New Additions: December 2025
31st December 2025
From the hundreds of fonts we add to the Identifont database every month we chose a selection of the most interesting recent additions, and interviewed the designers about their approach to each design:
Léa Bruneau – Ciel (Production Type)
Ciel is a beautiful script typeface, including five weights from extra light to extra bold. What inspired you to design it?
The origin of Ciel comes from a personal desire rather than a response to a typographic need or problem. As part of my graduation project at TypeMedia I thought this would be my last chance to draw a typeface freely, without worrying about its commercial potential or legibility. Since pointed nib calligraphy has always been an important part of my practice, I took this opportunity to draw my first script typeface, including monospaced initials with different layers of complexity.
Ciel is similar in appearance to copperplate scripts such as English Script, but the character shapes are closer to Berthold-Script. Were there any particular historical typefaces that influenced you?
I had no specific historical typeface for reference. Even though Ciel is taking its inspiration in copperplate calligraphy, the idea was not to imitate something that was done by hand, so I designed this type family as a simple typographic system.
How do you work on a project like this? Do you draw initial samples of each character with a pointed nib on paper, and then digitise them, or do you design directly using Bezier curves on a computer?
At the initial stage of the project there was a long time period when I would only draw shapes by hand. During the digitisation phase it was a constant back-and-forth between pencil on paper and Bézier curves on screen. Whenever I get stuck with vectors, I go back to paper with my pencil and it usually allows me to find better solutions faster.
The Ciel family includes the two fonts Ciel Initials Second and Ciel Initials Third that provide double-stroked and triple-stroked initial letters. Are these traditionally used for decorative calligraphy such as on wedding invitations or certificates?
Ciel Initials is divided in three layers of complexity: Ciel Initials First, Ciel Initials Second, and Ciel Initials Third. I don’t think these initials are meant to be used in a certain way; the fact that they are monospaced, and have three different layers all compatible, makes them suitable for any type of use, beyond printing media. It would be interesting to see them existing in unexpected contexts, rather than wedding invitations or certificates.
Måns Grebäck – Cayento (Mans Greback)
Cayento is a compact heading typeface with seven different widths and italics, plus a variable version. What inspired you to design it?
It began as an attempt to try how much black space I can occupy, while still making a legible font and not sacrificing aesthetic value. Having started with the uppercase letters, I really liked how it was heavy and sturdy, while still retaining warmth and friendliness. So that's something I wanted to keep throughout the full character set.
A sign of Cayento's originality is that I can’t find anything similar on Identifont to compare with it. It seems to have a Mexican or Mayan flavour; were there any other particular fonts that influenced its design?
There is something in the expression of the ‘c’, ‘s’, ‘y’, etc. that is reminiscent of Mayan figures. I have never thought about that. So no, not consciously inspired. I have not looked at any particular lettering for inspiration either. However, I rarely look at any text without being inspired by the design of its letters, so of course inspiration will seep in. And it's totally possible Mayan art has inspired me too. The name is created by mixing the words “caliente” and “cayenne”, trying to reflect the warm and full feeling I was going for, so I guess that part has some connection to Latin-America.
Did you design Cayento as a variable font from the outset and then derive the different width instances from it, and were there any adjustments you had to make to enable it to work over such a wide range of widths?
Yes, that is exactly how I did it! I began with creating the width that currently takes on the role as regular, and then from that derived the extra wide and extra narrow; meaning, the font has three main masters.
Most white spaces across the widths are actually exactly the same, so apart from some necessary balancing adjustments, I simply adjusted the outer sides. Given its semi-geometrical nature, the widths could pretty much create themselves after that design decision was made.
I believe the common white space is the reason it has something familiar across all widths; almost analogical to how the eyes of a person do not change throughout age.
Cayento’s large x-height and short descenders makes it idea for bold headings in cramped spaces. Did you have any applications in mind when you designed it?
I usually do not create fonts for a specific end purpose, no. The few times I have done so, I have seen that people find completely different uses for them anyway. I also think that could potentially hinder me in my creativity, to try to satisfy some imaginary client. I much prefer to create something I think looks neat at the moment, and then help out anyone wanting to adjust my work for specific applications.
