Battling

A geometric sans that deliberately keeps its rough edges

Battling is a geometric sans-serif by Matthieu Cortat, drawn from the Universals typefaces distributed by the Dutreix foundry in Limoges during the 1930s — designs probably intended to compete with Paul Renner's Futura (marketed in France as 'Europe') among modernist sans-serifs. The family deliberately preserves the original models' awkward, rowdy character. Released in 2017 by 205tf, it spans four weights (Light, Regular, Medium, Bold) each with a matching italic, totalling eight styles.

Set in Battling

Insights

Medium and Bold weights include a set of uppercase titling characters decorated with a thin thread of light, extending display utility beyond the text styles.
The family includes roman numerals set as small capitals, a relatively uncommon feature for a geometric sans.
The source model, the Dutreix Universals, was itself probably intended to compete with Futura in the French modernist sans-serif market, a historical context Battling consciously inherits.