Type design studio Fontsmith has launched FS Emeric, a new typeface that represents the culmination of over two years’ work by type design director Phil Garnham.
Garnham set out to created a sans serif typeface "capable of adding a fresh new voice to the classic modernist fonts".
He explains: “The timeless alphabets of the fifties have a deliberate neutrality, born out of an unfaltering mechanical solidity in each line and curve. FS Emeric has been designed to share this sense of structure and universality but it also introduces a new approach, intuitively informed by a sense of today, one of progress and optimism.”
FS Emeric comes in 11 weights - Thin, Extra Light, Light, Book, Regular, Core, Medium, Semi Bold, Bold, Extra Bold and Heavy - each with a corresponding italic.
The launch campaign for the new typeface was developed by Exeter branding studio Believe In, whose Founder and creative director Blair Thomson comments: “Our goals with the campaign were twofold — to demonstrate FS Emeric’s potential and to show off its extraordinary range and versatility. We’ve tried to capture a sense of possibility, so it feels expressive while preserving a pure typographic approach.”
The campaign consists of a type specimen booklet, a series of limited edition screen-printed posters and a campaign microsite at www.fsemeric.com.
The specimen booklet tells the story of the typeface through a range of brand applications, including packaging, signage and screen-based design. The finished booklet is crafted with a wraparound cover, printed in 4 spot colours with 2 foils on GF Smith papers.
For the poster series, 11 design studios from around the globe were invited to create a limited edition A1 poster using one weight of FS Emeric. Believe In designed an additional campaign poster, and all 12 have been screen-printed onto 175gsm Colorplan and hand numbered by Dan Mather in London.
Participating studios included Pentagram, Build and Bibliothèque in London, Manual in San Francisco, Studio Dumbar in Rotterdam and Lundgren+Lindqvist in Gothenburg.