concept

Conditioned by a calligraphic procedure ancient Antiqua typefaces have a contrast of stroke, a left-slanted axis and diverse up- and down-strokes of pen. Until today these characteristics of the principle of the unevenly wide feather-stroke are comprised in a lot of typefaces. In 1990 Robert Slimbach combined a lot of historical characteristics into the decent and well legible Garalde typeface »Minion«. Hence of it qualities and a wide distribution through Adobe and Microsoft, today the »Minion« is one of the most commonly used font for continuous text.

Towards the – most familiar – descend left-slanted axis, the »Devion« has an axis which is turned to the right (like an italic):

Moreover the familiar contrast of stroke is completely mirrored. The resulting typeface at first seems to be familiar and normal, but at second glance it is irritating though its subtle and intended typographical mistakes:

With its subtle alterations and characteristics the »Devion« tries to reach the same level as its origin »Minion« which is convincing by pleasant legibility through decent characteristics.

Employing new and more strong calligraphic terminals, a lot of nooks and edges, the uncommon right-slanted axis plus the negative feather-stroke, the »Devion« gains self-reliance.

The most popular typefaces are the easiest to read; their popularity has made them disappear from conscious cognition. It becomes impossible to tell if they are easy to read because they are commonly used, or if they are commonly used because they are easy to read. Zuzana Licko

character set

On demand, the ‘up-to-now-version’ of the typefaces is available as full functional OpenType-font.

• Devion Regular