Typeface Design for Typotheque
Three speeds of handwriting, one coherent system
Manu is a handwriting type family by Peter Biľak, released by Typotheque in 2016, drawn from the designer's own casual script. It comprises three complementary styles — Formal, Informal, and Emphasis — designed to be mixed for typographic hierarchy and expressive range. The family includes coordinated symbols, emoticons, and onomatopoeic sound-effect glyphs. Multilingual coverage spans Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, and Thai, each developed with specialist contributors.
Set in Manu
Insights
- The three styles encode distinct writing tempos: Formal mimics slow, careful strokes; Informal replicates fast, uninterrupted cursive; Emphasis is a semi-fast, all-capitals style written with a heavier felt-tipped pen.
- Symbols, icons, and emoticons share the same pen and style as the text fonts; sound-effect glyphs use a heavier felt-tipped pen, consistent with Emphasis rather than the text styles.
- Thai script was designed by Sirin Gunkloy with dedicated engineering by Rafał Buchner, reflecting script-specific expertise.
- Cyrillic received contributions from Maria Doreuli, Ilya Ruderman, and Samuel Čarnoký; Greek from Irene Vlachou and Gerry Leonidas.
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