Industry: Design

Typeface Design for Karmina Font Family

Built for the worst printing conditions

Karmina is a serif text typeface designed by José Scaglione and Veronika Burian at TypeTogether, released in 2007 and primarily intended for pocket books and budget print editions. Its design addresses degraded printing conditions—low-quality paper, high-speed web presses, and inconsistent ink levels. The family comprises four styles covering Latin script with multilingual support, and has been optimised for varied screen uses.

Set in Karmina

Insights

Large serifs are designed to perform at small reproduction sizes, while a large x-height paired with compressed letterforms separately targets space economy.
Prominent inktraps at acute stroke connections address poor-ink-saturation scenarios; the italic weights capitalise on both the inktraps and calligraphic styling to differentiate from the roman.
Karmina received recognition across four awards programmes between 2007 and 2010: ED-Awards Merit (2007), Tipos Latinos (2008), 23rd Brno Biennale of Graphic Design (2008), and Typography Served II (2010).