A curated list of digital specimens
of the highest quality. Updated daily.
Movement
A simple type tester specimen frames the real content – a video and description of the origin of the typeface.
Kinetic
Refreshing design for Kinetic – light, duotone – all bolstered by stylish photography and a video. Interestingly, Kinetic has a companion iOS app – Kinetic Notes – that allows you to create simple text notes.
League Mono
Described as 'Five weights of monospace fun', the specimen for League Mono is a patchwork of subtle rainbow gradients with content describing the features of the font.
EXCELSIORAMA
This is a fun specimen for a fun typeface. 'A typeface made by graphic designers living and working in "Upstate" (not NYC) New York.' each designer creating an individual glyph. Coloured panelled typesetters allow the user to explore the typeface further.
Rebond Grotesque
Another detailed (and delightful) specimen from Extraset. It strikes exactly the right balance between inspiration, design, functionality, and technical features. The type tester is particularly good with toggles for all the font's features.
CoFo Robert
A unique specimen design with a vertical 50/50 split of the the screen showing stacked type testers on one side, and explanatory text on the other. An efficient use of screen real-estate.
MONAAKO FLOW
MONAAKO FLOW is an interesting typeface designed to create animated typographic compositions on After Effects, using Animography plugins. A constant scrolling animation is the primary design pattern with a downloadable PDF with more information.
Principal
A mosaic of typetesters (often with individual words) are punctuated with wireframe illustrations of geometric forms. A conventional, but with enough unique touches, from TightType.
Gerstner Programm
This is a cool interface. Two panels of content: the typeface displaying weights in a fairly conventional manner, and the other a long form article explaining the design rationale in detail. The specimen page retains it's clean interface by progressively disclosing more detailed information.
Damien Display
What's notable about this specimen for Damien Display is the controls for the type tester. Subtle, well designed controls in a control panel. But the notable thing is a 'buy now' button displayed in context.
Sombra
The specimen for Sombra is templated but efficient. Stacked typetesters greet the user before displaying some in-context designs in striking orange and black duotone.
Elfreth
Everybody loves a good Blackletter. And this is a good one! The specimen reads as an article punctuated with images of inspiration and typeface development.