Type Designer · Designer
Creative Boom’s 2026 roundup by Tom May highlights 15 typefaces that designers continue to use and admire, from timeless classics like Helvetica and Futura to newer, accessibility-driven fonts like Inclusive Sans. The article reflects ongoing trends toward functional, inclusive, and personality-rich type design, showing how both heritage and innovation coexist in contemporary typography.
The article introduces Sociotype’s new type families, Ceno and Meso, a sans and serif pair sharing structural DNA inspired by Edward Johnston’s London Underground lettering. Designed by Joe Leadbeater, the project explores the interplay between humanist tradition and modern digital flexibility through a variable font that interpolates between sans and serif. The piece details the design process, historical influences, and technical development behind the two-year project.
The Brand Identity features Order Type Foundry’s new sans serif typeface, Haltung, designed by Auckland-based Joe Moore. Drawing from the teachings of Walter Käch, Adrian Frutiger, and Emil Ruder, Haltung balances historical influences with a contemporary, airy aesthetic. The typeface offers seven weights with italics and aims to bring a lighter, expressive tone to neo-grotesk design.
The article is a guest feature by type designer Erkin Karamemet, translated and contextualized by Ferdinand Ulrich, exploring the conceptual and historical background of his new typeface Modena. It traces the geometric and typographic lineage of square-based letterforms, referencing figures like Piet Hein, Alessandro Butti, and Hermann Zapf. Karamemet discusses Modena’s design process, variable font structure, and the balance between optical correction and geometric precision.
The Brand Identity interviews Lausanne-based studio Omnigroup, founded by Leonardo Azzolini and Simon Mager, about their collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to design. They discuss their focus on typography, identity, and book design, their type foundry Omnitype, and collaborations such as the ABC Walter typeface with Dinamo. The conversation explores their working methods, creative culture in Lausanne, and the importance of collaboration and material experimentation.
The Brand Identity features creative director Nikos Georgópoulos’ visual identity for 115-119 Wallis Road, a regeneration project in Hackney Wick led by architecture firm Pollard Thomas Edwards. The identity embraces a ‘back-to-basics’ and lo-fi aesthetic, using brown and blue stripes and classic typefaces Helvetica and Avenir to reflect the area’s creative, unpolished character. The project aims to engage the local community and counter perceptions of gentrification through an authentic, unslick design approach.
The Brand Identity interviews Briton Smith about launching Family Type and its first release, the variable typeface Universal Sans. Smith discusses his transition from OMSE and OMSETYPE, the technical and creative challenges of designing a variable typeface, and his vision for the future of type design in digital and AR contexts.