New Additions: July 2026
30th July 2026
From the hundreds of fonts we add to the Identifont database every month we chose a selection of the most interesting recent additions, and interviewed the designers about their approach to each design:
Yanone – Sukoon (Fontwerk)
Sukoon is a very readable sans-serif typeface with extensive language support; what prompted you to design it?
I wanted to fill a gap in contemporary digital Arabic typography by creating a humanist, low-contrast Naskh (Arabic text) typeface that stays as close as possible to the traditions of Naskh calligraphy. Many modern-day Naskh fonts exist out there, but most of them are trying to be very expressive in my opinion. I tried the opposite, to make it look as normal as possible, but matching the stroke with what we know from humanist sans serifs from Latin. So the Arabic came first, and the Latin design was then mostly a function of the Arabic skeleton: legible, calm and simple, humanist.
I first started developing design ideas for the Arabic part of Sukoon while I was designing FF DIN Arabic in 2015. DIN Arabic was also based on a Naskh skeleton, but with very tight restrictions regarding stroke and adherence to calligraphy, for obvious reasons. While designing FF DIN Arabic was a lot of fun, I quickly perceived the geometric stroke as a limitation and developed the desire to break free from it and with my next design return to a more traditional calligraphic letter construction.
Sukoon has an unusually large range of ten weights, from thin to extra black. Why did you decide to provide such a wide range?
Again to provide missing pieces for contemporary Arabic typography. Typefaces with such range are still rare. But I didn't start that extreme. Discussing the design early on with Ivo, founder and owner of Fontwerk (Sukoon’s publisher), he encouraged me to expand the range further into the thins and blacks. While my personal excitement is highest for the regular weight, many Arab designers report that they are most excited about the extra bold and black weights. So it was hopefully the right decision.
I like it when a typeface has one distinctive character that will be very recognisable if I see the typeface again, and in the case of Sukoon it’s the ‘y’. What inspired that design?
Not all design decisions can be rationally explained. This is one. For a sans serif of such calm appearance, it was a personal preference of mine. Interestingly, I would pick the lowercase ‘g’ as an expressive character over the ‘y’ any time.
Did you have any applications in mind when you designed Sukoon? It seems that it would be equally at home for setting text or display-size headings?
That’s what type designers always hope, that their fonts perform equally well in both sizes. So did I. As far as setting goes, I see it most used in cultural or corporate environments: wherever the combination of traditional values and modern-day business acumen needs to be communicated. That fits perfectly with the traditional calligraphic skeleton of Sukoon paired with the modern appearance of the low-contrast sans serif appeal.
Luca Pellegrini – LL Electa (Lineto)
LL Electa is a revival of the classic Pica-style typewriter font used on Olivetti’s 1935 Studio 42 typewriter. What inspired you to work on this project?
My interest in the Olivetti Studio 42 goes back quite a long way. It began while I was working on my Bachelor's thesis in 2016, which focused on the graphic design work of the Bauhaus artist Xanti Schawinsky. After escaping Nazi Germany, Schawinsky moved to Milan, where he worked as a graphic designer at Studio Boggeri from 1933 to 1936. My thesis led to the digitisation of another alphabet designed by Schawinsky. During his Italian period, Xanti Schawinsky was involved in several Olivetti projects, including the development and promotion of the Studio 42 typewriter. Electa is also largely inspired by Schawinsky's 1934 Olivetti logo, whose distinctive sharp, angular serifs differ from the softer rounded forms seen in later versions.
Unlike other typewriter fonts that digitise letters typed on paper you’ve written that you worked from the actual metal letters on the type bars of a vintage Studio 24 typewriter. Why did you decide on this approach, and did it involve dismantling the typewriter?
Although I did not dismantle a Studio 42 specifically to design the typeface, I did work closely with the machine's components later, when creating a kinetic installation for the Swiss Design Awards in 2024. However, I did pay particular attention to the metal type slugs of an original Studio 42. Their crisp, sharply defined forms made it easier to understand the construction of the letterforms. Studying them revealed several defining characteristics that I preserved in Electa, such as the angular serifs on letters like ‘C’ and ‘S’, and the monoline construction typical of classic Pica typewriter fonts. Another detail I wanted to preserve was the almost perfectly circular bottom curve of the lowercase ‘t’, which also echoes Schawinsky's 1934 Olivetti logo.
Visually LL Electa looks much sharper than other typewriter fonts, such as Bitstream’s Pica 10, because the strokes have geometrically rectangular ends rather than being rounded (compare LL Electa and Pica 10). Was this one of your objectives in designing it?
As mentioned earlier, the sharp serifs are directly inspired by Schawinsky's 1934 Olivetti logo, which itself can be understood as a display interpretation of the Pica typewriter type used on Olivetti machines.
It may sound silly for such a font, but Electa is the result of 10 years of research and development (not exactly full time but still quite a long process). While designing Electa, I deliberately avoided looking at existing digital typefaces. Instead, I tried to immerse myself entirely in Olivetti's analogue world.
LL Electa includes light, regular, and bold weights and their italics. What did you use as the basis for the heavier weights and the italics? I assume you didn’t have metal letters on type bars for these.
