Fang

Fang is an ode to the Roman letter. A crisp display serif that feels familiar but new. To be fair: “familiar but new” is jargon you’ve probably read about 1000 fonts. So what makes Fang, Fang?

First: it borrows a three-way contrast structure from calligraphic letters written with a flat brush. Thick strokes, thinner strokes, and hairline stroke endings combine into letters that have a handmade touch—accented further by an absence of ruler-straight lines. Inspiration for letterforms comes from a variety of historical sources: two-millennia old Roman engravings, French Baroque printing types, and the lettering work of midcentury lettering artist Helmut Salden, to name a few. What they hold in common is that they produced some of the most elegant takes on our familiar alphabet ever, all of which converge in Fang.

There is a deliberate contrast between the Roman and the Italic. The Roman is formal, wide, static. The italic is based on a quicker, cursive calligraphic hand than the Roman’s slow and deliberate strokes, and much narrower. Combined, the two form a dramatic contrast, while still clearly united through the logic of their writing instrument.