Novaform

Bold. Innovative. Rigorous. In 1970, Herb Lubalin was tasked with creating a logo for the seminal art journal, “Avant Garde”. This job eventually led him to design an entirely new display typeface. To this end, he took staples of the genre from almost half a century before, such as Futura and Kabel, and dressed them up in a flashy, broadway-ready design system. Unlike its older relatives, the resulting new typeface wasn’t suited to body copy—a trait it emphasized by means of numerous interlocking ligatures that were outrageous back then—and perfect for creating logos and titles. Paul McNeil has called Lubalin’s Avant Garde Gothic “the definitive typeface of the phototypesetting era”. Another half-century later, we asked ourselves: what would lead the idea out of the phototypesetting and into our digital era?

At Identity Letters, we’ve always revered the innovation and pioneering spirit of Lubalin’s work. However, handling a 1970s display-oriented Kabel-Futura offspring wasn’t an easy task back then. It still isn’t for the typesetters of today. An ungainly lowercase and an overly rigid design decisions don’t adapt well to infinite scaling and transformation possibilities (actually, that problem already arose in phototypesetting, too). Many designers struggle with applying it the right way. Problems emerge. Where exactly do you reach the tipping point between title and text, between identity and legibility? A good contemporary typeface should make questions like this easy to answer—or make them obsolete altogether.

Thus, Novaform is our contemporary answer to 1970s geometric type design systems. The circle remains the defining element, making for a wide “O” and “o” and a narrow “U” and “n”—and overall classical proportions. Small counters and narrow apertures stress the graphic origins of the design concept. However, Novaform was created with versatility in mind, not relentless geometry. Both the most extreme forms and the exaggerated x-height have been toned down, and some glyph forms have been nudged towards a more approachable Grotesk style. That way, the typeface retains the highly stylized soul of its ancestors while also allowing for confident and legible body copy. Novaform looks and reads more natural, but still radiates the optimistic spirit of the pioneering ideas that inspired it.

As mentioned, interlocking caps were a hallmark of phototypesetting over 50 years ago. They were so in demand that even in lead type, corresponding ligature punches were cut. Sure enough, Novaform picks up this display-oriented feature and provides you with an array of 40+ ligatures, carefully balanced for immediate use. Navigate through the stylistic sets and spice up your logos with a single click! There are also 40 stylistic alternates for caps (“leaning caps”) that will help you create your own ligatures for crisp wordmarks and titles. Novaform doesn’t stop here, though, and introduces another display mode: Unicase. It replaces a selection of uppercase letters with their reproportioned lowercase equivalents, generating a fascinating mixed-case look for exhilarating display applications.

Each of the 20 styles of Novaform—ranging from a stylish Hairline to a hefty Black—totals 850 glyphs. Among them, you’ll find 7 sets of numerals, four additional variants of arrows and figures (boxed and circled, positive and negative), stylistic alternates for both lowercase and uppercase letters (such as a double-story “a” and a simple “t”), and localized and case-sensitive forms.

If “Avant Garde” magazine were still around today, we’d love to see a relaunch with Novaform. But this geometric font family is too versatile to be only used in art journals. Its flexibility and OpenType functions make it a valuable addition to any design system in packaging, publication, and identity design. A less stylized and more accessible appearance lets it tread both commercial and artistic ground gracefully. Novaform shines in industries as diverse as health, computing, education, law, technology, communication, professional services, transportation, entertainment, food, beverages, and fashion. You can fine-tune its flashiness as you like. That way, both competitive consumer-oriented as well as serious B2B markets will provide you with ample opportunity to display the strengths of Novaform.

Imagining new forms is at the essence of graphic design and type design. It is the heart and soul of a decades-old design system that is now transferred to the 21st century. We hope you embrace the possibilities Novaform offers and grace the world with the new forms that flow from your own imagination.