A curated list of digital specimens
of the highest quality. Updated daily.
Stinger
This is a workhorse of a specimen. Functionally driven, it's about getting the prospective customer to the features quickly for them to make a decision and try out Stinger.
Bold Monday - independent font foundry of high quality type
Bold Monday's specimens always strike such a good balance between form and function. This new specimen for Dico opens with several stacked typetesters that go beyond just changing weights. You can also change colours, alignment, and letter spacing.
GT Haptik Font
Haptic is a monolinear geometric grotesque typeface with uppercase letters and numbers that have been optimised to be read blindfolded and by touching them. The specimen takes this experience a little way on as their are touches of discovery throughout, for example, the controls to view the different weights. A bold lack of colour and simple photography add to the stark design.
GT Eesti
This specimen is delightful. From the bold, large letters presented alongside vibrant illustrations evoking the typeface's inspiration from 1940's Soviet Russia.
Octothorpe
This is a joy. A reimagining of a 1970's transfer lettering classic, Octothorpe's specimen takes us vertically through its features: from swashes, to contextual ligatures, to 'all sorts of figures'. No type testers here, but an invitation to try out the font elsewhere in a more templated tester as well as read an in-depth article.
Cymru Wales
Part case study, part specimen. The Cymru Wales font has been designed in collaboration with the Colophon Foundry. Cymru Wales has a rather overt nod to Wales' cultural and typographic history but I think it just about pulls it off without the usual Celtic clichés.
Three cornerstone typefaces
Class graphic design meets modern web design, the Commercial Classics Showcase specimen is everything you'd expect from the team involved. Notable that Michael Bierut was Creative Director for the specimen. As always, beautiful typefaces from Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz.
Trois Mille (3000)
Smart looking specimen from Sharp. What works for me here is the progressive disclosure of the user interface which appear only on hover of selected elements. The Menu is a solid addition, too. Many specimens forego labelled sections in favour of just one, scrollable page. Having an insight into the process is a nice touch, too.
Anon Grotesk
This specimen is an exercise in restraint. Just the barest of essentials are provided for the designer evaluating Anon Grotesk: a list of weights – presented as as a type tester – with the simplist of tools to just vary the font size. A PDF Specimen, available on download, mirrors the stark functionalism of the online version. The only bit of colour is the link to purchase.