Fatface
→ Beginning in the (early) 1800s, the Fann Street foundry in London produced a few designs in the brand new genre of “fatfaces.” They were intended for short words to be printed HUGE, and for this purpose, they worked quite well!
→ In the 1970s, everything old was new again, but this time the exaggerated proportions of the era infected the x-heights of many well-trodden styles. Weight was pushed to new extremes. Negative space in and around letters shrank to minuscule specs of white.
→ Now in post-Mad-Men-and-Mumford-&-Sons 2020, The 1970s are breathing new life into the landslide of digital typefaces being produced at a dizzying pace. We are reminded of the cyclical nature of trends, but also of the things that don’t go out of style: even texture, and high contrast. Where the typefaces of Fann Street were intended only for a short word here or there, we can now create the entire spectrum between display and text, providing designers with a Swiss Army knife for all their fatface needs.
5 WIDTHS. 9 OPTICAL SIZES. 45 STYLES. COMPLETE OVERKILL.
Cousin
of BLAZE
& Relative
to MANY OTHER
SPLENDID MEMBERS
of the eponymous genre
WHICH HAVE GARNERED ATTENTION