Initially, I designed only the Light Upright style, as it was the closest interpretation of the sharp, delicate metal type found on the original Studio 42. However, once I started using the typeface myself, I felt it needed a more robust weight for everyday applications. Around the same time, a friend graphic designer asked whether a bolder version would be available, which confirmed that there was a broader need for it. That led me to expand the project into a complete type family, developing all the other weights from that original Light design.
The italics came later. Although Olivetti did produce an italic typewriter typeface, it was relatively uncommon and rarely mounted on their machines. By that stage, Electa had evolved beyond being a faithful reconstruction of a single Olivetti model and had become my interpretation of the broader tradition of Pica typewriter typefaces. Rather than following a single historical source, the italics combine influences from several machines, including Olivetti and the IBM Selectric machines, guided as much by my own aesthetic judgment as by historical references.
LL Electa also includes a free set of LL Electa Cameo fonts. Although digital fonts allow you to design a glyph for the space character, most font renderers ignore it and simply give a white space. However, in LL Electa Cameo you can just type a space between words and it gives a black space that joins seamlessly with the surrounding characters. How did you achieve that?
Originally I included a Redacted stylistic set, reflecting the striking graphic language of redaction found in classified and top secret material. I showed the idea to Cornel Windlin, who immediately loved it and proposed the complementary Cameo style. Whereas Redacted conceals parts of the text, Cameo does the opposite, highlighting selected passages.
Creating the Cameo fonts turned out to be far more technically demanding than I had expected. To make the word spaces work as expected I had to create separate glyph classes for the initial, medial, and final forms of each letter, which in practice meant triplicating the entire glyph set. The OpenType contextual alternates feature then automatically substitutes the appropriate glyph depending on whether the letter appears at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. The word space itself is created through the overlap between the extended ending of the last letter in one word and the extended square of the first letter in the following word.
Sofia Mohr – Aconchego (Fabio Haag Type)
Aconchego is a sans-serif typeface in two styles and nine weights, with italics. What inspired you to design it?
Aconchego began with a simple question: Can a geometric sans serif feel warm? Geometric typefaces are often associated with precision, neutrality and rationality, but I wanted to explore whether they could also express comfort, friendliness, and a sense of closeness.
The name Aconchego comes from Portuguese and describes a feeling that is difficult to translate with a single English word. It refers to warmth, comfort, affection and the feeling of being welcomed. That idea became the foundation of the project.
My background in architecture naturally leads me to begin with structure. The design is based on clear geometric principles, but throughout the family I introduced subtle details that soften this geometry and give the typeface a more human voice. The goal was to create a versatile sans serif that could perform across branding, editorial and digital applications while maintaining a distinctive personality.
Like Frutiger's Avenir, a key theme of the design is the circle: the ‘O’ is a perfect circle, as are the bowls of the ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘p’, and ‘q’. Did Avenir, or any other particular typeface, influence the design of Aconchego?
Avenir is undoubtedly one of the great references within the geometric sans-serif tradition, and I have enormous admiration for Adrian Frutiger's work. However, Aconchego wasn't conceived as a reinterpretation of Avenir or any specific typeface.
The perfect circle became the structural foundation of the design because I wanted to explore the relationship between strict geometry and expressive details. The circular forms establish a disciplined framework, while the terminals, curves and distinctive characters introduce warmth and personality.
Rather than following a particular model, I was interested in finding my own balance between precision and expression, creating a typeface that feels contemporary, approachable and alive.
Aconchego Text tones down some of the more decorative features in Aconchego, like the curl on the leg of the ‘K’ and ‘R’, the unusual ‘g’, and the exit stroke on the ‘l’. Did you plan to design both styles from the outset, or did the Text style follow?
Yes, both styles were part of the concept from the very beginning.
Rather than creating a display typeface first and then adapting it for text, I envisioned two complementary voices within the same family. Aconchego Display embraces the more expressive aspects of the design and works particularly well at larger sizes, where those details can shine. Aconchego Text retains the same geometric DNA while refining some of those expressive features and slightly increasing the sidebearings to create a more even reading texture and improve readability in continuous text.
I don't see one style as a simplified version of the other. Instead, they are two interpretations of the same design idea, each optimized for different typographic situations.
I've read that you initially studied for a degree in architecture. Does that influence how you approach type design?
One aspect that is central to my work is the relationship between structure and emotion. As an architect who became a type designer, I've always been fascinated by systems, proportion, and construction. At the same time, growing up in Brazil has influenced the way I think about form. There is often a sense of warmth, spontaneity and humanity that I try to bring into my designs.
Aconchego reflects that balance. Although it is built on rigorous geometric principles, it was never intended to feel rigid or purely functional. My goal was to create a typeface that combines clarity with personality, allowing designers to communicate with confidence while also conveying warmth and approachability.
Ultimately, Aconchego is about showing that geometry doesn't have to feel cold. With thoughtful details, it can also communicate comfort, warmth and a strong sense of humanity.
Olivier Gourvat – Calenza (Mostardesign)
Calenza is a sans-serif typeface with a hand-drawn look in five weights and three widths, plus italics. What inspired you to create it; was it for a particular project?
