Zénith
A revival of a 1936 typeface extended with variable weight and optical-size axes
Matthieu Cortat's editorial serif for 205tf, rooted in his personal interpretation of Zeno—Charles Malin's 1936 typeface cut for Giovanni Mardersteig, encountered in the 1963 Officina Bodoni edition of Sanctum Evangelium. Released in 2020 as a variable font family with 16 styles across Roman and Italic, it spans body text to high-contrast display. A Cyrillic extension adds coverage absent from the historical source.
Set in Zénith, Zénith Cyrillic
Insights
- Variable axes cover both weight and optical size, letting the family shift from steady body rhythm to high-contrast display
- X-height reduces and thin strokes narrow as optical size increases, widening contrast between wide and narrow letters
- Heavily slanted stress axis gives curved letters—particularly C—a distinctive silhouette across all styles
- Italics are only slightly slanted, functioning equally as single-word emphasis or extended readable passages
Related articles
Keep exploring
Related cases
