David Jonathan Ross

Fern

A Venetian oldstyle for screens & other things by David Jonathan Ross

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From the Renaissance faces of Nicolas Jenson to the great twentieth century revivals like Centaur and Dante, the Venetian Oldstyle represents the typographic Roman letter’s first big break from the calligraphic tradition of the Carolingian Minuscule. When it comes to elegant book typography, nothing beats its light, ribbonlike forms.

Text on the screen is a different story. It’s easy for these designs to get light and splotchy. Web designers frequently pass over these classics, opting for sturdier alternatives based on Baroque and Enlightenment Romans instead (or, let’s be honest, sans serifs).

Fern is a Venetian that is native to the screen. Instead of reducing the diagonal stress that can be so troublesome on screen, I exaggerated it. Fern’s weight clumps in its round strokes and its chunky triangular serifs, giving it a rich texture that shines even on the smallest screen.

Fern is undeniably humanist, but it is not precious or dainty: it is a typeface that lends elegance, strength, and grace to text.

Specimens

Ornaments

OpenType features

Small caps

font-variant: small-caps;

All small caps

font-variant-caps: all-small-caps;

Lining figures

font-variant-numeric: lining-nums;

Tabular figures

font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums;

Superiors

font-variant-position: super;

Scientific inferiors

font-variant-position: sub;

Fractions

font-variant-numeric: diagonal-fractions;

Discretionary Ligatures

font-variant-ligatures: discretionary-ligatures

Get Fern

License Sizes

Preview text

Full Series Package

$200 Mini license
  • Fern Variable Roman. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Var Fern Variable Roman
  • Fern Variable Italic. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Var Fern Variable Italic
  • Fern Text Regular. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Text Regular
  • Fern Text Italic. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Text Italic
  • Fern Text Bold. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Text Bold
  • Fern Text Bold Italic. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Text Bold Italic
  • Fern Micro Regular. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Micro Regular
  • Fern Micro Italic. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Micro Italic
  • Fern Micro Bold. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Micro Bold
  • Fern Micro Bold Italic. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Micro Bold Italic
  • Fern Titling Caps. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Titling Caps
  • RFRFYURFGTRFGUYUYFGTRFGTYUGTGT Fern Ornaments Regular

Other Packages

$100 Mini license
  • Fern Text Regular. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Text Regular
  • Fern Text Italic. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Text Italic
  • Fern Text Bold. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Text Bold
  • Fern Text Bold Italic. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Text Bold Italic
$100 Mini license
  • Fern Micro Regular. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Micro Regular
  • Fern Micro Italic. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Micro Italic
  • Fern Micro Bold. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Micro Bold
  • Fern Micro Bold Italic. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Fern Micro Bold Italic

Individual Styles

25% off Roman/Italic Pairs!
$50/style Mini license

Additional information