Typeface Design for Altona
Street signs as source material: Altona is an interpretation of Hamburg's Altona district signage as a full display family
A display typeface designed by Albert-Jan Pool, Julia Uplegger, and Antonia Cornelius at TypeMates in 2024, drawing from the original street signage of Hamburg's Altona district. The design references late-1920s constructivism—geometric, renewal-oriented letterforms that suited the district's social housing expansion—while retaining a deliberately unpolished character. Defining features include angular counters, slightly curved vertical serifs (as in C), a stubborn t, and an absence of diagonals with emphasis on verticals in M, W, X, and Y. The family ships in five weights with over 1,200 glyphs per font, including 160 Hamburg-inspired icons.
Set in Altona
Insights
- The absence of diagonals and emphasis on verticals in M, W, X, and Y is cited as a primary distinguishing structural feature
- Stylistic Set 02 adds decorative strokes to uppercase letters and the lowercase k, providing a distinct expressive register within the same family
- The icon set of 160 glyphs—60 historically specific to the Altona district—is treated as an integral part of the typeface, not a separate product
- Altona's characteristic forms are explicitly continued in the companion Didone typeface Alison Text, extending the design system across genres
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