Industry: Design

Typeface Design for Essay Text

Renaissance reference without Renaissance nostalgia

Essay Text is a serif text family by Ellmer Stefan, designed primarily for book setting. The roman draws on French Renaissance letterform archetypes while discarding historical ornament, and the italic is treated as a formally independent text face rather than a cursive companion to the roman. Structural choices—a slight slant on the roman, mixed open and closed apertures, and organic strokes against a straight baseline—are cited by the foundry as supporting continuous reading.

Set in Essay Text

Insights

The italic deliberately minimises cursiveness so it functions as a distinct text face, recalling pre-mating Renaissance practice where roman and italic coexisted independently.
The foundry cites a slight slant on the roman, combined with open and closed apertures and organic counters against a fully straight baseline, as the structural choices supporting book setting.
The family name derives from the literary sense of 'essay'—attempt or trial—framing the design as an argued position on reading, calligraphy, and historical deviation.
Released in 2014, the family received recognition that year from Communication Arts, Typographica, Typefacts, FontShop, ISTD, and Rutenia, and was a finalist in the ED Awards.