The name of this sensation is Sukoon. A word that embodies everything this typeface represents: Silence. Clarity. Tranquility. Inner peace.

The word is understood in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Urdu; it has also been borrowed into Hindi and other Indian languages. In Southeast Asia, the name refers to the breadfruit tree, which in turn is a symbol of frugality, gratitude, deep connection with nature, and community cohesion.

In Arabic, the diacritical mark “sukūn” also describes a state of calm: the absence of a vowel and thus a conscious pause in the voice when it briefly stops after a consonant to create a moment of silence in the flow of speech. The symbol for this is a circle, which plays a central role in the artwork accompanying the release in the form of a spherical object.

Just as language travels across cultures, this typeface is also influenced by more than one origin. This is hardly surprising given the culturally rich life story of its designer, Yanone. The typeface has a character all of its own that communicates across languages through its form, rhythm and restraint. Sukoon is not loud. It asserts itself not through force, but through balance. It takes up space without filling it. It speaks without pushing.

Sukoon can be characterized as a dynamic or humanistic sans serif font. Thanks to its more open and clearly distinguishable letterforms (e.g., double-story ‘g’) compared to static and geometric sans serif fonts, and its humanistic contrast axis, this style is considered the most legible in the sans serif genre, making it increasingly important in light of growing demands for accessibility.

Nevertheless, Sukoon is not a typical dynamic sans serif typeface. The letters M, g, y and j stand out from the standard set of shapes in this type category. The slightly low-hanging waist and the different ratio of large ascenders to small descenders are also distinctive features. These are elements that Yanone drew from the concept of silence and which are crucial to the calm and clear effect of the design.

However, the secret highlight of the font is its language support. It includes over 400 Latin, Arabic, Cyrillic and Greek languages, with the name itself hinting at a focus on Arabic. After FF DIN Arabic (with Albert-Jan Pool) and FF Amman Sans/Serif, Sukoon is Yanone’s third Arabic type design and his most important one personally.

While the classic Naskh proportions in FF DIN Arabic, with their clear and reduced design language, remain within geometric constraints, in Sukoon they were able to be designed completely freely in a humanistic style, thus remaining largely faithful to calligraphy. This calligraphic consistency is particularly striking in the lowercase letter Meem. Other fonts also feature the correct right-hand curve in the upstroke from below the baseline, but they move back above the baseline to connect with the next letter. This usually results in unnatural stroke movement — Sukoon, on the other hand, resolves this with elegance and visual calm.

Equally unusual for Arabic is the wide range of stroke weights from Thin to ExtraBlack. The bold weights in particular regularly attract astonished interest whenever their designer presents them on social media or in person. Other features such as swashes, curved kashida connections and individually selectable ligatures from traditional Naskh calligraphy gradually reveal their magic the more you engage with the font. They are explained in more detail in the PDF specimen as well as on kashida.fyi.

Sukoon is typography as sensation. It arose from a moment of silence and aims to send this moment to as many corners of the world as possible. Not as ornamentation, but as expression. Not only as craftsmanship, but also as art. If you look closely, you may sense a little of the clarity, beauty and tranquility from which it was born.

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Alongside our videos for the color font, Hamster (with SNASK) and the Case Collection (with Susi Sie), the recently released Neue DIN video falls into this category. The idea behind the video was to explore the origins of the typeface used on German street signs through an asphalt-inspired aesthetic, while remaining abstract and timeless. To achieve this, we collaborated again with Susi Sie, who now offers us a brief glimpse behind the scenes. Her work takes place exclusively in the analog world. She uses film, macro techniques, and physical materials to reveal details that normally remain hidden.

Based in Zurich, Susi Sie is an Emmy award-winning artist, having won one for ‘A Trip to Infinity’ (Netflix). For Neue DIN, she recreated the appearance and texture of stones and particles using gold paint. She poured the paint into Petri dishes allowing it to flow freely, as it did so the liquid slowly formed miniature landscapes. The paint moves playfully around the letters, circling them, touching their edges, and leaving them room to breathe.

The result is a unique film. One that is magical, delicate and yet rich in detail. Throughout the film there is a silent dialogue between type, material, and the beauty hidden beneath the surface. The whole process was in fact incredibly exciting and inspiring for us as well.

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GRŌA – the name of the foundation – was derived from the Germanic word ghro (which is the origin of the word green) and the Green Ribbon. Introduced in the early 1990s, the green ribbon is the international symbol for the acceptance of mental illness.

Jana Heinz’s aim was to create an image that conveys openness, diversity and closeness yet that was still convincing. At the heart of the design is a modular construction kit. Four basic patterns, four grid types, two font families and a variable scaling system enable an exceptionally high degree of design flexibility. Constants such as the characteristic typography and a fine-tuned color concept with a focus on shades of green ensure the brand’s recognition value. The large number of application examples – from ballpoint pens to buses – impressively demonstrates the variability and suitability of the system for everyday use.

Jana Heinz chose the strong character of Nikolai, designed by Franziska Weitgruber, as the corporate typeface for the foundation’s branding. It is complemented by the sans-serif New Reason by Newlyn, which mostly appears in capital texts. Nikolai not only carries the GRŌA logo, but also characterizes the entire advertising communication as well as the editorial design of the foundation brochure and the in-house magazine “Smaragd”. With its expressive italics, strong contrasts and carefully balanced proportions, Nikolai gives the visual appearance an unmistakable voice – elegant, yet at the same time lively and approachable.

