Industry: Design

Typeface Design for Sainte Colombe

A serif designed around illogical shadows

Sainte Colombe is a serif typeface in five weights, from extra light to bold. Its design resists geometric regularity, drawing on deliberate irregularity inspired by the illogical cast shadows in the still-life painting "Le Dessert de Gaufrettes." That irregularity is offset by classical proportions that keep the typeface stable and warm in text settings. Heavier weights gain contrast and require care when combined with color or imagery.

Set in Sainte Colombe

Insights

Glyph shapes were not derived from a single tool, producing a subtle discordance across the letterforms.
The lowercase italic g features a notched stem curving into itself — a flat note among otherwise sharp forms.
Heavier weights accumulate contrast, making color and image pairing a deliberate compositional consideration.
The typeface is named after Jean de Sainte Colombe, a 17th-century French composer and violist credited with adding a seventh string to the viol.