Skeleton, pen, metrics, setting
Letters are drawn, not chosen.
A small foundry drawing text faces for people who read for a living. Every family starts as a skeleton and a pen angle, and every decision after that is a number you can argue with.
Ductus Text
Five weights, drawn one at a time.
Light
For anything set larger than a headline, where a text stem goes muddy.
Regular
Drawn first and drawn longest. Every other weight is an argument with this one.
Medium
The weight that survives being printed small on uncoated stock.
Bold
Wide enough in the counters that it still reads at a glance, not just darkens.
Black
Poster weight. The counters are drawn open on purpose, so it never fills in.
How it was drawn
The skeleton
Every letter starts as a centreline, not as an outline. Draw the outline first and you spend the rest of the family fighting it, because the shape stops being a movement and becomes a silhouette.
The pen
Thickness is a function of direction. A vertical stroke gets the whole stem, a horizontal gets the contrast value of it, and everything between is interpolated. That single rule gives a family its voice.
The metrics
A large x-height reads better small and worse long. This one is 512 of 1000, which is a text face admitting it will spend its life in a paragraph rather than on a wall.
The axis
Five weights, drawn rather than interpolated from two masters. The counters open as the stems thicken, which is why the Black still reads instead of turning into five black bricks.
Licensing
| Desktop | 80 EUR per weight | Five workstations, perpetual, no renewal. |
|---|---|---|
| Web | 120 EUR per weight | One domain, 500k monthly pageviews, self hosted. |
| Family | 640 EUR | All five weights, desktop and web, one studio. |
| Commission | From 9,000 EUR | A face drawn for one client, exclusive for three years. |
Trials are unlimited and unwatermarked for anything unpublished. If it is going to press or to production, buy the licence. That is the whole enforcement policy.
Enquiries
Trials, custom cuts, extended character sets, and the awkward question about whether it will work at six point. All of it goes to one inbox and gets answered by the person who drew it.
Rue du Marais 41, Brussels