Two families for Helsingin Sanomat
A serif and sans system built for a broadsheet-to-tabloid switch
Commercial Type supplied a serif and sans system for Helsingin Sanomat's switch from broadsheet to tabloid on January 8, 2013: Sanomat (serif, 8 weights), Helsingin/Sanomat Sans (geometric sans, 9 weights), and Helsingin Text/Sanomat Sans Text (6 weights), with body text in a press-tuned custom grade of Publico Text. The redesign was led in-house by creative director Sami Valtere and art directors Hannu Pulkkinen and Ari Kinnari.
Set in Sanomat, Sanomat Sans, Sanomat Sans Text, Publico Text
Insights
- Sanomat's serifs were kept short on diagonal strokes in direct response to the frequency of vv and yy combinations in Finnish.
- Sanomat Sans bowls were made slightly asymmetrical to break up the monotonous texture caused by Finnish's many repeating letters.
- Nine weights in the sans family served distinct audiences: punchy bolds for Nyt, thin weights for the literary Kuukausiliite.
- Body text uses a custom grade of Publico Text fine-tuned for the newspaper's presses.
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