The typeface was designed at the Polygraphmash type design bureau in 1949-61 (project manager Elena Tsaregorodtseva). Based on Shkolnaya ('School') typeface, 1939 (project manager Evgeny Chernevsky), a version of Century Schoolbook of American Type Founders, 1915-1923 by Morris F.Benton. The low-contrast text typeface of the Ionic-Legibility group, it is designed expressly for schoolbooks and children books.