allcaps

AllCaps Engineered

Family weights

Our typefaces have optimised weights that are closely related to their design, concept and use. The selected weights are the result of combining the interpolation formula and manual refinement of in-between masters. Making weights bolder or lighter is not only about adding or removing weight but also about changing the structure of a glyph. Every weight has been thoroughly tested to achieve the best possible output.

Detail and drawing

Drawing is designing. Every typeface we design, whether it is a text or a display typeface, begins with drawing. The most important aspect of type design is consistently drawn shapes. These shapes form the font’s DNA. Type design software speeds up the process, however, it works against hand-drawn qualities which are essential to preserving character. With this in mind, every letter at AllCaps passes through several steps of hand-drawn corrections.

Language support and character set

The character set covers over forty languages with a focus on the Latin script. As an international collective of designers based in Europe, we realise how important the user experience is when reading content in different languages. This is extremely relevant for anyone who wants to use our fonts for languages other than English. In collaboration with native speakers and experts, we design each accent and specific character with the same amount of care to satisfy designers and readers worldwide. We look forward to additional language extension requests. If you are interested in a collaboration, please contact us.

OpenType features

OpenType features extend the alphabet beyond 26 letters and unlock the possibility to utilise a variety of stylistic sets and alternate characters. We have included all essential OpenType features, for example, ligatures, contextual alternates and case-sensitive forms. These features can be manually activated in the form of stylistic sets or by replacing specific characters from the glyphs palette (for example: replacing certain pairs as ligatures or switching to tabular figures). Some OpenType features are already enabled by default and they keep an eye on using the correct characters in particular typographic cases (case-sensitive forms). For more information, you can find the full overview of OpenType features in the description of each font.

Vertical metrics

Vertical metrics determine the vertical spacing for each glyph by the position of the baseline and leading/interline spacing. Establishing consistent values ensures that the text is rendered consistently across a wide range of applications and devices. These values are set in three types of categories (hhea, OS/2 and uSWin metrics), each one dedicated to a different operating system or application. AllCaps fonts will always display consistently on desktop computers or mobile devices regardless of your workflow, from prototyping a website or app design in Figma/Adobe XD/Sketch to final development in Xcode.

Hinting

Hinting is a font optimisation process that improves the rendering of text, whether in print or on-screen. Fonts are stored as outlines that can be scaled and displayed in various sizes in a variety of outputs. The drawing of letterforms can be distorted and illegible when converted into a low resolution raster grid in small size. In order to maintain clear and legible letterforms, we use hinting to align the font’s outlines to a rasterised grid. By correctly setting up alignment zones, stem values, and glyph-specific instructions, we make sure that our fonts will look as they should across different media and at lower resolutions.

Export

Typefaces are downloadable in a font package containing a set of formats tailored for a specific use. Desktop fonts are delivered in the industry-standard OpenType CFF format (.otf). OpenType fonts fully support typographic features, have a broad glyph palette, and offer multi-platform support across applications. The app fonts are a lighter version of the desktop fonts (.ttf), with font data reduced for fast performance as required by iOS and Android OS. Webfonts are preferably distributed only in the WOFF2 format, which comes with full OpenType functionality support and in a smaller size than other web formats.

Spacing and kerning

Font spacing is an optical adjustment of the space between letters that make all the glyphs appear equally distanced from each other. To achieve a comfortable reading experience, each glyph is harmoniously spaced according to its shape, and relation to the glyphs that precede and follow. Spacing is a part of the design process and in most cases we adjust the letter shapes to match the overall amount of negative space. Additionally, there are glyph combinations that can be more problematic than others, in which case we adjust the relative spacing with kerning. With the combination of spacing and kerning, we achieve an even text colour while still matching the desired design intention.

About AllCaps

Contact

Legal Address

AllCaps s.r.o.
Vodičkova 36
110 00 Prague
Czech Republic
VAT: CZ09732802

Selected Clients

Afterall Journal
Daly & Lyon
ECAL
Lamm & Kirch
Les Urbaines
Nike
Other Means
PAC NYC
Porto Rocha
R2 Design
Royal Academy of Arts
Something Special Studios
Spector Books
Zweikommasieben Magazin

Founders

Ondrej Bachor
Jan Novák

Designers

Sascha Bente
Malte Bentzen
Sylvan Lanz

Collaborators

Noah Beckwith
Maya Bendel
Jan Brož
Jonathan Bruun
Wayne Daly
Charly Derouault
Juan Feng
Rebekka Hausmann
Ishar Hawkins
Sean Kuhnke
Michele Patanè
Olga Prader

Web development

Jiří Maha
Arnošt Neurad
Jakub Roček (st.dio)
Petr Tácha

 

AllCaps is a design practice dedicated to publishing typefaces. Our work takes shape through a collaborative process informed by research, while a connection to visual culture and technology ensures our characters stay current. Components of the collective’s output have been honoured by the Swiss Design Awards, Morisawa Type Design Competition and the Brno Biennale Award. The group is formally trained in both type and graphic design. AllCaps demonstrates its commitment to these disciplines through an engagement in design education by leading workshops in design schools around the world.