One of the world’s most accomplished designers of Western typefaces comes from an unlikely place. Akira Kobayashi began working at a phototype manufacturer in Japan where he had to draw hundreds of complex Japanese characters every week. He was soon turned on to Western alphabets and went on to win awards for his Latin typefaces. As Type Director for Linotype, Kobayashi works with legends of type design — Adrian Frutiger and Hermann Zapf — to update their most important faces: Avenir, Frutiger, Palatino, and Optima. Here we feature just a small slice of Kobayashi’s finest work.

FF Clifford™ (1999)

Though based on metal type, FF Clifford was not intended to be a faithful reproduction. In fact, Kobayashi designed the font specifically for digital use. At the same time, he wanted to maintain the optically corrected size variations commonly used for lead type so that the design would function as a text face in a variety of sizes. So he created three versions: FF Clifford Six, Nine, and Eighteen. Eighteen has more contrast in stroke, narrower letter forms and a tighter fit, while Six is bolder and wider with sturdier hairlines and serifs and a looser spacing.

FF Clifford’s extensive character sets are sure to appeal to the typographically intrepid. The Caps weights contain uppercase letters and small caps. The numerals align with the small caps as do the ampersand, monetary symbols, parentheses, brackets and some of the punctuation signs. The family includes a wide variety of ligatures, both plain and swash italics, and both text and lining figures. FF Clifford Borders complements the typeface with a collection of 18th century borders and ornaments.

FF Clifford received the TDC2 Certificate of Excellence in Type Design and Best of Show at the first U&lc Type Design Competition in New York.

Learn more about FF Clifford, straight from the source. Read Kobayashi’s essay on the making of the typeface. The text and illustrations are republished from the book “Made with FontFont”, which is filled with other histories and visual examples of the typefaces in FontShop’s house foundry.

ITC Magnifico™ (1999)

How many times has a client asked you for something that “pops” or “packs a punch”? Hit ’em with Magnifico. This set of slabs and ball terminals is gloriously formidable. Kobayashi studied heavy wood type and created a voluptuous face that commands attention at any size. Comes in “Daytime” and “Nighttime” flavors.

FF Acanthus™ (1998)

The original concept for FF Acanthus was to create a Modern Roman with a less stark appearance than the French faces of Didot or the designs of the Italian Giambattista Bodoni. Acanthus Regular is inspired by Henri Didot’s typeface used in “De Imitatione Christi” (published 1788) but with more warmth and subtlety which is especially apparent in larger sizes. In smaller sizes the slightly emphasized serifs remain crisp, making the face an excellent choice for headlines as well as body. A set of ornaments and borders completes the FF Acanthus family.

Avenir™ Next LT (2003)

Adrian Frutiger designed Avenir in 1988. He felt an obligation to design a linear sans in the tradition of Erbar™ and Futura®, but to also make use of the experience and stylistic developments of the twentieth century. But unlike Futura, Avenir is not purely geometric; it has vertical strokes that are thicker than the horizontals, an ‘o’ that is not a perfect circle, and shortened ascenders. These nuances aid in legibility and give Avenir a harmonious and sensible appearance for both texts and headlines. Avenir Next is a Platinum Collection® font family, recently released as a major improvement and extension to the existing Avenir. It includes new small caps, newly designed true italics, and a complete new range of condensed weights. Avenir Next is a versatile sans serif family, ready for large and complex projects from books to signage to advertising. Please contact us to order Avenir Next.

Optima™ nova LT (2002)

Hermann Zapf’s Optima was created with aspects of a sans-serif like Futura and a classical Roman like Bodoni. To avoid the monotony of the straight lines of an ordinary sans-serif, the stems flare slightly. 50 years after the original release of Optima, a complete redesign was made. Optima nova is the result of a close collaboration between Zapf and Kobayashi. All Optima styles were redrawn and additional weights had been added, such as Optima nova Titling. Please contact us to order Optima Nova.