Superfamily

A superfamily is an expansive type system built on a single architectural skeleton. Such system solves complex hierarchy and branding challenges by providing contrasting stylistic textures that share metrics and underlying proportions.

Explore our superfamilies

Kinetic Type Specimen Superfamilies

Common structure,
distinct forms

Shared proportions

Superfamilies rely on a common base structure across completely different styles. The x-heights, baseline alignment, and vertical metrics are identical by default. A serif paragraph sits next to a sans-serif title without requiring any manual optical tweaks. The core proportions remain constant, even when the outer details change entirely.

Expanding the range

Standard families usually just add heavier or lighter weights. Superfamilies cover different classifications entirely. A single system might contain serif and sans styles, widths ranging from extremely condensed to expanded, or cuts optimized specifically for text and display sizes. Some designs even shift in mood, matching sharp, formal angles with soft, rounded alternatives.

Information architecture

Complex designs, like dense app interfaces or heavy editorial layouts, require high typographic contrast to organize information. Superfamilies give you that contrast from a single source. You get the visual variety of mixing distinct typefaces, but the underlying geometry keeps the overall design cohesive. Everything ties together naturally because all the fonts were engineered on the same initial grid.

Rank Rank Rank Rank Rank Rank

Cap

x-height

Baseline

Adjusting
the mood
with type

Style

Finish

A superfamily provides distinct variations even within a single category. The example below shows the same text set in six different sans-serif styles. Switching between a modern grotesk, a classic grotesk, or an informal sans directly alters the texture of the page. Using their soft counterparts changes the mood again, making the text feel more approachable. This setup allows you to fine-tune the exact tone of a layout using only related fonts.

Annual letter · FY 2026 Montreux Grotesk

Another year in
steady hands!

To our shareholders, our partners, and the 214 people who build this company every morning.

We entered the year with modest plans and left it with the strongest balance sheet in our history. Revenue grew 12.4 percent, costs grew slower than our ambitions, and no team missed a payroll, a promise or a deadline worth keeping. We opened two studios, closed one spreadsheet feud, and shipped everything we said we would ship.

None of it was luck. It was a thousand small decisions made carefully and reviewed twice. Next year we intend to be exactly this boring again, and we consider that a promise rather than a warning. Thank you for lending us your trust. We plan to keep returning it with interest.

Signed in Kraków, September 2026 12.4

Gimbal Gimbal

Ganges Sans & Ganges Slab · Bold

Impactful display,
text companion

Stay together

Gigafly — the display voice Variable · wght 400–900 · opsz 20–144

How a system gets built

Before drawing starts, the overall structure of the family is defined. We determine which elements will change across styles and which will remain constant. Core technical parameters like vertical metrics, spacing rules, and base proportions are established first. Stylistic details are developed only after this foundation is set.

Individual styles are drawn as part of the complete family rather than in isolation. Display versions are tested alongside text versions, and italics next to romans. Different weights and cuts are constantly compared during the design process to ensure visual consistency across the entire system.

Gigafly and Glycerin are an example of this setup. Gigafly is designed for large poster sizes, and Glycerin is optimized for running text. The heavier weights of Glycerin also perform well at larger display sizes.

Glycerin — the text voice

Glycerin carries the same energy down to reading size. It holds a long paragraph without shouting, keeps its rhythm through numbers like 1962 and 2026, and when a sentence needs a change of tone, it simply leans over. The italic was drawn in the same room, on the same skeleton, and it returns to the roman without a seam.

SLNT

WDTH

WGHT

magenta

wdth 100 wght 400 slnt 0.0° size 0px Drag the edges of the box

Synchronized families

Tosia Novaminimalist
neutral sans

Pusia Novafriendly modern
spurless

Kasia Novacharming soft
cuteness

Pusia, Tosia, and Kasia are distinct typeface families engineered on the exact same technical framework. While their visual characteristics differ completely, their underlying parameters—including vertical metrics, spacing, and variable axis ranges—are identical. This structural alignment means they can be mixed or swapped directly within the same layout without breaking the baseline or disrupting the line height. They provide the visual contrast of completely different typefaces, but their underlying math makes them align perfectly side-by-side without any optical adjustments.

wdth 75

INLN 20

Conthey
Inline

Building a complex letterform requires stacking different visual elements in a specific order. Historically, this meant working by hand to apply a base color, an outline, and an inner stroke.

