Sensitively reconstructed and redesigned for our “post-everything” times… The Creatura typeface was created to be used in longer texts. It is specially designed for the sixteen-point text size, which faithfully copies the proportions of the original typeface – the Aldine Roman, from 1499. Despite this, the organic shape of the alphabet, which simulates the uneven press of the original typeface on letterpress (the printing techniques of that time), allows the font to be used for larger heading sizes or experimental designs. The two additional styles (Press 2 and Press 3) are genuinely naughty variations you can utilize for larger sizes without hesitation. The Creatura typeface is an alternative to the classic digitalization of text fonts with sharp contours. It tries to be a blend (ideal ratio) between severe study and playful insight.

Sensitively reconstructed and redesigned for our “post-everything” times… The Creatura typeface was created to be used in longer texts. It is specially designed for the sixteen-point text size, which faithfully copies the proportions of the original typeface – the Aldine Roman, from 1499. Despite this, the organic shape of the alphabet, which simulates the uneven press of the original typeface on letterpress (the printing techniques of that time), allows the font to be used for larger heading sizes or experimental designs. The two additional styles (Press 2 and Press 3) are genuinely naughty variations you can utilize for larger sizes without hesitation. The Creatura typeface is an alternative to the classic digitalization of text fonts with sharp contours. It tries to be a blend (ideal ratio) between severe study and playful insight.

👇 About the Creatura typeface or organic fonts and where to find them

If we were to characterize the organic typeface, it would probably sound like this: “An organic typeface (or a typeface of organic shapes) is any typeface that respects the principles of free drawing.” Free drawings that don’t know too sharp edges and geometric construction. The alphabet of organic shapes is a system of freely drawn letters that may or may not respect the established construction of the Latin alphabet.

My interest in this project was learning the serif typeface construction principles. Secondly, to discover the use for the organic shapes of the typeface in its construction and origin technology. The old prints are a perfect combination of these goals because they were the beginnings of the construction of Latin fonts, which also struggled with the imperfect technology of engraving letter by letter and the following imprint that created a characteristic organic contour. The Aldin Roman became a winning model for me. According to František Muzika, this alphabet stands among the first attempts to construct the Latin alphabet and its established principles. I was especially fascinated by the imprints of the letters in the original prints and some specific constructions of the letters, such as the Greek palm Ypsilon.

Initially, I started from the hypothesis that by redrawing selected imprints of individual letters, I would achieve the primary intention, i.e., a living organic typeface. This process resulted in two styles that differed by weight based on the different pressures on the letters in the original prints. Finally, I abandoned this path because the typeface lacked/needed the basic skeleton of individual letters. It was necessary to go deeper into the roots of the skeleton of Aldin Roman. By analyzing the original prints, I got (mostly) very clean imprints of the letters, which convinced me of the greater precision of executing the origin type. Therefore, I based the proportions of the horizontal and vertical strokes of the Creatura typeface on the imprints of the origin. The effort was to create a balanced typeface for book typesetting. The primary style is thus drawn from the beginning for its original size of 16 points, corresponding to the origin type’s size. I also devoted a long time to the final construction of the serifs. It isn’t easy to recognize the original author’s intention from the imprints of the origin type. In my interpretation of the organic construction, I created a simple four-point serif construction that guaranteed enough softness. At the same time, the fundamental parameter of Dynamic Antiqua (Renaissance Antiqua), the gentle bending of the serif, is involved.

The original x-height was preserved entirely. In contrast, the cap height has become lower, and the difference between the Uppercase and Lowercase is no longer so significant. The changes also affected the shapes of some letters. In the Lowercase, especially in the case of the letter a, whose loop is connected higher, the teardrop terminal is smoothly finished without a vertical serif. The finial is drawn lower than its origin model. However, as an answer to lovers of the original design, the font also contains a stylistic set with its original shape. As in the original, the letter f has two versions, with a shorter and wider ascender. The letter s is far more balanced than the original model, which followed the construction of the uppercase S in the Roman Capitals. In the case of Uppercase, I decided to make new modern shapes as a default set, and I kept the beautifully shaped (nor as such functional) shapes of the origin as an “ancient stylistic set.” In the “ancient stylistic set,” the Uppercase alphabet contains the original distinctive features. Above all, it is a wide-spaced R with an organically drawn leg (the default version of the font includes a modern version with a shorter leg). I also preserved the original letter P with an open bowl. Like the Poliphilus font (Morison’s variant of the Aldine Roman), Creatura contains the original palm letter Y, which gives the font a great character (again, the font also includes a modern variant of the letter anatomy). All around, the Uppercase thus kept its original monumental proportions, which are still close to the construction of Roman Capitals.

The fundamental style (Press Simulation 1) then serves as a skeleton for two other styles: Press Simulation 2 and Press Simulation 3. These styles are based on the authentic intention to digitalize the Aldin Roman from its original imprints (not from the matrix itself). These styles thus represent varieties of printed letters depending on the pressure of the letterpress (the contemporary printing technique). This principle of designing font weights is an alternative to the standard protocols for designing font weights. The strokes of the letters were strengthened in all directions so that the feeling of the imprint was convincing. However, the protocol for expanding the font contour differs in all directions. By examining the origin prints, I found that the color absorbed much more into the paper in places with a denser drawing on a small area. The effect was that there was more paint around these places. These places are mainly the serifs and their connection to stems and other strokes. For example, uppercase letters are, thus, much more cleanly printed than lowercase letters because the area on which the pressure works is more significant.

The font’s name comes from the Latin word “Creatura,” which means “Creature” or “being.” Consequently, the name paraphrases a system of drawing in which the contours change across the styles, a system of various “living” organic shapes.