A curated list of digital specimens
of the highest quality. Updated daily.
Halunke Regular
Type Today's Tomorrow (!) specimens are great. Thoughtfully designed, leading with a type tester with a couple of controls, and just enough 'type in use' graphics to support the design rationale for the typeface. This specimen for Halunke Regular works well in this format.
Gestures
A single typetester punctuated with animations, audio (which was a surprise), and exciting – and unextected – punctuations leading to a a specimen you experience rather than use.
산돌구름
What struck me about this simple specimen – even though I can't read it – were the informative illustrations, and introductory animation style.
Lift Type
A good looking specimen featured stacked SVG graphic panels with an intermingled type tester. On the face of it, serious stuff, until you notice the running Maradona figure...
Carta Nueva
The really interesting part of this specimen is at the end of the page. Long-form descriptions of the font features and design details underpin a really useful format.
Swear
I really like this specimen format from OH no Type Company. As we increasingly see in digital specimens, there are vertically stacked type testers each set in default weights with varying content lengths. A subtle combination of old and new.
Decibel
Decibel is a nod to 19th century British slabs, designed while listening exclusively to American funk music from the 60s and 70s. The specimen displays the type in stacked panels of animated text. Great content, stricking design. As this was part of TypeMedia 2019, you can't actually buy it yet, though.
Big Shoulders
A bold and patriotic looking specimen for Big Shoulders, the typeface created by XO Type Co for the Chicago Design System. The nod to a traditional print specimen is handled well, although notable for omissions of digital specimens such as a type tester or list of glyphs.
Space Grotesk
A striking and simple one-page specimen for Space Grotesk. Neatly displaying the variable weight axis with mouse-over animations, the specimen shows just opentype features and a comprehensive list of glyphs. No type tester, though, which is a shame.
Mendl
The latest release from Dalton Maag does not disappoint. Mendl is a typeface representative of the the Art Deco movement and this feeling is evident across the artwork on the specimen.
Aldwych Extended
Following the recent trend of multiple, stacked typesetters, the specimen for Aldwych Extended presents the typeface in stacked white on black background with elegant typesetter controls.
F37 Beckett
A great specimen with some lovely, subtle graphic design. Black and white illustrations set against a peachy monotone colour palette is punctuated by the usual useful functionality such as type testers and glyph tables.