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Functional Typeface
Font Family
Compact Styles
Font Customization Options
OpenType Features
Language Support and the Rest of the Character Set
Related Articles

typography

Core Features of SFT Schrifted Sans

SFT Schrifted Sans is a typeface born from a blend of precise design and technical innovation. Explore how its unique features and thoughtful construction make it stand out as more than just another geometric grotesque.

BY YULIA GONINA

January 12, 2023 ∙ 10 min. read

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Functional Typeface

I wanted to create a typeface that could accommodate a wide range of needs, so I had grand plans for it. Of course, the font should have a variety of thicknesses, but that’s just the beginning.

The core design of SFT Schrifted Sans is a geometric grotesque with generous proportions, but there is also a slightly more compact version for everyday use in the font family.

I originally planned to have two types of italics: regular italics and more expressive true italics. But as I continued to develop the font, I realized that adding support for the Cyrillic alphabet was a higher priority. So, I decided to put true italics on hold for now and focus on adding the Cyrillic alphabet to the font.

By the way, drawing Cyrillic is a very complex and interesting process.
We have a separate article about it.

SFT Schrifted Sans: Designing Cyrillic

Explore the process of adding multiple Cyrillic languages to SFT Schrifted Sans, considering local stylistic nuances. Delve into the challenges and creative solutions encountered during this design journey.

Font Family

Designing a new typeface is always an exciting adventure! And this project was no different. I didn’t have to do many sketches because, as I already mentioned, the ideas came naturally. The next step was to figure out what the family should look like.

When you are working on a functional typeface, you first want to find the weight of the Regular style. Just because it will be used most often and if it looks too different from the market average, the user may experience discomfort. In addition, I wanted to go for a pretty wide and geometric modern look. I also wanted to make circles and arches a little squared, especially their inner white space. This way I achieved an expressive texture for the text, which added identity to the font.

SFT Schrifted Sans Regular font in different sizes.

SFT Schrifted Sans Regular in different sizes.

Now, it was time to figure out what the boldest style could be in the font. This is also a very important question because it will be responsible for the headline component of the typeface. So, according to my plan, the “normal” styles should have good readability, and the boldest styles should be visually interesting and expressive.

The boldest weight of the SFT Schrifted Sans font family.

When I finally decided what the Regular and Black weights should look like, I could calculate the parameters for the rest. It’s crucial to distribute the thicknesses in a way that the difference between them is noticeable, but not too big. You can achieve this by gradually increasing the difference between the weights as the thickness increases. If you were to plot the thicknesses on a graph, it would resemble an exponential curve.

All weights of the SFT Schrifted Sans font family.

Stem thickness chart for SFT Schrifted Sans font.

Compact Styles

But my work with this font family wasn’t over yet. It was time to implement the idea of a compact width. Like I said before, I wanted to make it “normal” — and to us, what we see most often is the most normal. If we think about the most commonly used fonts, the first that come to mind are the system fonts (like Roboto, San Francisco, Segoe). They’ve become so ingrained in our lives that we don’t even notice them anymore. In my opinion, they’re the perfect candidates for the title of “normal” font. They have a very similar proportion — they are not too wide, and their letter widths are relatively uniform. That’s what I based my search for the right proportions for the Compact version on. After a lot of trial and error, and wasting loads of paper testing different options, I settled on 90% of the base designs.

But that’s not all. When working with width, it’s not enough to simply shrink all the characters by a certain percentage. To get the most accurate results, you should work with different groups of characters separately and adjust their proportions individually. In our font’s case, we had to compress the round characters 4% more than the rectangular and triangular ones to make the Compact style more evenly spaced. And I also decided to make the characters a bit more open in this subfamily, because why not.

Normal and Compact versions of SFT Schrifted Sans.

