Behind the Work: Universal Sans
Universal Sans is something between a typeface and a piece of software. After years of using off-the shelf designs and creating bespoke sans serif typefaces, Family Type Director Briton Smith decided to unite technology and type and create a tool that could generate a range of bespoke typefaces at the push of a button.
Type foundry Family Type has always looked to combine technological advancement with the centuries-old practice of creating typefaces. Universal Sans may seem like a natural progression, but it’s a radical step forward for the industry. By reducing the time and expense associated with commissioning bespoke typefaces, Universal Sans blows open the doors for those who are prohibited by time or financial constraints.
Designing a typeface that had that range of flexibility was quite a challenge. I think other people had tried to make font generators in the past that might have fallen down because they have tried to cover too much of a range.
While it was always going to be used internally at Family Type the Universal Sans tool evolved into a product through the collaboration with London design studio Twomuch and the creation of a user-friendly interface which married the designs and the code. “There’s nothing else out there that offers this so I think to see that and bring it to life, just as a whole package, I feel like that’s been quite successful,” says Smith. “I think it opens up a different way to experiment and design with type.”