In addition to its visual quality, the corporate design was particularly convincing due to its suitability for everyday use. It also enables non-experts to create media content quickly and consistently - a deliberate focus, as communication tasks in foundations, associations and smaller organizations are often solved decentrally. So it’s no wonder that Jana Heinz’s work was awarded the Junior Corporate Design Prize shortly after publication. The jury was impressed. They praised the concept as “well-thought-out down to the last detail” and spoke of a “construction kit that invites experimentation”. The result is an identity-creating design system that not only communicates openness but actively enables it.

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The outer fabric is made from 100% recycled post-consumer PET making the material quick-drying, velvety soft, durable, and resource-efficient. The collection currently occupies a previously unoccupied niche, the father-and-son collection and is currently being developed for the whole family.

Behind Noah’s Ocean is Robert Fritze, founder of the Zurich-based design studio Kreativfritze. With over 16 years of leadership experience in agencies and consulting firms, he describes himself as someone who combines a business mindset, design thinking, and a hands-on spirit. At Noah’s Ocean, he has consistently put this approach into practice. He’s responsible for design, development, marketing, and the online store—in other words, almost everything. The brand is managed by his wife, Vanessa Fritze. Vanessa and Robert have dedicated the brand to their son, Noah. A project for the next generation.

For every product sold, Noah’s Ocean makes a donation to selected marine conservation programs that are dedicated to protecting sea turtles and marine ecosystems. The brand shares this commitment with one of its closest typographic partners: the Pangea typeface by Fontwerk. Pangea’s designer, Christoph Koeberlin, always donates 25 percent of his royalties to support the conservation and reforestation of the rainforest. Both projects demonstrate that sustainability, in the context of design, need not merely be a marketing promise, but can in fact be structurally embedded.

To complement Pangea, Robert Fritze drew upon Jan Fromm’s Nice collection, a contemporary serif family with four optical sizes that combines clarity, personality, and readability. In doing so, he followed a Fontwerk recommendation that identifies Nice as suitable for fashion, advertising, and packaging, as well as posters and branding. Fritze: “The combination of Pangea and Nice—or as I call it, ‘Nice Pangea’—conveys both Noah’s Ocean’s premium positioning and its commitment to sustainability.” Two typefaces, one cohesive brand identity.

‘Nice Pangea’ appears wherever Noah’s Ocean meets its customers. At the point of sale at Jelmoli in Zurich, in the Swiss retail chain Duett Boutiques, but also at partner beach resorts, in Zurich, Küsnacht, and Germany. Billboards, shopping bags, packaging, flyers, and wet bags for swimwear carry the brand’s visual identity into everyday life. A unifying element is the slogan “Reternal Love,” a play on “eternal love” where the prefix “Re” stands for Recycle, Reuse, Refurbish, and Repair. Unified by a killer type pairing, attitude and aesthetics coalesce into a catchy message for this groundbreaking brand.

The brand identity is encapsulated in the Love Turtle, which captures the essence of their love for the ocean. It is brought to life by two premium typefaces that share the same values.

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Within the limits of our means, we want to support their cultural, social, ecological, and humanitarian commitment. To this end, we are delighted to offer registered nonprofit organizations and cultural institutions (e.g., museums, galleries, publishers, festivals, libraries) as well as artists a 25% discount across our entire product range.

Yamakasa documents the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival 2025 and translates its energy into a visual language that goes far beyond mere documentation.

The origins of the festival date back to 1241, when the Buddhist monk Enni was carried through the city on a festival float by the population in order to drive away the plague with prayers. Over the centuries, the ritual ceremony developed into a spiritual festival that is unique in the world. Every year from July 1 to 15, seven groups of men parade through the old town with their magnificent Yamakasas: richly decorated wooden frames weighing over a ton.

German photographer Klaus Richter, who has been a constant companion to the rock and metal scene with his camera since the 1960s, received rare permission in 2025 to accompany one of the teams during the festivities. His photographs document not only the procession itself, but also the preparations, the breaks, the sweat, and the audience. They show the pulse of a community celebrating its tradition.

The impetus for the book came from the photo platform LFI Gallery (Leica Fotografie International). LFI Gallery awarded five photographs by Klaus Richter as Mastershot, five additional images as Selection, and one photo as Picture of the Week in 2025.

Yamakasa was designed by Klaus Richter and his son Gabriel. They conceptualized the book as a spatial and movable object. The headlines and texts move across the pages like the Yamakasa carriers through the city. The open thread stitching is not only an aesthetic detail, but a deliberate reference to the ropes and cords that hold the Yamakasas together. With around 300 pages, the book has a physical presence that conveys the weight and power of the festival.

During the preparations for the festival, the men wear stylish Toban Happi coats. There are over 50 different types. The Nishinagare group, accompanied by Klaus Richter, wear dark blue toban happi coats with white characters. Gabriel Richter initially sketched a headline font based on this, but did not pursue it further: “It seemed too contrived to me.” (Richter)

In the German-Japanese typographic design, the typeface Tausend plays a central role and Gabriel Richter was also involved in its development. Its compactness and slightly slanted ends correspond strongly with the structure of Japanese Kanji and their dynamic strokes. Tightly spaced letters create a feeling of density and cohesion, as exemplified by the groups of men carrying their palanquin. In combination with the Japanese typeface Hiragino Sans from SCREEN Graphic Solutions, whose subtle weight gradations could be precisely matched to Tausend, a captivating typographic dialogue was created – without striking effects or cultural simplifications.

Yamakasa is a book about community, trust, and movement. Tausend is not a neutral carrier of information, but part of the narrative: powerful, compact, rhythmic. The project exemplifies how type not only accompanies, but also carries meaning. And how typography can bridge the gap between form and content.

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