Font Customization Options

Let’s dive deeper and see what’s hidden inside a font. To start, I wanted to make it customizable. In fact, all you have to do is change one letter in the font to make it look fairly different. Imagine working on different projects and wanting to use the same typeface. Swap out a single-story a for a double-story one, and you’ve got a whole new look. And if there are multiple letter variations in the font, you can even mix and match them. In short, you can rebuild the font for different projects and maintain their uniqueness. It’s a simple and not-so-new idea, but I only truly understood its importance after talking to font users, specifically those who know about the existence of alternative characters and OpenType features. I just hope more and more people will learn about them in the future!

Different stylistic sets of SFT Schrifted Sans.

Comparison of the default set with different stylistic sets enabled.

But my favorite set is called “Headline” and it transforms fonts into something bold and adventurous. I added expressive, daring shapes for the letters J, j, f, r, t, y, and Л, л, д, г in Cyrillic. I think this set looks best in heavy weights. And I highly recommend using contextual alternates. Since these letters have quite complex shapes, to make them look good in all combinations, I had to add their simplified versions for specific combinations.

And as a little Easter egg, I also drew a couple of specific discretionary ligatures (which are turned off by default). By the way, one of them is in our logo.

Stylistic sets, contextual alternates, discretionary ligatures of SFT Schrifted Sans typeface.

Notable forms of the letters f, j, r, t, y, л, д, г. Contextual alternate of the letter t after r.

Discretionary ligatures fr and ft.

OpenType Features

The presence of stylistic sets is the most desired feature according to feedback from users, despite the fact that many still don’t know how to use them. However, there are also several important features that are often needed.

First and foremost, tabular figure. I have encountered many targeted requests specifically for this type of numbers. I can’t say the same for old-style ones, interest in them is much less. Nevertheless, I decided to include all possible types in the font: lining (default), old-style and their tabular versions.

Then I regularly had to deal with requests from clients to add additional currencies to fonts. So in SFT Schrifted Sans, their list is quite large. And by the way, they have the same versions as the numbers, that is, you can find proportional and tabular currencies and even smaller versions for use with old-style numbers in the font!

Types of Numbers and Currencies in SFT Schrifted Sans.

Continuing on the topic of numbers, miniature subscripts and superscripts must also be present. Otherwise, at least making footnotes in the text will be difficult. These numbers can be found in many decent fonts. But miniature letters are much less common. However, in some languages they are necessary, for example in French.

Interestingly, users are interested in the presence of fractions in the font. I have never seen their real use, but arguing with reviews would be foolish. Therefore, SFT Schrifted Sans has fractions and the ability to compose them independently using the Fractions feature.

Illustration of small figures in SFT Schrifted Sans.

Language Support and the Rest of the Character Set

To appeal to a wide range of users worldwide, a font must have an extensive language support. Currently, SFT Schrifted Sans includes support for over 200 Latin languages and 60+ Cyrillic languages, including localized forms (Bulgarian Cyrillic is a prime example). The font will continue to evolve over time.

Punctuation in the font also has language support. For example, “¡¿” for Spanish and a wide range of different quotation marks (as different countries have different preferences for their use). In general, the punctuation and symbols are quite standard and cover all basic needs. By the way, some signs have a CASE version that raises them to the level of uppercase characters. This feature works if you turn on the All Caps function in the text editor (instead of typing text with the Shift key pressed).

And be sure to leave the contextual alternates feature on! For example, it will raise some punctuation marks (: - – —) between two numbers or use a shorter version of j before certain characters to prevent overlapping.

As a small bonus, the font has a few decorative elements, although quite minimalistic.

Examples of different languages, symbols, and features in SFT Schrifted Sans.

Although SFT Schrifted Sans is packed with functional features, its true essence lies in its design. The connection with users and the emotional impact of the typeface are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of type design. As the first typeface of the foundry, SFT Schrifted Sans was crafted with the intention of resonating deeply, not just meeting functional needs. I designed it with my preferences in mind, hoping they align with the tastes of many others.