Calenza wasn't born from a client commission, but from curiosity above all. Over the course of several trips to Valencia I found myself taking more and more photographs of its street name plaques. At some point, I realized I had gathered enough material to imagine a complete type family.
I've always been drawn to letterforms that were created before they were ever considered typefaces. They have a spontaneity, a freedom of gesture, and sometimes even a certain awkwardness that gives them a remarkably strong personality. Yet they were rarely intended to become fully functional typographic tools.
With Calenza I wanted to start from an alphabet that had never been designed as a typeface and give it a second life. Not as a historical reconstruction, but as a contemporary type family that could meet the needs of today's designers while preserving the qualities that made the original lettering so distinctive.
I like the idea that a typeface can tell a story without ever becoming nostalgic. That is probably the idea that guided the entire development of Calenza.
You’ve written that Calenza is based on blue ceramic street name plaques in Valencia, Spain. Were the street signs hand lettered, and if so, how did you choose between the variations in creating the typeface?
The street name plaques do not appear to have been made entirely by hand. They were most likely produced through a semi-industrial process, probably using raised molds before being glazed and finished. However, the original models used to create those molds were almost certainly drawn by hand, which explains the distinctive character of the lettering and the many variations found from one plaque to another.
When you look closely, no two plaques are exactly alike. The proportions shift slightly, some terminals change, and the same letter can exist in several different forms. You even find occasional inconsistencies in the construction of certain characters, particularly in the way thick and thin strokes are handled. These details reveal that this was not a standardized alphabet in the modern sense, but rather a graphic system that evolved over time.
I photographed dozens of plaques across different neighborhoods of Valencia, then carried out an extensive process of isolating and comparing every letter. This allowed me to identify the recurring forms that defined the identity of the alphabet while separating them from the variations introduced by the manufacturing process.
Calenza is therefore not a reproduction of any particular plaque. It is a synthesis based on many observations. My goal was never to copy an existing model, but to rediscover its underlying principles and imagine how this lettering tradition might have evolved naturally into a contemporary type family.
In fact, this research is still ongoing. Even after the release of Calenza, I have continued working with the municipal archives of Valencia to better understand the history of these plaques, the different projects initiated by the city, and how the system evolved throughout the twentieth century. What makes this especially fascinating is that the concerns of the time were remarkably similar to our own: improving the legibility of street signs, making urban wayfinding more effective, and helping people navigate public spaces more easily.
I’m intrigued that you’ve managed to retain the hand-drawn look to Calenza while making the characters geometrically smooth and perfect. Was that an objective of the design?
Absolutely. In fact, that was one of the main challenges of the entire project.
When designing a typeface, the temptation is often to correct everything. But if I had simply regularized all the forms found on the original street plaques, I think the final result would have lost much of its personality. On the other hand, if I had preserved every irregularity, the typeface would probably have been too unstable to function as a versatile family for contemporary design.
The whole process was about finding the right balance between those two approaches. I wanted to preserve the defining characteristics that give the lettering its identity, especially key letters such as the ‘A’, ‘C’, and ‘N’, along with their distinctive proportions and the way curves transition into straight strokes. At the same time, every character had to be carefully reconstructed with the precision, consistency, and functionality expected of a contemporary typeface.
I think irregularity is sometimes mistaken for expression. To me, expressiveness doesn't come from imperfections, but from the deliberate design choices a type designer makes when shaping certain characters. My goal was therefore not to reproduce the small imperfections of the original plaques, but to preserve their essence, the qualities that give them their distinctive voice and expressive character.
You’ve also included Calenza Poster, an all-capitals style with two variants of each letter in a variety of styles, including crosshatched. Were these letters actual examples from signs, and what was the logic behind the crosshatching?
Yes, most of those alternate characters come directly from the street name plaques I photographed during my research. As I studied them more closely back in my studio, I discovered an incredible variety of letterforms. Some letters featured different terminals, others had more decorative constructions or slightly different proportions. This richness was an essential part of the plaques' identity, but it would have been impossible to incorporate all of it into a contemporary type family intended for everyday design use.
I therefore had to make a selection. The main family was built around the most representative forms, creating a coherent and versatile system. At the same time, I designed Calenza Poster to bring together all of these alternate forms within a single font. This allowed me to preserve the graphic diversity of the original lettering without compromising the consistency of the core family. Intended primarily for large headlines, posters, and visual identities, Calenza Poster offers greater expressive freedom while remaining closely connected to the rest of the family.
The crosshatched alternates, however, are not based on the historic plaques. They were a deliberate design decision. From the very beginning I didn't want Calenza to be perceived as simply a historical revival. My goal was to extend the spirit of the original lettering while making it clear that this is a contemporary typeface. The crosshatched characters contribute to that idea by introducing a more graphic and modern dimension.
Interestingly, there were many more of them at the beginning of the project. As the design evolved, I decided to keep only a small selection so that they would remain subtle highlights rather than dominate the typeface. In the end, Calenza Poster is something of a creative extension of the family, designed for its most expressive applications.