Do you know Bonnie “Prince” Billy? This amazing musician releases a new record every few months, on various labels, with changing partners, and without any drop in quality.
Nikola Djurek sometimes reminds me of him. As I write these lines, Caren Litherland and Tânia Raposo are reviewing two of his other excellent typefaces, and Typographica just changed its headline face to one of them (Nocturno Display). Djurek has released fonts through Typotheque, DTL, and his own label, Typonine. He designed Lumin and Nocturno on his own, and Audree in collaboration with Marko Hrastovec. Djurek frequently crops up in Typographica’s lists, and that his work is of consistently high quality is beyond dispute.
Lumin is my personal favorite of 2013. It’s a well-balanced Humanist type system consisting of slab and sans styles in multiple weights and widths, accompanied by heavy headline versions. Given its huge character set, Lumin is perfectly prepared for complex typographic requirements.
What makes it irresistible are two extravagant details on top of a solid base. First, the sharply chiseled stroke connections, especially in the heavy weights, create a unique stencil-like character. But for me it’s the letter ‘a’, where Djurek’s handwriting becomes most obvious, that really shines: it’s the only letter with a closed counter, and with its beautifully exaggerated arch, Djurek finishes what he started with typefaces like Brioni or Tempera.
In the last sentence, by “only letter with a closed counter”, do you mean a closed aperture?