[In progress] Calluna & Calluna Sans. Last Christmas (2007) I was so involved with Museo that I needed a little break from it. Calluna is the result of that pause. It will be my first (serious) attempt to do a text face.
May 14, 2008...8:02 am
Calluna & Calluna Sans
Jump to Comments
67 Comments
May 14, 2008 at 9:20 am
That’s a nice sans serif.
You know, of course, that I am a text font fan, so I am pleased you have undertaken this project.
I like the angled serifs on the descenders, and they give sense to the asymmetric serif design. I do think that the serifs should have a tiny amount of bracketing on the right, though, for readability, if say Calluna were used to print a book. I’m curious what will be the opinions of others.
That s and S look proud; I like them. If I saw the same designs before and didn’t like them, I’ve changed my mind.
May 24, 2009 at 1:40 am
What a nice piece of work! Now that’s a real serif
typeface! Keep it up!
May 14, 2008 at 10:28 am
Thanks for stopping by Barry!
The sans for now is still a little bit of a “quick & dirty” test to see if the skeleton of the serif could serve as a base for the sans. I first want to finish the serif, but I’m happy with this first sans impression.
I still have to test the serifs more thoroughly and I’ll certainly look into the bracketing idea. Glad you changed your mind about the S & s. I myself am really fond of them.
May 14, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I’m really liking the serif so far.
Hey, if you need some more test runs, let me know.
I’ve tested some other fonts in the works (for e-phemera). I do a lot of print design and am planning a magazine of my own (hopefully this year), and am keeping my eye out for a good serif. This one looks fun, lively.
Thanks for the preview
May 14, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Thanks for this very generous offer Eddie! I’ll contact you soon.
May 14, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Wow. Nice Preview. I’m looking forward.
Very Pretty.
May 15, 2008 at 4:16 am
It’s beautiful. Can’t wait til it’s released.
May 15, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Thanks nevsred and rick. I want this to be really good, so I guess I do have to make lots of changes and tweaking … I have no idea how I want the italic to look like … so the whole thing is very premature. Glad you all like it at this stage!
May 16, 2008 at 3:51 am
As always, absolutely wonderful work. I’ve been waiting for this ever since I read about it.
I actually would rather not see bracketing on the right on the serif. Part of its appeal to me is that it’s a relatively clean serif, and I worry that too much more to the serif detail would distract from that.
I would watch the angles on the glyphs as a whole–the a and s of the sans version seem tilted toward each other. I’m not sure if I like it or not, but it’s something to think about.
May 16, 2008 at 6:18 am
The bracketing is not really adding detail, because my statement of preference for bracketing is a euphemism for removing the leftward bending feature.
Then the serifs would end up very similar to those of Centaur. But I say this only if Calluna is to be used for printing lengthy texts at small sizes on ordinary paper, for laser printing, that sort of thing, where you can’t see the bendiness. For display sizes the only problem with the serifs is that they remind me of my ankle injury. 
May 17, 2008 at 8:09 am
@ k: Thanks for commenting. The lc sans a still need some refining
@ Barry: … ankle injury … LOL
May 21, 2008 at 2:06 am
Sweet lord. If this turns out as nice as it looks (which it will), I may just have a heart attack. I tip my hat to you.
May 21, 2008 at 10:27 am
May 22, 2008 at 5:17 am
Man, thanks for sharing all these amazing fonts you’ve created. Cheers from Brazil!
May 26, 2008 at 8:50 am
You’re very welcome Fabricio! Warm greetings from the Netherlands.
May 26, 2008 at 6:39 pm
New and great font from your hands. Respect from Poland!
Good work for good design!!!!
May 27, 2008 at 4:33 pm
> It will be my first (serious) attempt to do a text face.
Ja, ik denk dat dit het vriendelijkste lettergezicht is voor langere tekst.
Ik wacht met spanning de geboorte af
May 28, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Thanks for the kind compliments Mariusz & Ard!
July 3, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I truly love the font, and hope it comes out soon. I realize that I’m more than a month late in commenting, but I hope that you don’t mind my truancy
. I hope you decide to include the Latin-Extended A block in this new font because I use it extensively, and currently, I do not have many “text faces” like this which cover the entire thing.
July 4, 2008 at 11:56 am
Thanks! You’re not late in commenting. The font isn’t released and every input is more than welcome. To answer your question: Latin Extended-A will be included. It will have the same character set as Anivers plus probably nominators, denominators, superiors, inferiors, oldstyle figures (proportional & tabular), lining figures (proportional & tabular) and (OpenType scripted) fractions.
