Articles by Underscore

Essay and commentary on issues relating to typeface design, typography, interface design and developement.

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Introducing bespoke font Plato Sans
January 29, 2019, by Johannes Neumeier

It demonstrates the seriousness of a newly founded design agency to shape their own branding with a bespoke typeface. Design agency Plato is setting out to use technology and a distributed creative network to make quality design services accessible to companies regardless of their size. To verbalise this dedication to quality in their design projects, […]
Underscore year one — and what a year it’s been!
December 31, 2018, by Johannes Neumeier

In this past year so many amazing things have happened it is hard to list them all in just one post. With all these wonderful clients, happy customers and positive feedback I felt moved to step back for a second and review what a lucky first year of business it has been! Inaugural typeface releases […]
From idea to typeface: How are fonts designed?
September 27, 2018, by Johannes Neumeier

Typeface designers regularly face questions about how fonts are created, and rightly so I would think. It is fairly understandable for this obscure profession to appear somewhat mystifying to the vast majority of people — most folks have probably never even pondered the existence of a font or where it might come from. And truth […]
Is the future of Variable Fonts stuck in the licensing past?
July 5, 2018, by Johannes Neumeier

Nearly two years have passed since the initial introduction of Variable Fonts. This extension to the OpenType font format is receiving a lot of attention, and for good reason. In a nutshell, all styles in a typeface, for example light, regular and bold, can be combined into one font file. Neat. But not only can […]
Introducing the Silta typeface — A family of fonts for legible interfaces and beyond
January 31, 2018, by Johannes Neumeier

This versatile humanist sans serif is a modern typeface designed for a connected and global world of screen interfaces, online reading and signage. Unmistakable letter shapes, open apertures, and a typographic repertoire to cover over 200 latin based languages make this typeface family a resourceful workhorse. Owing to its Finnish name (translates as “bridge”) it […]
Introducing the Jozef typeface family
January 10, 2018, by Johannes Neumeier

Jozef is a serif typeface with modern character and a firm voice. Its strong serifs and vertical stress set a strong rhythm in larger sizes, and give it composure in smaller sizes. On screens those details render consistently when set in body sizes, giving the text a regular and even structure. The vertical stress of […]
Underscore webshop now launched!
January 8, 2018, by Johannes Neumeier

Since the independent type foundry Underscore was founded in 2017 a lot of hard work has gone into launching our first retail typefaces and a dedicated webshop. It is with great pride that after much effort and refinement the website now integrates an exclusive webshop! With it, Underscore launches its first two retail typeface families, […]
Interface typography and sans serifs
October 23, 2017, by Johannes Neumeier

It is a fairly easy observation to make: Digital interfaces are predominantly set in sans serif typefaces. Operating systems, mobile apps, way finding screens, they all feature fonts without serifs. Some reasons for this are more obvious than others. Looking at the relationship between digital interfaces and their typography can also offer a deeper insight […]
Legibility in typeface design for screen interfaces – sneak peak.
May 25, 2017, by Johannes Neumeier

My Master’s thesis on legibility in type design is now out! As part of my studies in New Media I designed a typeface family (stay tuned for the release later this year) specifically geared towards application in digital user interfaces. The design of the typeface was supported by a methodical research of the requirements and […]