Untitled Case
2,690 glyphs per Gradient style—all to make letters grow or shrink across a single line
Francis is a narrow sans serif typeface designed by Nikola Djurek and released by Typotheque in 2016. It combines dramatic thick-to-thin stroke modulation with early 20th-century European advertising lettering as its primary historical reference, balanced by rational geometry for text rhythm. A distinctive Gradient subset offers four capital-only display variants that dynamically shift character widths across a word or line using OpenType Contextual Alternates, drawing on 2,690 glyphs per style.
Set in Francis
Insights
- The four Gradient styles are capital-only display variants that use OpenType Contextual Alternates to automatically select glyphs, producing progressively widening or narrowing character sequences without manual intervention.
- Inspiration is dual-sourced: early 20th-century European advertising lettering and rational geometric structure that regulates text-setting rhythm.
- Engineering is credited to Liang Hai and Roberto Arista, separate from design (Nikola Djurek) and contribution (Igino Marini).
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