The history of font development over the last five hundred years can be seen as a gradual evolution, starting with the calligraphic strokes of the Renaissance masters and ending with the wide variety of different typefaces found today. From simpler serif and sans serif to complex lyrical lettering, the different “font species” have grown from a number of influences, some of them many thousands of years old.

While printers like Claude Garamond concentrated on a legible type suitable for book production, other artists continued to exercise their calligraphic skills; thus, calligraphy is still a cornerstone of type production in the modern age. With the advent of the Hell Digiset, PostScript and other digital typeface production methods, calligraphy entered a new and potentially more challenging era.

Calligraphically-infused cursive fonts like Genial require a very special approach and a skilled typographer to ensure that swashes and glyphs meld with one another effectively. When a word is written in the Genial font family, for example, the letterforms join together almost seamlessly. The number of variations in each font required to make this happen can be extensive.

Consisting of Medium, Fat, Light and Black weights, the Genial font is a surprisingly legible cursive typeface suitable for many design projects, from the formal to the more relaxed.

A script face like Genial has many potential uses both online and offline. The potential for modification in design is endless, particularly in modern styles like grunge in which a primarily lighter, more whimsical font can be transformed into a more distressed creation. Alternatively, the font can be placed in a light hearted setting and used as the basis for a tranquil theme.

Suggested uses for Genial might include book covers, formal invitations to weddings and other events, menus, logos and corporate identities and – because of the font’s surprising clarity – signage.