A curious font called FF Mt, or FF MEtA
As this space enjoys a segue, or two, from time to time, the MetaDesign SF post prompted one to bring to light another project developed by Metadesign’s founder Erik Spiekermann. Meta offices can be found in several corners of the globe, outputting works that include information design, brand, signing, packaging design and type design. Erik Spiekermann during his Metadesign period was responsible for the design of the Meta type family, among other fonts.
Meta, the font that is, along with the Rotis family of typefaces was one of the most popular fonts used by designers in the 1990s. Many projects requiring a “design” look and feel often used Meta or Rotis at the time. That was until Helvetica Neue Light, Swiss and Din Schriften family pulled on the boxing gloves in the mid 1990s and slugged for their share of the designer space too. One recalls Dr Anthony Calahan’s excellent PhD thesis titled: Type, trends and fashion: A study of the late 20th century proliferation of typefaces, references these type heavy weights.
Andrew had the pleasure of visiting Meta’s offices in Berlin; an impressive studio that had a boardroom large enough to accommodate around 100 people (attested by the AGI congress in 2005). During Andrew’s web trawling, researching Berlin and design related topics, he came across a free font in one weight designed by Erik Spiekermann (now CEO at SpiekermannPartners), – called FF Mt.
FF Mt is one many fonts that pushes the fundamental design elements of type readability. Spiekermann on his blog states – this font is an exercise in saving space – because it ignores the vowels when entering text. One can force a vowel, if necessary, by using the capitals – which is a complete alphabet. One is grateful that such exploration exists, even though at this time one doesn’t feel compelled to use it. It reminds one of Wim Crouwel’s new alphabet, and it presence will invite other type designers to better the experience in the future.
FF Mt is a free font, so give it a go, it is curious, and as Erik states in his web log – Save space! for yourself. Download FF Mt from here
Visit SpiekermannPartners here
Visit Erik Spiekermann’s web log here (like all good Euro sites it is at least bi-lingual)
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