30 Favorite Underused

Morris Sans is a newly revised and extended version of a small geometric family of typefaces originally produced by Morris Fuller Benton in 1930 for ATF. His initial design consisted of an alphabet of squared capital letters with a unique twist that characterized its appearance: corners with rounded exteriors and right-angle interiors. The types were intended for use in the fine print found on... Read More

The Burin family of typefaces consists of Roman and Sans variations. Burin Roman has very distinct lowercase characters b, c, d, g and y with a quirky use of tapered strokes and hairlines. Burin Sans is a light display face with an extended tail on the lowercase y.

Coptek is the work of David Quay and gets its name from the high tech look imposed on the design of copperplate script. The capitals are initials which fit well with a lower case alphabet whose letters join in the style of true handwriting.

Viktor Solt-Bittner began FF Danubia with a study of typefaces from the 18th century. He experimented with the typical elements of neoclassical type – like the abrupt changes in contrast from hairlines to thicker strokes – developing them further, and redrawing them. At times, he departed from these models, for example while defining the basic italic forms. The lower case letters s, v, w, and x... Read More

FF Tisa designed by Mitja Miklav quickly became a new-millennium favorite of graphic designers, in print as well as on the web. Its large x-height and sturdy, well-spaced forms aid its legibility at text sizes, while its low stroke contrast and range of weights allow it to successfully function at larger sizes as well. Since the designer considered wayfinding systems a potential use for the... Read More

ITC Golden Type® is a revival of a typeface designed in the late nineteenth century by William Morris, who was a great Victorian designer, poet, artist, craftsman, social reformer, and printer. In his search for a solid and pure letterform to use in his private press editions, he was inspired by the roman types in books printed by Nicolas Jenson in the fifteenth century. The type he designed,... Read More

FF Bau is a large workhorse family of sans serif typefaces drawn in the “Grotesk” genre. Christian Schwartz is its designer, working under the inspiration of Grotesk types cast by the Schelter & Giesecke foundry in Leipzig. Schelter & Giesecke sold these popular Grotesks for many decades; they were first introduced around 1880. When the Bauhaus moved nearby in Dessau in the mid-1920s, these... Read More

Xavier Dupré designed FF Tartine Script and FF Jambono in 2000–2001, while he worked as a type designer in a packaging design agency in Paris. Dupré just wanted to have a complete font up his sleeve when he needed to whip up a logo for someone. FF Tartine Script is an informal face specially developed for food packaging, but it is also good for logos, or in short texts, or wherever you like.

The seventeenth century Dutch old faces have a distinct character of their own, and were the source for eighteenth century English type designs, such as Caslon. Christoffel van Dijck was one of the great Dutch typefounders, although this face, which bears his name, may not have been cut by him, it is nevertheless representative of the best designs from that period. The Van Dijck italic, for... Read More

Rudolph Ruzicka designed his font Fairfield as a legible text font. His philosophy: "The reader expects optical assistance with reading. He does not want to be distracted while interpreting and understanding the ideas of a text." Fairfield font is based on the forms of Venecian Old Face fonts as well as on the designs and details of Art Deco, giving the font a distinctive appearance

The Slate typeface family melds superb functionality and aesthetic elegance into a remarkable communications tool. Few typefaces possess the beauty and power of this design.Slate is the work of Rod McDonald, an award-winning typeface designer and lettering artist. At one point in his forty-year career, McDonald participated in a typeface legibility and readability research project conducted by... Read More

Chaparral is the work of type designer Carol Twombly and combines the legibility of slab serif designs popularized in the 19th century with the grace of 16th century roman book lettering. The result is a versatile, hybrid slab-serif design. Unlike "geometric" slab serif designs, Chaparral has varying letter proportions that give it an accessible and friendly appearance in all weights from light... Read More

The text typeface Apollo™ was designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1962-64, and was one of the first fonts produced by Monotype for use on their new phototypesetting machine at that time. The legible and robust Apollo has a small x-height, gently bracketed serifs, moderately open counters, and a primarily oblique axis. Frutiger designed the roman to have enough heartiness to produce a good impression... Read More