Typeface Design for Archaism

Designed against distortion

Archaism is a closed mechanical grotesque built on a narrow base, conceived as a corrective to the distortions that occur when designers mechanically stretch or compress typefaces to fill print layouts. The family offers fifteen static styles alongside a variable version with contrast and weight axes.

Set in Archaism

Insights

The design premise addresses a specific production habit: mechanically scaling fonts disproportionately to fill sheet area, which the designers treat as a corrupting transformation.
The variable font exposes two axes—contrast and weight—alongside the fifteen static styles.
The typeface is described as based on a narrow font, with that narrowness positioned as a starting point rather than a distortion to be corrected.