Serpentine was designed by Dirk Jensen in 1972. It’s a bold design that breaks many typeface design conventions. Taking inspiration perhaps from Aldo Novarese’s Eurostile®, Jensen used the similar letterforms, square with rounded corners, but added contrast to the strokes weights and a hint of a serif on most terminals.

The family was originally released in just 3 weights – light, medium and bold – with corresponding italics. Additional Serpentine designs were released almost immediately after the initial release. Serpentine Sans, for example, was released in 1972 without any trace of the semi-serif that characterized the original release.

While today the Serpentine family brings a retro feel, the typeface remains a popular choice for a variety of display applications.