I do however agree that the font is de facto a headline typeface, and the versatile widths further facilitate its use in both horizontally and vertically cramped spaces. It would be cool to see it used as a variable webfont, where the width of the letters depends on the window's width.
Tor Weibull – Clippy (Kanon Foundry)
You’ve written that Clippy is based on Paperclip Contour, designed by Ad Werner and released by Mecanorma as dry transfer lettering in 1973. What inspired you to revive it?
I first found Paperclip Contour in use on a record sleeve for Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies by The Drifters. At first, I thought it was a lettering work, but after some research I found out that it was Paperclip Contour by Ad Werner. I really liked the design, but felt that the outline style was quite limited in its usage. Paperclip Contour didn’t feature any uppercase letters either, which made its use even more limited. Because of this, I wanted to see how a filled version would look, and I also wanted to explore whether it was possible to develop uppercase letters that would work alongside the lowercase ones.
When I did my first sketches I realized that since all the letters were rounded, it would probably work well as a variable font that could rock (and roll) back and forth with the addition of retalic (backslant) and italic masters. I tested the idea and it worked quite nicely, and I felt that it added a new dimension to the playful expression.
The rocking idea was actually what motivated me to continue working on it. I had certainly seen retalic-to-italic variable fonts before, but they were all done in a more traditional italic approach. I had not seen the idea of rocking/rolling letters.
How much of the design of Clippy came from the original Mecanorma font, and how have you extended it?
Besides the fact that Paperclip Contour was published as an outline font, I think the lowercase letters have a fairly faithful design, with the exception of ‘j’, ‘k’, and ‘x’. The original ‘j’ created spacing problems because of its large hook, so I simplified it to a more Futura-like solution in order to make it easier to work with in text. Since I wanted to implement the rocking feature of retalic and italic, the diagonals in ‘k’ and ‘x’ were not really working visually with the idea, so I redesigned them with the new feature in mind.
The main extension was the addition and design of uppercase letters, and I also adapted the height of the numerals to match them. The design of the ‘4’ was adjusted as well, both to work with the variable idea and to function better across the range of weights. My reference sources mainly featured the basic lowercase letters, numerals, and a few punctuation marks, so there was also a lot of interpretation involved when adding language support and other glyphs.
Finally, Paperclip Contour only featured one weight so I added the four additional weights, and in Clippy I added a small amount of optical contrast between the horizontal and vertical strokes to give the letters more visual harmony.
Clippy is reminiscent of ITC Zipper, which was apparently originally released in 1970, before Paperclip Contour. Do you think it influenced Paperclip Contour?
I can only speculate on this, but it could definitely have been influential for Ad Werner when designing Paperclip Contour. Reversed contrast in general was quite fashionable during the 1970s. However, from what I’ve learned, Ad Werner was trained in what could be described as a “Bauhaus style” during his time at the Academy of Art in The Hague, so I think he was probably also influenced by the constructed type designs produced at the Bauhaus. Herbert Bayer and Theo Ballmer are two possible inspirations from the Bauhaus school who worked extensively with this constructed approach.
My theory is that he was either directly influenced by these works, or indirectly, meaning influenced by work that was itself was influenced by Bauhaus designers. Looking at Paperclip Contour (and Clippy), I think the skeletons share similar construction principles. This is possibly more apparent when looking at Clippy Thin.
I like the way that, as you change from Clippy Thin to Clippy Bold, the basic stroke thickness doesn’t change; it’s just the filled part of the stoke that thickens. Was that an aspect of the design that you planned from the outset?
Thank you! Yes, that was very much an intentional choice from the early sketching stage. It’s perhaps a slightly different approach to weight expansion from what one normally sees, but it’s more closely related to how weight extensions often work in reversed-contrast typefaces, where it is mainly, or sometimes only, the horizontal contrast that changes between weights. Since Clippy only has partially reversed contrast, I thought it could be interesting to see if the same approach would work there as well. Having the weight planning in mind early on proved helpful, and it resulted in some interesting outcomes: new flavours of expression appear in the middle weights, which have a bit of the feel of the E13B MICR font, while the thin cut feels more formal or low-key.