Of course it is not its boldness alone. It is the humor in it, the way Birra Stout offers a variety of solutions for normally equivalent details: more than just one kind of ball terminal, more than one kind of serif (those of ‘C’ and ‘S’ even being vaguely reminiscent of Fleischmann), not to mention the onesidedly thin ‘O’ and ‘R’, the Venetian ‘e’, or the lively numerals. Usually, when these accidents happen, they need to go. Here, they are happily united in a single, coherent typeface. Birra Stout is a bit of everything, a pretty, many-sided fellow.

What I miss terribly, though, are small caps and oldstyle figures. No way yet to use Birra for body text!

Karsten Lücke is a type designer and typographer based in Germany. He studied communication design and worked at Steidl Publishers in Goettingen from 2004 to 2005. Since then, he has focused on type design. His Litteratra was selected for Typographica’s “Typefaces of 2005” and Tiptoe was selected in 2006.

I think, actually, it wasn’t until this past year — when Joshua Darden released the droolingly sweet expanded set containing a range of thins a luscious Black, plus italics for all! — that I went head over heels. The italics truly stole my heart. If you can look at Omnes Black Italic and not feel joy, you have Yoohoo running through your veins and you should get that checked.

Omnes is chameleonesque. Last year we designed the identity for a non-profit organization devoted to fighting childhood obesity and we used Omnes for each kind of application and audience without missing a beat. Kids loved the Black Italic with a playful, thick, outer stroke, while adults responded positively to Omnes Light set in all uppercase, dignified and elegant. A few months later, the designer that sits next to me was in charge of designing an exhibit about fetishes for the Museum of Sex in New York. Omnes Black Italic is not only kid-friendly but unbelievably kinky, especially when set in hot magenta.

This is a perfectly rendered family that can evoke different feelings across its many members. If polygamy were legal, and if I weren’t betrothed already, I would marry them all in an instant. — Armin Vit

Just as I received Stephen’s invitation to write about our favorite fonts, I was iChatting with Josh Darden, who was just writing him to announce the expansion of his Freight family. So I think it’s only fitting that I comment on it. This family is insane. Not only because of the 100 styles, but also because of its charming little quirks. The tail of the ‘G’, the italic ‘i’s, the delicious ‘k’. While we move out of the era of the antiseptic sans-serifs, Freight offers refreshing anomalies that warm up the design. To sum it up in a few short sentences is impossible. It deserves thorough attention. You don’t need to know Josh personally to surmise that quite a bit of blood, sweat, and tears went into these fonts. And I’m sure they’ll preserve those bodily fluids of graphic designers who purchase Freight. Every piece of type you could possibly want is in this family. I told Josh, “get ready to get rich.” I also told him I expect 10% of his profits.

Dyana Weissman is a typeface designer at Font Bureau. She has been a presenter at ATypI, TypeCon, and Type Camp, but also enjoys sharing her expertise locally with college students, wizard rock bands, and astrophysicists.