Arteria Compress

Condensed typefaces are in a class of their own in the history of typography, in the sense that they are not designed to be read, but seen. This genre appeared in the early industrial era, probably both on the facades of buildings, shop fronts, as well as on the first “advertising” posters. This sums up the dilemma of the Arteria project!

Historical references

On the one hand, this typeface evokes the way in which capitals are used in Italian public spaces: on shop fronts, public buildings, most often heavily spaced, featuring vernacular letterforms. On the other hand, Arteria evokes the wood type style used in posters or seen in advertising billboards. These two influences are not so far apart, because they are both simplified designs, easy to execute by hand, based on a geometrical construction, although not strictly mathematical. In addition, the recurring alignments of certain shapes and endings are common to both references.

Arteria design features

The intention with Arteria was to design a condensed typeface, which by compatible alignments between the nine weights reinforces the graphic consistency in layouts. In order to reveal the human aspect, Arteria’s design is not mechanical. For example, the round letters such as C, G, O, e, p… do not use strictly straight stems. They use almost straight, taut curves that are not rectilinear. Arteria draws its references from vernacular lettering, which is rational in its construction. The result is a fluid design, in tension as if to better evoke the humanity of the brushstroke of the letter painter, or wood type which through its use becomes imperfect, and more beautiful.

Arteria includes alternate glyphs, such as the top-rounded A, a reference to Italy when the typeface family is used in lighter weights. Other variants are there to reaffirm the density, especially in heavier weights, such as C and c, J. Small capitals, unusual for a condensed typeface, are drawn higher than the lower case in order to enhance the setting of capitals followed by small capitals in titling. Via an OpenType feature, these small capitals can switch capitals in association with lower case letters. A headline using these reduced capitals, followed by lower case letters, spontaneously reinforces the presence of the word and its impact.

➽ Discover the Arteria mini-site