Typeface Design for Lineto

Eight cuts of the same grid, each revealing a different layer

Designed by Cornel Windlin and released by Lineto in 1999, with font engineering and mastering by Alphabet, Berlin. Thermo is a family of eight fonts derived from FF LuggageTag, a modular typeface built on a grid system originally released on the FontFont label. Where FF LuggageTag keeps all grid lines visible, each Thermo font selectively highlights either vertical or horizontal cross-sections. LL Thermo Uno shows all grid lines in use; LL Thermo Zero produces a solid, outlined font with no visible grid interference.

Set in LL Thermo

Insights

FF LuggageTag served as the direct starting point; rather than redesigning from scratch, the Thermo series was built by varying which grid lines each font exposes.
LL Thermo Uno and LL Thermo Zero function as opposites within the same skeleton — one showing every active grid line, the other suppressing them entirely into a solid outline.