Renowned type design studio Fontsmith has today launched FS Emeric, a new typeface that represents the culmination of over two years’ work by Fontsmith’s type design director, Phil Garnham.
The original brief that Phil set himself carried a bold ambition — a sans serif typeface that was capable of adding a fresh new voice to the classic modernist fonts.
As Phil explains:
“The timeless alphabets of the fifties have a deliberate neutrality, born out of an unfaltering mechanical solidity in each line and curve. FS Emeric has been designed to share this sense of structure and universality but it also introduces a new approach, intuitively informed by a sense of today, one of progress and optimism.” As a result, FS Emeric enjoys a connection to the familiar typefaces that have shaped the world of graphic design for so many decades, while also exhibiting a characteristic humanity that adds energy and personality.
It is available to purchase from fontsmith.com in 11 weights with italics, which together form a ‘Superfamily’.
The launch campaign for FS Emeric was developed by Exeter-based brand design studio Believe in®, whose Founder and creative director Blair Thomson said: “Our goals with the campaign were twofold — to demonstrate FS Emeric’s potential and to show off its extraordinary range and versatility. We’ve tried to capture a sense of possibility, so it feels expressive while preserving a pure typographic approach.”
The campaign consists of a striking type specimen booklet, an ambitious series of limited edition screen – printed posters and a campaign microsite at www.fsemeric.com.
The specimen booklet tells the story of the typeface through a range of brand applications, including packaging, signage and screen-based design. The finished booklet is beautifully crafted with a wraparound cover, printed in 4 spot colours with2 foils on GF Smith papers.
For the poster series, 11 leading design studios from around the globe were invited to create a limited edition A1 poster using one weight of FS Emeric. Believe in® designed an additional campaign poster, and all 12 have been screen-printed onto 175gsm Colorplan and hand numbered by Dan Mather in London.
Participating studios included Pentagram, Build and Bibliothèque in London, Manual in San Francisco, Studio Dumbar in Rotterdam and Lundgren+Lindqvist in Gothenburg.