Started as an experiment, Flac has its roots firmly in film marketing: I was interested in diving into the ultra-compressed type often found on old movie posters. The first style I drew was the Thin weight. Initially, it seemed like there weren’t many exciting avenues to explore. Expanding the ultra-compressed letterforms to narrow and regular widths didn’t generate satisfying results. The next strategy was to add weight to the skeleton of the Thin style. The super-slim counters didn’t have much room in them, so they remained unchanged. The only other option was to grow the letterforms outward, which gave the typeface its distinct appearance. This resulted in a surprising succession of weights.

Evolving beyond its original cinematographic influences, Flac found new sources of inspiration in the visual vocabulary of midcentury cool jazz and bossa nova, and the iconic Blue Note Records album sleeves designed by Reid Miles. The project gradually expanded into a type family of many styles.

After hibernating in a bottom drawer for a long time, Flac came back to life a few years ago when it was used for the headline and deck sizes in a newspaper weekend supplement’s redesign. Finally, in the summer of 2024, I drew the definitive version of Flac. This new iteration started with a second what if. What if the same Thin style gained weight in the horizontal direction exclusively? The result was Filac, a typeface with a series of weights exhibiting increasingly dramatic contrast between the thin horizontal parts and the ever- expanding vertical stems.

Naming typefaces is one of the most challenging aspects of font production. I used acronyms this time: Flac 30 stands for “Four-Letter Acronym,” while Filac 30 is short for “Five-Letter Acronym.” The number 30 signifies that the narrowest widths are the first members of a larger coordinated typographic system. Like the time indications on cassette tapes (remember those?), the series will be expanded with wider versions named 45, 60, 90, 120, and so on.

Flac and Filac are two variations on a common theme. They share an almost identical Thin style, with subtle differences that probably very few people will notice. Each family develops a distinct personality as its weight increases. The typefaces feature short ascenders and descenders and straight sides, making them perfect candidates for robust, compact titles and headlines. They can also produce impactful short bursts of text when used in moderation. The typefaces come with a few alternates, allowing you to customize text to your exact specifications.

Both Flac 30 and Filac 30 have petite caps, small caps that are exactly as tall as the x-height. Their height allows them to combine seamlessly with the lowercase letters, another helpful feature for display typography. Activate this feature with a single click thanks to the Unicase stylistic set.

Use Flac 30 and Filac 30 to create confident and stylish display typography. They feel perfectly at home on posters and (music) packaging, as well as in editorial design and social media posts.