Typeface Design for Lineto

Rounded by hand, not by algorithm

LL Unisoft77 is a rounded companion to Unica77, designed by Luca Pellegrini between 2023 and 2025 and published by Lineto in 2026, with font engineering and mastering by Alphabet, Berlin. Rather than leaving letterforms otherwise unaltered after rounding—a problem the source notes in Helvetica Rounded—Pellegrini redrew each glyph individually, adjusting skeleton and contrast so that terminals resolve cleanly under optical rather than mathematical criteria. The family spans six of Unica77's seven regular weights, omitting the thinnest, plus an extra black weight added after testing demonstrated its graphic effectiveness.

Set in LL Unisoft77, Unica77

Insights

Rounded terminals follow optical criteria rather than mathematical principles, distinguishing the approach from automated rounding.
The thinnest Unica77 weight was excluded because minimal rounding produced insufficient visual effect at that extreme.
An extra black weight was added after extensive testing revealed its graphic effectiveness.
Berthold's Akzidenz Grotesk Buch Rounded (1980), overseen by Günter Gerhard Lange, is cited as a precedent for glyph-level reconsideration to match altered terminals.