Typeface Review

FF Pitu

Reviewed by Hrant Papazian on April 16, 2009

If Kim Kardashian had class, she would be FF Pitu.

This typeface is rich, voluptuous and mondo bodacious; but it’s also clever, educated, and exceedingly gracious. At first you’re astounded by its unique combination of straights, cusps, and spikes, where other charming fonts look decidedly pudgy in comparison. But then you note Pitu’s competence in OpenType, with standard & discretionary ligatures, swash capitals & finials, and multiple styles of numerals. After that you’re struck by its fluency in Latin encodings, extending far beyond Eastern Europe (its region of origin). For a moment, you start resenting that loyal, staid text face back home.

Most breathtaking in the bold weight, Pitu is no mere fling, however: it exhibits an impressive and refreshing balance of fervent expression and graceful craft, a balance entirely absent in the gaggles of juvenile display fonts and the neutered humanist sans armies we’re surely tired of by now. This balance gives it staying power, even though its creator professes having “absolutely no clue what Pitu is useful for.”

Some fonts avoid parties, and some fonts just get drunk at them. Pitu adores parties, but never gets lost in them; and some typographers will doubtless get lost in the party that is Pitu.

Hrant Papazian is an Armenian native of Lebanon; his perspective on written communication was formed at the crossroads of three competing visual cultures. He now lives in Los Angeles. A recipient of type design awards from Critique magazine, Granshan, and Creative Review, Hrant has delivered numerous presentations at international typographic conferences from Boston to Bangkok.

14 Comments

  1. oscarmartell says:

    I love

  2. ecs says:

    Oh holy God it’s beautiful! Bravo!

  3. Konokalala says:

    The italics are gorgeous… a lot of personality in this typeface.

  4. Rasendyll says:

    A really wonderful piece of work.

  5. ruth anang says:

    Lukaszu, I really admire your Pitu and love the ligatures.

  6. Scott Falkner says:

    I never got giddy about a ffi ligature.. until now.

  7. Seriously sexy type.

  8. Subtle but at the same time explosive!

  9. What can I say? FF Pitu rocks! My personal finest font ever.

  10. Ken Wilson says:

    This is a fiendishly difficult thing to pull off. It works triumphantly because its clearly underpinned by solid craft skill and a sophisticated eye. Its application is narrow but it does the Baroque thing better than any face I know. Deserves to survive.

  11. Danny says:

    I love this… is a good typeface..

  12. Can says:

    I’m struck as much by the fact that the specimen contains the word “şehvetli” (Turkish for lustful) as the beauty of the typeface.

  13. Thanks for noticing, Can. I was pretty proud of that.

  14. In the interest of fairness (and since I’m starting to feel bad) one might need to point out that Kim Kardashian does occasionally exhibit some class.

    Still no custom typeface commissions however…

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