Industry: Design

Riviera

English modernism recut with Swiss precision

Riviera is a contemporary revival of an early English humanist sans-serif, redesigned by Swiss Typefaces. Key historical features are preserved—the high-center M, vertically cut strokes in a, c, and e, strongly modulated joins in b, d, p, q, m, n, and u, and sharp diagonal vertices—while proportions differ with a wider G and narrower W. Originally released as a single style through the studio's Lab program, the family has since expanded to twelve weights ranging from Ultralight to Black.

Set in Riviera

Insights

The Regular weight was designed solely by Ian Party; all other styles were handled by Quentin Schmerber, dividing authorship explicitly across the collection.
Font engineering was handled separately by Christoph Koeberlin, reflecting a three-role production structure.
The family originated as a single-style Lab release before expanding into a full twelve-style collection, documenting a staged development model.
Proportional differences from the historical source include a wider G and a narrower W.