The three members of the prolific Czech type scene who teamed up for Comenia address a problem that hasn’t really been approached so far: the creation of a holistic type system, specially designed to meet the requirements of school.

This system consists of three branches. Comenia Serif by František Štorm is a contemporary 4-style roman with a whiff of brushiness in the details — see its foxtail terminals; a shapely reading face for longer texts. Comenia Sans by Tomáš Brousil is the humanist sans to go with it. It comes in 3 weights, each with pleasing italics, all of them also provided as condensed styles.

The extremely open counters and the large x-height are the outcome of in-depth research in readability. Particular attention was paid to the design of the diacritics — an important aspect in Czech and other European languages. Vertical metrics and colour of sans and serif are coordinated to match each other harmoniously. Still, Comenia is not as homogenous as other superfamilies, and in my opinion, that’s a good thing.

What really makes the school type system unique is Comenia Script, by Radana Lencová. This is what an up-to-date base handwriting model for abecedarians should look like! Upright, unconnected, and simple in principle; while slant, connections and swashes may come in later, with individual variations. Its entry and exit strokes help develop a flowing hand.

Let’s hope that publishers and authorities realize the significance of typography and start to improve their textbooks. The typographic toolbox necessary to do so is now available.

Florian Hardwig is a graphic designer and letter aficionado based in Berlin, Germany. He teaches typography at Braunschweig University of Art. In his “Manuscribe” project he is researching the diverse forms of school scripts.

In other words, I’ve been craving a font who likes to party but who can also help out with the dishes. Purista is open-minded (with broad language support), brimming with style, sophistication, functionality, and an exciting range of weights.

Ellen Lupton is a writer, graphic designer, and curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Her book Thinking with Type is a basic guide to typography directed at everyone who works with words.

Editor’s Note: Like Eric Olson’s Stratum (2003), Purista is a thoughtful 21st century nod to early 20th century geometric grotesques like Eurostile and Bank Gothic. I am certain we’ll see a lot of it in the next few years by designers seeking a rigid, minimalist interpretation of the alphabet. — SC

The ultimate case-in-point is Gloriola, a sans serif that hits a sweet spot between the cool sterility of Luc(as) de Groot’s monolinears and the lively warmth of recent faces from young Latin designers and Xavier Dupré. It succeeds in being a typeface of the now, without resorting to trendy gimmicks or ornamentation.

With a broad range of weights, a complete Western character set, and a sack of ligatures and alternates, Gloriola has the depth required for complex identity systems and publication design. This shrewd response to the fashions of today is going to be useful for many years to come.

Stephen Coles is editor of Typographica and Fonts In Use, and hoarder of mid-century modern eye candy. He is currently seeking the perfect cat and a personal assistant to take dictation and keep his papers in order. The same applicant may fill both positions.

The irony is that such script styles, almost by definition, look so dated that they are hard to use in contemporary designs without coming off as cheeky or heavy-handed. Furthermore, many digital fonts in this vein bastardize the organic charm which attracts us in the first place. These problems are ones which Tomas Brousil’s BistroScript overcomes.

There is no doubt that this face got its inspiration from mid-century “retro” handlettering, but BistroScript moves beyond what John Downer would call a revival, instead holding its own as a contemporary tribute to the script styles of yore. Like Underware’s Bello, BistroScript is one of few typefaces born from classic cursive brush scripts which can hold its ground in contemporary contexts without seeming gaudy or revivalistic.

Beyond endowing it with a contemporary edge, Brousil also overcame the potential sterilization of BistroScript’s calligraphic charm by supplying plenty of ligatures and glyph variants (my favorites are the ‘St’, ‘gg’, and ‘tt’ ligatures, the connecting ‘@’ variant, and the alternate ‘A’), as well as taking subtle consideration in the outlines of each glyph (for example, the dot of the ‘i’ is slightly irregular), and making sure that all the characters connect perfectly.

Especially when used with the care it deserves, BistroScript sits high on my list of contemporary script faces.

Nick Sherman is a designer, musician, and skateboarder living in Boston. He graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art and is currently working for MyFonts.com.