High on my lengthy list of dream jobs is type designer. I think I’d be quite happy working at an independent foundry designing typefaces all day long. I’d definitely specialize in designing slab serifs. Then again, I probably don’t have the patience for the details involved in designing quality type families. Also, it’d be nearly impossible to compete with these two recently released typefaces.

Kulturista is a new typeface designed by Tomas Brousil. Unlike the majority of slab serifs, I could see this one being used in body text along with the traditional display usage mainly because of its open letterforms. The serifs are longer than normal and help create more angularity to the typeface than found in a traditional slab serif.

The other recently released slab serif is designed by Hoefler & Frere-Jones. One of the most consistently great type design firms in the country, they don’t disappoint with Sentinel. It’s not as geometric as Kulturista, but instead softens the classic slab serif. It was designed to be a dependable choice for both test and display. To me, the typeface reads as a distinctive serif face at text sizes but still maintains the expected boldness of slab serifs in the display sizes.

Maybe this post is just a long way of explaining that if you are planning on working with us soon, you will definitely be reviewing at least one mock-up featuring these typefaces. You have been warned.