Neue Plak™ Font Field Guide
FOUNDRY: Monotype
DESIGNER: Paul Renner, Linda Hintz, & Toshi Omagari
CLASSIFICATION: Grotesque Sans
Best Practices
While “Text” weights have been designed, Neue Plak is essentially a display design. Neue Plak’s somewhat quirky design traits, make it an excellent alternative to more structured geometric sans serif typefaces.
Family
Neue Plak offers 60 weights, including a new text version that pairs with the display weights. This allows the design to perform well in print and digital environments – and within a wide range of applications.
Font Facts
- Despite being designed by Paul Renner, Plak never reached the popularity of his, earlier, Futura design.
- Hintz and Omagari based their updated and extended version on the original Plak wood type, uncovering lost details and incorporating them as alternate characters – including the choice between open or strikethrough counters.
Roots
Plak was originally designed as wood type in the late 1920s. Neue Plak is an extended and updated version of a 1928 typeface, by Paul Renner. It blends an industrial exterior with flashes of unexpected playfulness.
Legibility
Modest stroke width variations, letters with a distinct personality and simple character shapes make for a highly legible design in a wide range of sizes. Relatively closed apertures and the single-storey g, however, detract from an excellent score.
How to spot Neue Plak
Alternate Choices
Perfect Pairing
More Font Field Guides
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