URW is one of the most notable (if not the most notable) type foundries in the world. The original iteration of URW, which began as Unternehmensberatung Rubow Weber, was established all the way back in 1972. Over the years that have passed since, the Hamburg-based company has remained at the forefront of type design and digital font technology. As the developers of the IKARUS type design and production software, which has been licensed by foundries throughout the world, URW is an absolute leader in its field.
URW has seen a great deal of success with their corporate type development and software products, in particular. The company has also set itself apart from the rest by their extensive portfolio of non-Latin typefaces. To meet the needs of a truly global design market, URW employs native speakers and designers for their multilingual non-Latin type designs, including Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. Many of their Latin typefaces are also made available in Greek and Cyrillic, making their fonts especially useful for any designer who’s working on projects aimed at a worldwide stage.
As the chief type designer and type director at URW, Volker Schnebel is a man living his dream career. After his fine art studies at university drew to a close, Volker joined URW. At the time, IKARUS was a brand new software that was just beginning to edge over the horizon, and Volker actually began his career with URW by aiding in its development. It didn’t take long before he became an expert; after IKARUS became the industry standard for digital typeface development, he led software training at companies all over the world, including LinoType, Berthold, Xerox, Ryobi, and Compugraphic, just to name a few.
Volker became a master of font digitization, and much of his career has been focused on that. His work has literally touched not only every graphic designer’s life, but the lives of anyone who uses digital fonts on their own computers. Volker played a role in digitizing some of the most oft-used fonts in the world, including Arial and Times.
Beyond font digitization, Volker also designs typefaces. He enjoys the process, but told us that the closer he gets to the end of a project, the more he enjoys it because at that point, perfection is firmly within reach.
One of his more recent releases through URW is Schnebel Slab, a “refreshingly clear and strong interpretation of a contemporary Antiqua.” Schnebel Slab’s architecture features firm serifs and subtle contrast, both of which allow for a high degree of legibility – even in very small point. This is a very expressive and just plain attractive slab serif for modern design projects, working beautifully in publishing, newspapers, website design, body copy, displays, signage, and user interfaces.
Schnebel Slab is available in Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, and Black, each with corresponding true italics, in Condensed, Regular, and Expanded styles. This 36-font family offers ligatures, proportional figures, oldstyle figures, and small caps for greater design flexibility. Its multilingual support extends coverage to Basic Latin, Western European, Euro, Catalan, Baltic, Turkish, Central European, Romanian, Pan African Latin, Dutch, and Afrikaans for global accessibility in international design projects.
URW Type Foundry currently offers more than 470 products through YouWorkForThem, featuring an unparalleled range of type designs to suit projects of all kinds. Visit their portfolio to scroll through the rest of their extensive body of work and check back often for new releases!
