Experienced designers know that choosing the right typeface is often worth its weight in gold. On the other hand, buying and managing the corresponding licenses rarely causes jubilation. Reason enough for type designer Moritz Kleinsorge to develop his own, deliberately simple licensing model for his typefaces.
Kleinsorge’s recently opened type foundry “Identity Letters” makes font purchasing as easy as child’s play: you only need to choose between two different licenses. While the “Studio” license already includes desktop and web use, the “Publisher” license also covers the use of the typefaces in Apps, E-Books and Broadcasting. Can you add more simplicity? The price is solely calculated based on the number of workstations. All other factors such as page views, domains, or app installations are always unlimited.
“Identity Letters” starts with a library of eleven accurately cut, high-performance typefaces by Moritz Kleinsorge. Most of them, such as the “Allrounder” superfamily, are already known from various bestseller lists. And further releases are in progress.
“Identity Letters” – that’s the name of the game. In future, the new foundry will also focus on exclusive typefaces for strong corporate identities. That’s no surprise, since (custom) corporate typefaces have already been the central topic in the master thesis [corporate-typeface.com] of the designer from the Lower Rhine.
New font family “Compiler”: Workhorse with console look
Legible, technical, clear—with a hint of retro: Compiler is a no-frills font family straight from the heart of a microprocessor.
Inspired by console typefaces, the humanist sans serif typeface combines a large x-height with striking serifs on certain letters such as i and l. Those serifs evoke the aesthetics of monospace typefaces for programming. Even though Compiler is a proportional typeface, this detail improves glyph recognition and helps differentiate between individual letters. Combined with vertical stroke ends, which allow for particularly even spacing, the serifs make for an extremely legible typeface. (Even in small sizes.)
Brand recognition guaranteed: Compiler is ideal for applications that require a mechanical flavor without appearing offish. You can use it for websites, apps, branding, corporate design, annual reports, signage, and many other areas with perfect results.
Compiler includes an additional subfamily, Compiler Plain. In Compiler Plain, the signature letters lose their serifs and the forms of “a” and “g” are simplified. This way, the shapes are neutralized. The technical impression recedes into the background. Both families can be combined smoothly: you might use the standard Compiler fonts for display sizes and Compiler Plain styles for body copy. For total design control, you can toggle each of the defining design elements individually from Compiler to Compiler Plain and vice versa. Just use Stylistic Sets to fine-tune your Compiler fonts.
Compiler provides you with 8 weights in 4 variations: Upright, Italics, Plain Upright and Plain Italics. That’s a total of 32 fonts. Each style contains more than 900 glyphs, including advanced typographic tools such as proportional and tabular figures (both lining and old-style) or small caps—something you’ll rarely find in this genre. Other glyphs are optimized for display sizes, such as circled figures and various arrows. There’s also a set of glyphs designed for web use: with symbols for shopping carts, hamburger menus or checkboxes, you can implement your web projects elegantly and consistently without relying on third-party tools (like an external icon font).
Powered by highly productive OpenType functions, Compiler is an intermedia workhorse straight from cyberspace.
Glance Sans
Geometric, stylish, and not quite a stencil face: Glance Sans is the urban alter ego of Glance Slab—a strong-willed sans-serif with no frills but a few unique character traits.
Glance Sans follows the design principle of nonjoining parts that made Glance Slab successful. Some strokes may not connect to their stems, creating visible gaps and thus, a dynamic impression of balance and movement. However, Glance Sans has a calmer appearance due to the lack of detached serifs. If Glance Slab’s home territory is large, crowded stadiums and massive sports events, Glance Sans prefers streetball courts, well-used skate parks, and underground clubs. It also adapts to urban work environments from finance to high-tech. Whenever a more toned-down look is called for while retaining the elegance of an athlete, Glance Sans is ready to roll.
In the city environment, versatility is key. That’s why Glance Sans sports 7 weights as well as a complete set of italics. These are not just sloped romans but individually drawn letterforms, subtly referencing classic italic construction for more effective emphasis. Among the 600+ glyphs of Glance Sans, you’ll find goodies such as six sets of figures, circled numbers, circled arrows, and all kinds of currency symbols in two stylistic versions. Glance Sans is a great tool for industrial and high-tech branding, for wayfinding systems in contemporary or modernist architecture, for corporate identities in arts, crafts, medicine, culture, and education, and for all kinds of sports-themed design.
Both members of the Glance superfamily are easily and effectively combinable; both are able to stand on their own feet. With its powerful italics, you might opt for Glance Sans as your text typeface and use Glance Slab for headlines. Or you set large, clean, display-sized lines in Glance Sans and spice them up with a bit of sportive Glance Slab. It’s up to you to decide how to bring out the best in both of them.
