Typeface Design for Apax

Constructivism meets grotesque functionalism in a single type family

Apax is a grotesque typeface family designed by François Rappo and published by Optimo. It merges a systematic constructivist approach—expressed through radical, geometrically driven letterforms—with the functionalist tradition of modern grotesque design. The family spans six weights from Thin to Superbold, each with an italic, and includes alternate glyphs for 'a', 's', and 'S' across every style to allow tonal flexibility within a single weight.

Set in Apax

Insights

Each style carries stylistic alternates for 'a', 's', and 'S' via OpenType sets ss01–ss03, letting users shift the typeface's character without changing weight.
Proportional oldstyle figures are set as the default, with tabular lining and tabular oldstyle available via OpenType features.
Superscript, subscript, numerator, and denominator glyphs are drawn slightly heavier than their reduced size to maintain visual consistency with surrounding text.
Designer François Rappo received the Jan Tschichold Prize in 2013; he established an art direction master's at ECAL in 2009, which became the type design master's program in 2016.