Industry: Design

Typeface Design for Empirica

Magazine headline commission, six weights with italics

Empirica is a typeface family by Tobias Frere-Jones and Nina Stössinger, with contributions from Fred Shallcrass. It began as a magazine headline commission drawing on Roman and French typographic influences. The family comprises six weights, each with matching italics and short-descender alternates.

Set in Empirica

Insights

Short-descender alternates are included alongside standard cuts, a feature consistent with the family's headline commission origins.
Roman and French typographic traditions are cited as dual influences, pointing to a hybrid serif sensibility.