Focal
Reviving a feeling, not a typeface
Greg Gazdowicz designed Focal as a revival of an era rather than a specific typeface, evoking the softened, organic qualities of 1970s phototypesetting. The family splits into contrasting subfamilies: Focal carries a small x-height that runs counter to contemporary trends, while Focal Maxi adopts the oversized x-heights that defined the decade.
Set in Focal, Focal Maxi, Focal Text
Insights
- Focal uses a deliberately small x-height, running counter to contemporary type trends.
- Focal Maxi references the large x-height convention associated with ITC and faces like Frutiger's Vectora.
- The source frames phototypesetting's loss of sharpness as yielding an organic, warm quality — something Focal's design reflects rather than corrects.
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