Fontfabric is an independent type foundry in Sofia, Bulgaria. Established in 2008 by Svetoslav Simov, Fontfabric designs and releases lettersets that offer quality and versatility to graphic designers around the world.
One of their most recent releases is Uni Neue, designed by an up-and-coming typographer, Plamen Motev. An updated version of Svet’s original design, Uni Sans, Uni Neue takes a softer and more youthful approach to its silhouette.
A graffiti artist during his teenage years, Plamen told us, “During that time I studied math in school and was really interested in algorithms and geometry. After that, I started working in the field of graphic design. Type design came naturally years after, as a crossroad between the visual and the mathematical part.”
For Plamen, a good font should first and foremost have purpose and usability. “Then it has to solve certain design problems, it must be not only functional but well executed with beautiful bezier curves and good overall aesthetics,” he explained.
Uni Neue hits the mark with stunning curvatures that effortlessly whistle a contemporary tune. Plamen enjoyed working on this project being a huge fan of Uni Sans, one of Fontfabric’s signature typefaces and one of Plamen’s favorite type designs. “Type design is very methodical and every stage of creating a font is really challenging and interesting for me,” Plamen told us, finding excitement through the development and evolution of a design. “It’s like a living organism – it has its own character and problems to solve.”
Redesigning a font that had already seen its own share of success proved the biggest challenge, especially for a young designer with just a couple of months’ experience like Plamen. The extended character set and the Greek alphabet also required extensive research.
All of his efforts resulted in the gorgeous sans serif, Uni Neue. Clean legibility is complemented by soft, communicative lines that demonstrate a modern tone in headlines, editorials, advertising, web copy, mobile applications, and corporate correspondence.
Seven weights with corresponding italics for each offer designers extensive flexibility in their work. Uni Neue provides contextual alternates, stylistic alternates, fractions, localized forms, and tabular figures. Its comprehensive multilingual support includes Basic Latin, Western European, Euro, Catalan, Baltic, Turkish, Central European, Romanian, Pan African Latin, Dutch, Basic Greek, and Basic Cyrillic for impressive global accessibility.
Through March 31, 2017, Uni Neue is on sale for 74% off of its regular price.
Fontfabric currently offers 38 products through YouWorkForThem. Visit their portfolio to see the rest of their work and bookmark it to watch for future additions, as Plamen shared that Fontfabric’s upcoming projects will encompass a wide range of varieties in style and genre.