Typeface Family for Magazine and Web
Designed as a single voice for an entire magazine
Lava was originally designed at Typotheque — with Peter Biľak leading the Latin and Greek — as the sole typeface for Works That Work magazine, optimised for long-form reading at 8–12 points across both digital and print editions. Its Latin and Greek letterforms prioritise legibility through large counters, open apertures, and generous vertical proportions, while remaining sophisticated at display sizes. The family has since expanded to cover more than 20 writing systems — from Arabic and Devanagari to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Canadian Syllabics — each drawn by specialist designers. A variable font version automates size-specific tracking, with spacing and kerning tuned separately for approximately 6pt, 10pt, and 48pt at a 40 cm viewing distance.
Set in Lava
Insights
- Each script required independent rethinking of horizontal and vertical proportions and stroke weight to balance overall text density across writing traditions.
- The variable font implements automatic optical tracking triggered by the user's selected size, informed by a year-long research process into optical spacing.
- Nine numeral styles per weight are included, with the default set to proportional old-style figures; licensees can choose their preferred default variant.
- Lava Math ships as a separate font file with the complete package, using the OpenType MATH table and including math italics, bold, and bold italic variants for Latin and Greek.
Related articles
1 / 4Swipe
Keep exploring
Related cases
