FF Beowolf was born at the end of the dark and murky 1980s when Just van Rossum and Erik van Blokland found a way to change the programming in PostScript fonts. When printed, each point in each letter in every word on the page would move randomly, giving the letters a shaken, distraught appearance. Initially dubbed “RandomFont”, van Blokland and van Rossum created three versions with increasing degrees of potential randomness and FontShop released it as FF Beowolf, the first typeface with a mind of its own.

The technology in FF Beowolf wasn’t what computer and printer manufacturers had in mind for desktop publishing. So, while it worked great (if a tad slow) through most of the 1990s, FF Beowolf was eventually barred from performing its magic: pesky things like printer drivers and operating systems learned to ignore the non-standard. FF Beowolf seemed relegated to mere recollection.

But OpenType technology brought new hope, forging paths in the typetech continuum which would eventually lead to a new generation of RandomFonts. Each glyph in each font has ten alternates and a massive Faustian brain to control the mayhem. Specially developed and hellishly complex software, nearly ninety thousand glyphs, and an army of purpose-built ’bots took days to forge the OpenType features no ordinary type tool could have assembled.




The serifless counterpart, FF BeoSans, is based on a robust face by Just van Rossum. FF BeoSans Hard follows the harsh angles of Beowolf. FF BeoSans Soft is the smoother companion. Each has a bold version and all have 10 randomly generated alternatives for every character.

Put those computers and printers to good use and give good taste the salute it deserves! The FF Beowolf OpenTypes come in 4 strengths. The randomness performs on screen in any application on MacOS and Windows which supports OpenType.