Traditional sign writing relied on a strict physical sequence to build up the final design. A painter would block in the solid shape of the letter first, creating a heavy base layer. Once that entirely dried, they would return to pull a thin inline down the center of the stems or drop a hard shadow behind the main form.

Layered typefaces recreate this mechanical sequence digitally. Instead of providing one flattened graphic, the font family breaks the letter down into separate, stackable components. By setting the same text multiple times and assigning a different cut and color to each pass, the final design is assembled layer by layer.

R R R R R R R R

L0 · Conthey Base — solid mass

L1 · Layer — INLN 72 · wide inline

L2 · Layer — INLN 40 · core stripe

L3 · Conthey Inline — INLN 100 · contour

L4 · Layer — INLN 6 · hairline

Superfamily
in one file

X — Width

Y — Weight

400

xhgt 1

Lütschine Variable

The OpenType Font Variations format, commonly referred to as variable fonts, is an extension of the OpenType specification that encapsulates a multi-dimensional design space within a single binary file. Unlike static fonts that require separate files for every individual style, a variable font contains a single default set of glyph outlines accompanied by a series of mathematical deltas. These deltas define the exact spatial coordinates by which individual Bézier control points shift along defined parameters, known as design axes. Standardized axes typically include weight, width, and optical size, though the format supports arbitrary custom axes engineered by the designer. When a specific typographic instance is requested by the operating system or browser, the text rendering engine calculates the exact interpolation of these points in real-time to generate the required contours. This architecture allows for continuous interpolation across the entire defined design space, enabling granular stylistic adjustments while significantly reducing overall file size and minimizing HTTP requests by consolidating an entire font family into one continuous data structure.

From geometric
to humanist

geometric Quick, amazing fox jumps over the lazy dog Bozon

geo-humanist Quick, amazing fox jumps over the lazy dog Qualion Neue

geo-humanist oblique Quick, amazing fox jumps over the lazy dog Qualion Neue Oblique

geo-humanist italic Quick, amazing fox jumps over the lazy dog Qualion Neue Italic

humanist Quick, amazing fox jumps over the lazy dog Quantificat

humanist italic Quick, amazing fox jumps over the lazy dog Quantificat Italic

Sayke and Rayko

classical and futuristic look

Sayke

Rayko

Sayke · opsz 16 · wght 300 Rayko · opsz 16 · wght 300

A superfamily can also split by personality instead of genre. Sayke is a classic didone, while Rayko pushes the exact same skeleton into a sharp, futuristic space.

Our superfamilies

Montreux Grotesk Montreux Classic Montreux Informal Montreux Grotesk Soft Montreux Classic Soft Montreux Informal Soft Montreux Branding Reeti Grotesk Rothorn

A modern geo-grotesk base with varying moods and soft cuts, featuring a powerful geometric typeface and a dedicated logo-creator

9 families

Lütschine Lütschine Branding Interlaken Conthey Conthey Inline

An industrial sans and its display relatives — two logo-creators, a friendly unicase, and a sign-painting-inspired layered family

5 families

Qualion Neue Qualion Round Quantificat Bozon

A geo-humanist sans with calligraphic inspirations and ornaments, accompanied by its rounded sibling, a text-oriented humanist sans, and a minimalistic geometric family

4 families

Paneuropa XXI Paneuropa 1931 Paneuropa Inline

A recreated Polish classic, a modernized yet faithful remaster and vintage inline display cuts

3 families

Tosia Nova Pusia Nova Kasia Nova

Three moods of sans-serif: neutral, modern spurless, and playfully friendly

3 families

Gigafly Glycerin

An expressive superfamily — an experimental display and a geo-humanist sans full of personality

2 families

Sayke Rayko

Modern didone siblings in two distinct styles: classical elegance and futuristic extravagance