Fabiol

Compared to most other Garalde fonts Robert Strauch’s Fabiol is less rational. It has a very sensual touch and an almost “hand-made” look. However, it is not irregular or pretentious. To the contrary, all styles produce an extremely even tone in text setting.

A closer look at the letters reveals why: the generally low stroke contrast is varied very skillfully between and within the letters in an undogmatic way in order to avoid spots or gaps. In large sizes this looks a bit inconsistent and some shapes, though absolutely unobtrusive in small sizes, appear mannered or random. Combined with the right typeface for headlines, Fabiol is certainly an excellent choice for book typography.

Tim Ahrens is a type designer and architect based in Berlin. He runs Just Another Foundry with Shoko Mugikura. His JAF Lapture and JAF Mashine typefaces received honorable mentions on Typographica’s list in 2005 and his JAF Bernini Sans was selected for the 2012 list. Tim has a degree in architecture from the University of Karlsruhe (Germany), and holds an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading (UK).