Sometimes two seemingly unrelated inspirations can add up to a completely original design. So it was with Loft, from Paris-based designer Julien Janiszewski. Taking it’s cues from wooden type developed during the late 1800s, as well as contemporary ‘DÉFENSE D'AFFICHER’ (‘Post No Bills’) signage commonly found throughout France today, Janiszewski created a type family “based on a strict hierarchy. I wanted to provide graphic designers with a font suite that would enable them to create systematic solutions."
The Loft super family provides a wider variance of weights than is available in most typefaces. Seven sans serif weights, each with an italic partner, increase from Hairline to Mammoth as the characters extend by building stroke thickness outside the counter. The results are space-efficient lighter weights and increasingly stronger statements as the designs become heavier.
More structural interest comes from the way Janiszewski has handled the stroke terminations. In characters like the e, s, and c, they are cut on the same horizontal plane, while the termination of the vertical strokes and the over-dots of the i and j have been clipped at an angle.
Altogether, the Loft super family provides a battery of options that will fit the needs of any graphic designer.