Foliant Sans
Foliant Sans is a humanist typeface for knowledge work. With a geometric look and dynamically angled stroke endings, it’s approachable, legible, sincere. The default version mirrors the classic letterforms of Foliant Serif for ideal legibility. Foliant Sans Modern is simpler, for a more graphic brand appeal in large sizes. 20 weights, 1000+ glyphs.
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Foliant Sans Complete (42 Fonts)
From €199.00 excl. VATFoliant Sans – Design Information
We all know the running gag: Knowledge is power, France is bacon. But what is knowledge really? If you expect a catchy adage now, we have to disappoint you. This is a type foundry—it’s not up to us to plunge into epistemological definitions.
What we do know, though, is this: knowledge is fundamental to us. It’s at the core of our identity as humans. In spite of any technological development, knowledge work will continue to be an essential part of human activity.
The essential visual expression of knowledge is the written word. Or rather: the typeset word. In this domain, weighty tomes used to be archetypal shelters of knowledge.
A typeface for the tomes of today
We asked ourselves: What does a typeface for knowledge work look today? Big books have lost the monopoly over knowledge. Thus, it can’t be a font exclusively designed for print. What is the contemporary equivalent of a “weighty tome”?
We looked at reports, papers, dossiers, dictionaries, databases, knowledge platforms, education sites, legal texts, and more, both digital and printed, and—of course—books.
Our conclusion: knowledge today needs to be branded. Sounds counterintuitive? It’s not.
Knowledge needs to be branded
Every day, countless sources of information beg for your attention. With the advent of AI and its ubiquitous hallucinations, a large portion of these sources have become unreliable. Therefore, a font for knowledge can’t be purely functional: it needs convey trust and poise. A dash of elegance, too—after all, isn’t it amazing how graceful our brains handle unimaginable streams of neurons? An appropriate font should celebrate this grace. To top it off, it must be neutral enough to suit any industry that knowledge workers thrive in.
With this idea in mind, we set out to create a superfamily that could handle complex information with ease. A superfamily that would be recognizable at first sight but that wouldn’t distract from the content once you start reading. A superfamily for separating signal from noise. A superfamily for structuring knowledge in the tomes of today. Enter Foliant.
Foliant Sans: a serious humanist face with two flavors
Foliant Sans is the all-purpose face of this superfamily. A low-contrast humanist sans-serif typeface with geometric influences and dynamically angled stroke endings, Foliant Sans is approachable, legible, and sincere. This typeface comes in two flavors, each in its own subfamily.
The default version of Foliant Sans closely mirrors the classic, more complex letterforms of Foliant Serif for optimum legibility and distinction of characters. A three-story “g”, an “a”, “t”, and “l” with hooks, and an “R” with a curved leg are among its signature glyphs. These humanist traits make it a great choice for long text.
Foliant Sans Modern, on the other hand, simplifies letterforms for a more geometric and graphic-oriented appeal in larger sizes. Its simpler, clean curves do have one advantage in body copy, too: the text runs slightly more narrowly, which may easily save a line or two across a page and a page or several across an entire book.
A toolbox for professionals, academics, and journalists
The two personas of Foliant Sans give you the best of both worlds: structure information for professional, scientific, academic, or journalistic work with the default version and elevate the branding value of that information with Foliant Sans Modern.
Both modes offer you a large range of typographic features to achieve these goals. 10 weights, each with manually corrected obliques, loaded with 1000+ characters, make sure that every requirement in a knowledge worker’s brief will be met. Find at your disposal OpenType features such as small capitals, numerous figure sets (including tabular, proportional, oldstyle, lining, subscript and superscript), and boxed and circled arrows and numbers.
You can hand-pick the alternate glyphs that distinguish the default mode from the Modern one via stylistic sets. Both subfamilies contain all the glyphs of the other, allowing for a highly individualized font experience.
All styles of Foliant Sans work well paired with the corresponding weights of Foliant Serif. This applies to the default mode of Foliant Sans in particular. Both subfamilies have the same color and similar proportions. Foliant Sans Modern is little bit more economic. It is also the best choice for branding.
Your typeface—your impact on the world
True: a typeface is just a material. It can never control how technology or society develop. But we can make sure that it’s the right material—for the information that bears important contributions to technology and society. We hope that Foliant can be this material to knowledge workers all around the world.