Dutch Type Library
4th October 2011
The Dutch Type Library is one of the pioneers of digital type, entering the computer font market in the industry’s first decade along with more familiar names like Bitstream, Emigre, and FontFont. While they may be lesser known than those heavy-hitters, DTL is something of a national treasure in their native Netherlands, a nation with a rich typographic history.
Indeed, DTL lives up to its name. The collection is anchored by revivals of Dutch classics like DTL Nobel by Sjoerd H. de Roos:
DTL Haarlemmer by Jan van Krimpen:
and DTL Albertina by Chris Brand:
Their original designs retain a Dutch spirit as well, whether it's in the updated classicism of the DTL Documenta suite by DTL founder Frank Blokland:
or the rule-breaking, minimalist ideas in DTL Prokyon by Erhard Kaiser:
or DTL Argo and DTL Paradox by the prolific Gerard Unger, a Dutch treasure whose signature style and years of teaching has influenced countless contemporary designs:
Along with making and selling type, DTL also produces DTL FontMaster, a set of utilities for professional font production.
DTL remains proudly independent, providing their fonts exclusively from their shop. Identifont is honored to include the library in our database and present the first alternative online view of this important collection.