Industry: Design

Typeface Family for Print and Web Reading

Three optical sizes, each tuned for its point-range in contrast, proportions, and spacing

William Text is a contemporary Caslon revival by Maria Doreuli, released by Typotheque in 2016 and adapted for digital environments. The family spans three optical sizes—Text (7–12 pt), Subhead (14–30 pt), and Display (36 pt+)—differentiated in stroke contrast, letterform proportions, and spacing. It covers Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts, with Greek contributed by Irene Vlachou. Over 200 ornaments selected from the historical Caslon Foundry catalogue are included for typographic decoration.

Set in William Text

Insights

Optical size differentiation extends beyond stroke contrast to include vertical and horizontal letterform proportions and overall spacing.
Nine numeral variants are provided; proportional old-style is the default, but licensees can reassign the default to any variant.
The source credits an ATypI Letter2 Best Typefaces of the Decade 2011 award alongside a 2016 release date; the relationship between the two cannot be reconciled from available evidence.