Typeface Design for Panell

Four weights, seven widths, variable format—brutalism made flexible

Panell is a geometric sans-serif family by Displaay, drawing conceptual influence from new brutalism and concrete housing architecture. It spans four weights and seven widths—Compressed to Expanded—and is built as a variable font to support continuous proportion stretching. Selective rounded corners, asymmetric construction in key glyphs, and forward-leaning italics establish a tension between humanized and technical aesthetics. Stylistic sets expose alternate forms, including shortened terminal arms on 'f', 't', and 'y'.

Set in Panell

Insights

The letter 'o' uses deliberately mismatched corner radii on opposing diagonals, creating internal tension that animates overall typographic rhythm.
Shortened bottom arms on 'f', 't', and 'y' are tucked into stylistic sets rather than exposed as defaults, giving designers opt-in access to the more expressive forms.
Rounded corners appear only in specific places rather than uniformly, so contrast between sharp and soft is a controlled design decision rather than a surface treatment.
The variable font format supports the conceptual premise of stretched proportions across the seven-width range.