Oldschool Grotesk is growing into an extensive type system. With three new widths, Compressed, Condensed and Compact, the family now comprises 40 individual fonts. The Classic styles were refined and revised in an act of balancing a steady rhythm with carefully placed offbeat punches.
All styles in a single font file. This new font format makes it possible to find just the right font style on an infinite spectrum. Fine-tune your preferred weight and width, or pick a pre-defined font instance as you would normally. This site was developed using a single Variable Font.
Oldschool Grotesk includes several features and typographic niceties to make the typeface suitable for a wide range of applications. Tabular and old-style figures, circled numerals, arrows, symbols, currency signs, alternative glyphs and more. Take a look at the PDF specimen to learn more.
Oldschool Grotesk was designed by William Montrose and engineered by Sebastian Losch. The Visual Synthesizer site was designed and developed by Lucas Hesse. Audio support comes from Klasse Wrecks who generously allowed us to include “Bail-E” from Mr. Ho and Moogwa’s current EP 義理.
In the lightest weights, the black junctions make the texture sparkle, while in darker weights, the small curves mimic the soft puffiness that is often observed in wood-type printing. On a more abstract level, imagine covering a letter with a plastic sheet and sucking out the air. The result would likely be similar. The plastic could not wrap around as tightly as it wants, leaving pockets of air within the letter.
Oldschool Grotesk offers a range of stylistic alternates that can be exchanged to achieve a more conventional or constructed appearance. The alternative characters can be activated individually or together and work in most browsers, graphic design and publishing applications. In addition, you will find Compact Umlauts that handle tight line spacing better than their default counterparts.
The proportions of certain letters differ across the four widths. Oldschool Grotesk Classic follows a more geometric, classical construction principle. This can be observed in wide, round letters like C, O, and G, while letters with a smaller curve radius like S are comparatively narrow. The Compact, Condensed and Compressed styles are more regularized and even.
All Kilotype fonts support more than 400 African, American, Asian, European, and Oceanic languages using the Latin alphabet. For a complete list, take a look at the PDF specimen below. You can also visit our website and use the search tool to find your language.
The concept for Oldschool Grotesk was born from the Air style, and its distinct transitions. A subtle, yet unusual feature that proved difficult to maintain throughout the design phase, due to to its delicacy and the limitations of describing a curve on a grid. If you ever see it in use please send us an email. :)