July 19, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Wow! What a lovely and distinctive text serif font. The slanted crossbars and “incomplete” serifs seem to be its distinctive common feature. The w, p, 8 and ? seem to be signature characters at this point. It would be interesting to print it at 7, 8, and 9 point to to give it a “shakedown cruise.” I think rather than a readability problem it may be a “quirkiness” problem for some readers who might be distracted by the oddly calligraphic serifs. Still, I always admire text fonts that maintain a distinctive personality and still manage to recede into “pure” text for the average reader. I look forward to seeing Calluna and Calluna Sans completed.
July 23, 2008 at 4:30 am
Thanks Todd. I’ve given it a meltdown test already but on 10 pts and it behaved very well. I care very much about readabiliy and will do everything to let the text “flow”. However I don’t care if people find my fonts too quirky. This is simply the way I want to do this
August 2, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Your fonts are great…all fits together…just great
August 4, 2008 at 2:55 am
Along with Dino dos Santos´ Glosa, Calluna serif is a love at first sight for me. Cheers from Brazil!
August 4, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Nice comment Thor. Thanks!
That’s a generous compliment Luis Santos …
to be mentioned together with Dino
I’m very pleased you like Calluna that much!
August 7, 2008 at 6:28 pm
This is really seeming like it will be a great font once finished.. Have you decided anything about how you’re going to release it? A good free text family would be really nice, hint hint…
August 8, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Just discovered your blog. Glad I did. I’m looking around for some interesting, new typefaces for body text in books. The fact that there’s a Calluna and a Calluna Sans in the works is best of all, as I’m looking for more font families that include both a serif for body text and a sans for display elements. By the way, what is it about Calluna that seems like an old friend. I don’t mean it’s like anything else, but that it “feels” like I know it. Are there influences there that I’m perhaps picking up on.
Oh, and I’ll be adding your blog to my blogroll, as it’s a good read for people generally interested in typography.
August 10, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Calluna is one of the most elegant serif fonts I have ever seen. It draws enoght attention when used as a header and when used as text font it just does what is has to do: delever the message and nothing else. The sans looks like a perfect addition to the serif.
Jos I will be one of the first to buy it when it comes out. Looking forward to using it!
August 11, 2008 at 10:36 am
@ FreeFontFan:
The regular weight(s) will (probably) be free, but the whole family has to be purchased (but it will not be expensive).
@ Stephen:
Calluna is not influenced by another font. It may sound very weird but the shapes of the serifs were “born” when I did some experiments to see if Museo could be a real slab serif (I’ll post some exaples later). They were very important for how the glyp(s) should look like. Thanks for adding me to your blogroll!
@ Bjorn:
Thanks in advance for wanting to purchase it already. I hope to finish it early 2009.
Hi Bjorn, nice of you to stop by and thanks very much for your comment! The way you describe how Calluna should work as a display and text font is exactly what I had in mind with it
August 20, 2008 at 5:39 am
hi jos, calluna looks great, and i will also be one fo the first to purchase it!
i really like where the sans is going!
great work, keep it up!
thanks for all the work you put intoy our fonts and then giving lots of them away!
cheers – sye
August 22, 2008 at 10:47 am
Thanks in advance, Sye!
August 28, 2008 at 8:23 am
no worries jos! hey i also design various printed material for my work, everything from books to training manuals to conference materials to big banners, so if you need someone to test fonts just email me. Cheers – sye
August 31, 2008 at 4:19 pm
I’ll keep that in mind. Very generous.
September 12, 2008 at 8:50 am
Please send me a sample (.pdf or .ttf/.otf file) of your Calluna Serif ?
September 14, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Still not ready enough for a pdf sample, alfred.
You’ll have to wait a few months.
September 15, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Excelent well balanced font! Text and Display at the same time. Neat pen strockes remind of old carved fonts. Send me a sample in PDF if possible.
September 16, 2008 at 7:09 pm
I will post a pdf or a link to it here when possible.
September 18, 2008 at 6:19 am
Wow Jos, what a nice looking serif that will be… generally speaking I’m more of a sans fan, but this is surely an exception!
I discovered your site through the MyFonts newsletter and I must say that I like your fonts very much. I’ve just downloaded the free versions to give them a spin, one day I’ll buy them all
September 18, 2008 at 1:04 pm
That’s a great compliment comin’ from a sans fan
Hope you’ll enjoy the freebies.
October 1, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Hey Jos, I’ve just seen your Fertigo Pro and it is really a gem. Really great!
