are very lucky indeed to call some of the world’s leading contemporary type designers part of the Fontwerk family. Find out more about the faces behind the fonts and how to become a Fontwerk Designer.
|
|
|
|
