Typeface Design for Bradford Mono

Ten years in the making, rooted in a 19th-century German Antiqua

LL Bradford Mono is the single-cut monospace companion to LL Bradford, an all-purpose serif family designed by Laurenz Brunner and released by Lineto in 2018. The broader family was developed over ten years, with its primary historical reference being Römische Antiqua (1884), a German design that also served as a key inspiration for Plantin (1913) and Times New Roman (1931). Brunner's central aim was to preserve the physical presence and distinctive character of hot metal type in a digital context. The full family spans 14 cuts.

Set in LL Bradford Mono, LL Bradford

Insights

Römische Antiqua (1884) was the primary historical reference and also a key inspiration for both Plantin (1913) and Times New Roman (1931).
Preserving hot-metal physical presence and character in a digital typeface was an explicit stated design goal.
Font engineering and mastering was handled by Alphabet, Berlin; design and production assistance came from Wei Huang and Selina Bernet.