Typeface Design for Harrison Serif
A slab serif engineered for screens, refined for print
Harrison Serif is a contrasted slab serif designed by Jakob Runge in 2017, balancing rational structure with warmth through slightly carved serifs, squarish curves, open counters, and a generous x-height. It was drawn primarily for long-form screen reading and user interfaces, with refined details that also reward high-resolution print. The family spans nine weights from Hair to Ultra, each with an italic that sits between a true italic and an oblique.
Set in Harrison Serif
Insights
- Italics are deliberately hybrid—neither fully cursive nor purely slanted—to span expressive and sober registers within a single family.
- According to the foundry, near-mechanical vertical terminals, open counters, modest capitals, and a generous x-height work together to keep the typeface legible on screen.
- Stylistic Set 01 adds serifed alternates for c and s in the upright, and sturdier g, v, w, y in the italic, allowing tonal adjustment without switching faces.
- The family received a TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence in 2018, one year after its release.
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