Is there a word for that limbo-like state when a project is almost done? As in: you’ve used up just about all the fuel in your creative tank, but there’s one last feedback-actioning hurdle to jump? The looming deadline is huge, and oh so daunting, and yet it’s so close you can nearly taste it — if you can manage to limp over the line, of course.

If there is a word for that, I’d love to know it, because that’s where my head’s been at these last few weeks, folks. Fine Specimens — my coffee table collection of contemporary specimen graphics from today’s top type foundries (that’s not its tagline, but maybe it should be) — is very nearly ready to go to print and, as of last night, I’ve finished addressing the big ol’ mountain of feedback from my publisher, and now just need to go through and do one final check on the graphics.

My original intention was to not talk about Fine Specimens this far ahead of its publication (scheduled for March next year), lest you get sick to death of it, but my head has been so full of this project lately, it’s hard to keep quiet. How are things with you, Elliot? people ask me, and I spin round, foaming at the mouth, eyes wide, sweat pouring, and bark MAKING NEW BOOK!!! at them. At least, that’s what it feels like.

Unlike with Universal Principles of Typography, putting this one together has meant working my day job and then launching into book work on evenings and weekends. And, if you know me, or have seen me talk at a conference, or have read any issue of Lagom that we put out a few years ago, you’ll know that this is not something I ever encourage. This isn’t a healthy work-life balance and, honestly, I can’t wait for the craziness to be over. Maybe it’s an age thing, but my mental capacity for juggling multiple projects is not what it once was.

However! I’m proud of how this project has (nearly) turned out and I’m happy to say that when I asked the publisher if I could share some spreads with you as a little tease, they said yes! So here you go: three almost-final spreads from Fine Specimens to whet your appetite:

If you’re interested in being the first to hear about when Fine Specimens is available to pre-order, well, you’re already in the right place. And if it’s not your cup of tea, don’t worry: I’ll try not to bang on about it in every issue. But I am conscious that I probably didn’t do enough to build up buzz prior to the pub date of UPoT, so this book will get a bit more of a push. So, yes, this is me asking for your forgiveness in advance.

By pure chance, this issue has got lots of free fonts mentioned in it. A healthy exchange for all the shameless book promo, right?

While confirming some info for the typefaces they’ve got appearing in Fine Specimens, I was spending some time on F37’s website and crikey, they’ve got some lovely fonts, haven’t they? I mean, I know this already, of course. They’re in the book, after all. And I’ve followed the foundry for years. But every now and then, it’s nice to have a little reminder, isn’t it?

Anyway, in addition to my general enthusing about F37, I’m adding on a bit more, because not one but two friends had new typeface releases with F37 last week: Emma Luczyn’s bold display face Regal goes super heavy on the ball terminals and, in honour of her Ukrainian heritage, has full Cyrillic support...

... and Alec Tear’s Roy is a contemporary reverse-contrast Clarendon that comes in four weights and three optical sizes. Beautiful work.

I’m a sucker for well named typefaces and Hélène Marian’s NaN Archy (from the NaN type foundry) has won this week’s prize. It’s potentially a bit on the crazier side of what I’d use personally, but I can’t help but admire its audacity.

Emma Marichal (whose work I first discovered via her Ploquine family for TypeTogether) has launched a brand new foundry with Max Esnée called Plomb Type. Their debut release is Savate — a reverse-contrast sans that is rather lovely and also... checks notes... free!

What happens when AI comes for our fonts? No surprises that this article contains no real conclusions, but it’s nice to see the somewhat niche discussion of font licensing happening on a relatively mainstream tech site like The Verge.

I spotted a nice new website for Sproviero Type. I’m actually using one of Maximiliano’s typefaces on the cover of Fine Specimens. Any guesses?

You know I’m always happy to spread the word about Goodtype’s online event The Kernference, which is happening this year on 17–19th September, but this one’s going to be a special one for me because... I’m speaking! I’m so honoured to be joining such a stellar line-up, where I’ll be doing a longer and updated version of my Config talk, this time called Elevating Design Systems Using Typography, along with a Q&A afterwards. Please do feel free to pre-order tickets using my affiliate link.

I know you’ve probably had your fill of commentary on the badly kerned carving on the Pope’s tombstone, but Oliver Schöndorfer‘s rundown on Pimp My Type as well worth your time, especially since it serves as a mini crash course in better spacing (not just kerning) in general.

Underware have really been cranking out the technically impressive fonts recently. Hot on the heels of Scribo, their dynamic writing font, they’ve released Kermit — the first writable font designed specifically for children — in partnership with Microsoft. Gorgeous microsite, too.

On the subject of handwriting fonts designed for children, I’m pleased to see TypeTogether immortalising all of their hard work on the Primarium project (which you regulars will notice I’ve mentioned a few times now) in book form as Primarium: Handwriting education across cultures and continents. If you need a refresher:

A result of two years of research, analysis, and writing, our new book […] is a pioneering effort to understand the ways in which Latin-based handwriting is taught around the world.

It’s so nice to see friends from two different walks of life getting together to collaborate on a genuinely cool creative project. This was the case when Marc Thiele asked Gavin Strange to create the title sequence for the most recent edition of his conference beyond tellerrand. Marc has a history of commissioning artists to create the title sequence for each event (which includes the short videos that play before each speaker begins their talk), but Gav’s was a very different beast, since he ‘played’ the talks live using a combination of music and MIDI-triggered video effects. If that sounds at all interesting — or perhaps even utterly perplexing — to you, check out Gav’s (very) in-depth write-up of the whole thing. It’s insane. Gav’s insane. I challenge you to read that (or even just watch the video of just one of the performances) and not be insanely inspired.

Me ol’ mucker Ty has some new fonts that are actually old fonts, but perhaps most importantly are free fonts: Nonesuch and Juju. Realising that he had some unreleased fonts sitting on an unhooked-up CMS, he saw it as a great opportunity to let them out into the world.

I came across this one a while ago, so it definitely doesn’t class as ‘news’, but for some reason I don’t think I’ve mentioned it in the newsletter yet, so here we go: X Cicéro is a type design workshop offered to graphic design students at ESAD in Valence, France, in which the school’s collection of wood type (used in their printing workshop) is turned into digital fonts. Here’s a Google Translate-powered interpretation of text from the website:

The various sets of characters, most of which were incomplete and damaged, were catalogued, measured, and identified where possible. A series of prints of the available characters then served as a starting point for the design of digital characters, which in turn served as models for digital cutting tests. The long-term goals are to be able to rehabilitate these characters and produce new ones, and to keep the typographic printing workshop alive.

All fonts created in this programme are then made available for free download under the SIL Open Font License. So cool.

Right before publishing, I decided to reduce this issue in size and save a load of content for another one, which’ll be heading to your inbox at some point over the summer. In the meantime, if you enjoyed this issue, please consider forwarding it to a friend, as the email marketing gurus say. Or even just mention it to that friend in passing. You know, like a little tease. I’m subscribed to a cool typography newsletter and you’re not, na-na-na-naaaa-na. That sort of thing.