October 4, 2008 at 11:29 am
Thanks!
November 20, 2008 at 10:22 am
Hi Jos
The estate agency company I work for use Delicious, we have been asked by the property advertiser we use to obtain the font ‘post script’ so that it is compatible with their new servers. Sorry I don’t know what that entails, can you help?? thanks J
November 26, 2008 at 9:26 am
Jackie, there is a download link to a type1 version of Delicious on my site.
PS This post is about Calluna. I would appreciate it very much if you post questions like this in the appropriate post.
February 3, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Long time since i last saw an work in progress picture of calluna.
Great work as always, i particularly like the sans.
(And I’m usually more into serif versions)
February 17, 2009 at 9:06 am
I already did some tests and I still need to change a lot of things. I hope to have some comprehensive samples ready within a month or so.
Nice
Thanks, Pedro! I look forward to work on the sans.
February 12, 2009 at 2:00 am
Any examples of extended text (e.g., paragraphs)? I think one of the biggest issues with text typefaces in general isn’t the characters/glyphs per se but spacing, etc. I liked the spacing with Delicious (to return to that in a relevant way)–something tight and efficient in the use of space.
February 20, 2009 at 8:35 pm
This is beautiful! thanks for sharing
March 5, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Beautiful indeed. Can barely wait for it.
March 17, 2009 at 8:55 am
Thank you. Latest progress can be seen here.
March 27, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Sign me up on the waiting list… Calluna shapes up great. Familiar, yet unique; a classic in the making. I will definitely want to pay to get the whole family. I just downloaded some images from Flickr, will proceed to print and enjoy.
April 8, 2009 at 2:07 am
[...] working very hard on Calluna and Calluna Sans. Also, I’m working on Questa which is a square typeface like Didot and [...]
April 8, 2009 at 8:22 am
This is gorgeous. There is so much life and energy in the serif font, can’t wait to see it finished! The sans serif look mighty promising too
April 8, 2009 at 10:16 am
Hello,
Been looking for new high quality fonts for a while and your site was mentioned in the new Scribus manual. I am very impressed with your work!
Trev
April 15, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Your comments really inspire and motivate. Thank you all!
April 24, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I see from the latest Flickr-sample that you have altered the italic lower-case “g”. The new one is nice, but I like the old better. The new lc “g” is more bottom-heavy, which to me contradicts or at the least cancels out your desired upper-right-lead-of-sight effect. The former lc “g” was one of the standout glyphs of the font and more in keeping with the edginess of the design.
April 27, 2009 at 4:20 am
Seeking Calluna…and it does not have to be gratis.
All your art in fonts just my exeed Adobe; I mean, you are not yet under contract???
thanks for this blog
john
April 29, 2009 at 7:38 am
Alrid
I had another look at g and changed it back. I’ll post some new samples on flickr soon. (I’ll announce that via twitter).
Thanks for your opinion. More people told me the same
snifty
John, the regular weight will be free. The rest will be paid. And no… I’m not under contract. I really like it the way it is now
May 1, 2009 at 5:12 pm
How many weights will there be?
May 2, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I’m looking forward to this font.
When will you publish it?
At the moment I’m designing a casual handwriting font with many ligatures and alternate glyphes.
May 3, 2009 at 12:24 am
Hey exljbris, I’m a long-time fan. I was pretty blown away by Museo (like everyone else), but remain consistently impressed with the Fontin series, and can’t wait to see what Calluna has in store.
-Long time fan, infantile typographer
Sam
May 4, 2009 at 11:33 am
Jeremy
Regular, semi-bold and bold all with italics. Maybe a heavy condensed.
rm2kpro
Thanks. Working full force on it. I hope within a month. Can we see your font somewhere?
Sam(my)
Thanks! It feels really great to have fans! I do occasionally post some progress on Flickr. Be sure to follow me on twitter. That’s the place to be for keepin’ track that.
May 12, 2009 at 6:48 am
The italic is so beautiful and graceful. I love it!
May 12, 2009 at 8:14 am
Great!
May 20, 2009 at 6:43 am
Is there any chance we can see some previews?
May 23, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Have a look here: http://bit.ly/VEZuV
Most of the time I announse new Calluna Flickr entries on Twitter. be sure to follow me if you want the latest news…
( http://twitter.com/exljbris )
July 1, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Thank you for sharing.
Regards, dinda’kk
July 8, 2009 at 3:58 am
My first font-love was Zapf Calligraphic. I’m really looking forward to using Calluna when it is available. Thank you for your efforts.