Information
Signifier is a Brutalist response to 17thcentury typefaces. Designed by Kris Sowersby, Signifier’s digital immateriality draws on a deeply material past. Acknowledging the processes and tools of digital form-making, Sowersby worked consciously with the computer to recast the lead, antimony, and tin of the 17thcentury Fell Types into ones and zeros. Signifier emerged from this alchemy with Bézier curves and sharp vectors determined by machine logic and a Brutalist ethos.
- Design
- Kris Sowersby
- Engineering
- Noe Blanco
- Collaborators
- Bethany Heck
- Dave Foster
- Dean Poole
- Kelvin Soh
- Awards
- Tokyo TDC Annual Awards, Prize Nominee Work2022
- Tokyo TDC Annual Awards, Book Selection2022
- Best Awards, Design Craft, Gold Pin2021
- Red Dot Award, Grand Prix, Communication Design2021
- Red Dot Award, Best of the Best, Typography2021
- TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence2021
- Release date
- 2020
- Current version
- 1.009
- Classification
- Modern: Oldstyle
- Font formats
- OTF DesktopWOFF2 WebTTF App, variable font
- OpenType features
- Ligaturesliga
- Contextual alternatescalt
- Old-style numeralsonum
- Tabular numeralstnum
- Alternate Old-style zeross01
- Alternate Old-style oness02
- Small capssmcp
- All small capsc2sc
- Discretionary ligaturesdlig
- Fractionsfrac
- Superiorssups
- Inferiorssinf
- Ordinalsordn
- Capital formscase
- Glyph count
- 956 per Roman style954 per Italic style13,370 total
- Font styles
- 14
- Hinting
- Manual VTT hinting
- Kerning
- Manual kerning11,355 pairs per style
| Axis name | Tag | Range | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight | wght | 100 – 900 | 400 |
Note: We only supply variable fonts with purchases of the full Signifier family.
| Font name | Pixel size | Point size | File size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signifier roman variable font | 12 | 6 | 96kb |
| Signifier italic variable font | 12 | 6 | 106kb |
| Signifier Thin | 20 | 20 | 50kb |
| Signifier Thin Italic | 20 | 20 | 52kb |
| Signifier Extralight | 16 | 14 | 52kb |
| Signifier Extralight Italic | 16 | 14 | 58kb |
| Signifier Light | 12 | 8 | 52kb |
| Signifier Light Italic | 12 | 8 | 58kb |
| Signifier Regular | 12 | 6 | 51kb |
| Signifier Regular Italic | 12 | 6 | 54kb |
| Signifier Medium | 12 | 6 | 57kb |
| Signifier Medium Italic | 12 | 6 | 59kb |
| Signifier Bold | 12 | 6 | 57kb |
| Signifier Bold Italic | 12 | 6 | 60kb |
| Signifier Black | 16 | 14 | 53kb |
| Signifier Black Italic | 16 | 14 | 56kb |