The straightforward design of Zemestro™ is meant to be read. According to its designer, Dave Farey, “There’s nothing calligraphic about it, and there are no defining or identifiable single characters-it’s just clean and simply constructed.”
Farey’s goal was to create a highly legible sans serif typeface that was friendlier than those limited to a single stroke width. Zemestro’s round characters have squared shoulders, a trait which creates visually consistent letter spacing and even typographic color. Terminals are square and clipped at right angles to the stroke, and the slightly condensed characters make the design an efficient user of space. These traits give Zemestro a structured, solid look that’s controlled, but not stilted.
The Zemestro family is available in four weights. Text set in the Book weight has an even color and is easy on the eyes. The Regular weight is more authoritative and also performs well at small sizes. The Medium and Bold weights excel at providing emphasis in text copy and are strong communicators at display sizes. Both the Book and Regular weights include complementary italics.
Farey often chooses typeface names inspired by movies or books. “‘Zemestro’ came from a book on the Russian revolution and is the word for a village council or group of elders, before Comrade Lenin dissolved them all,” he explains. “So this is the first Zemestro since 1917. I thought it was worth reviving.”