Norbert is not as naive as Philipp Neumeyer expected.

A collection of extremes, Norbert reflects on how the bundled-together styles of early hot metal type families were enriched by their contradictions — and looks ahead. The result is an unaffected Grotesque and everything you ever needed.

Harmonised without conformity, more familiar than family, Norbert’s three weights are in two widths: Condensed (Schmal) and Extended (Breit), each complemented by Kursiv and Kontra — backslanted — styles. Intentionally, Norbert has no regular width, variable font, or interpolated weights. The character and versatility in identity and editorial work is a result of its styles being drawn individually, individually considered. It is what it is. Not a workhorse, but a typeface that can be delicate and rough for special occasions. As required, or not.

As with all TypeMates fonts, Norbert comes with extensive language support. Philipp was inspired by metal letters on Au Pont Rouge building in St. Petersburg, so Norbert comes with Cyrillics proofed, scrutinised and tested by native experts. Philipp hopes you care about Norbert’s extensive range of arrows (because he does!).

TypeMates is a German type foundry launched by Jacob Runge, Lisa Fischbach and Nils Thomsen. Among the clients of the studio are Die Zeit, Red Bull TV, Lufthansa Magazine.

The author of the typeface is Philipp Neumeyer, an independent type designer who worked with LucasFonts and Playtype. In January 2020, we talked with Philipp about his work and relations with type design.

Buy Norbert
from $72 on type.today

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