Industry: Design

Swiss Post Sans

A hard switch: new files, zero layout changes

Swiss Typefaces designed a bespoke corporate typeface for Swiss Post over three-plus years, replacing the institution's existing typeface across a vast range of applications—from signage, vehicles, and stamps to websites and apps. The upright styles were engineered to drop in as a direct file swap with no layout adjustments required, while the italics were developed with greater creative latitude as an expressive branding voice. Five weights were drawn, with the heaviest weights treated as core identity elements and the italics designed as a hybrid cursive-upright construction.

Set in Swiss Post Sans

Insights

The uprights required strict preservation of the predecessor's typographic footprint ('encombrement') to enable a direct font-file swap across all existing layouts.
Rather than producing separate screen and print versions as originally briefed, the studio bet on a single family refined to perform across all media.
Tabular numerals were set as the default to serve Swiss Post's heavy use of pricing and timetable data.
The italics use a hybrid approach integrating cursive letterforms (e, a, b, g) rather than a mechanically slanted upright, an approach the studio describes as an increasingly rare skill.