Parabolica

  • Hairline
  • Hairline Oblique
  • Light
  • Light Oblique
  • Regular
  • Regular Oblique
  • Medium
  • Medium Oblique
  • Bold
  • Bold Oblique
  • Black
  • Black Oblique
  • Text Regular
  • Text Regular Oblique
  • Text Medium
  • Text Medium Oblique
  • Text Bold
  • Text Bold Oblique
  • Text Black
  • Text Black Oblique

Parabolica Bold

Superparamagnetic
F-1 ENGINE VALVES

Parabolica Hairline

Harmonic Manipulator
CARBURATOR ICING

Parabolica Medium Oblique

Single-Ended Triode
PHOTOMULTIPLIER

Parabolica Black

You have purchased one of the most sophisticated and reliable products on the market today

Parabolica Medium

Voltage Transformer taps at 5% increments cover the nominal voltage ranges with an allowable input variation of ±5%

Parabolica Light Oblique

To prevent electromagnetic interference with electric appliances such as radios and televisions, use shielded cables and connectors

Parabolica Text Regular

The ⏹/⏏ button in the LD control section cannot be used to open/close the disc table. Pressing ⏸ again resumes playback from the position where it was paused. The highest-power tube currently available is the Eimac 4CM2500KG, a forced water-cooled power tetrode capable of dissipating 2.5 megawatts. Timing accuracy is better than ±0.14% in all modes of operation. Set Trigger Sensitivity, But HDS3102M-N Is Set At 0.3div. Longitudinal angular tip-off rate < 0.6°/s. Medium impedance is considered between 600Ω and 10 kΩ. The inertia reel (Fig. 3-4) is a two position locking device. The inertia reel (Fig. 3-4) is a two position locking device. Meets specifications on spaces of ambient temperature range 40° to 100°F.

Parabolica Text Regular Oblique

The ⏹/⏏ button in the LD control section cannot be used to open/close the disc table. Pressing ⏸ again resumes playback from the position where it was paused. The highest-power tube currently available is the Eimac 4CM2500KG, a forced water-cooled power tetrode capable of dissipating 2.5 megawatts. Timing accuracy is better than ±0.14% in all modes of operation. Set Trigger Sensitivity, But HDS3102M-N Is Set At 0.3div. Longitudinal angular tip-off rate < 0.6°/s. Medium impedance is considered between 600Ω and 10 kΩ. The inertia reel (Fig. 3-4) is a two position locking device. The inertia reel (Fig. 3-4) is a two position locking device. Meets specifications on spaces of ambient temperature range 40° to 100°F.

About Parabolica

Parabolica is a font family that’s ten years in the making. It was started and stopped, sidelined, and redrawn countless times. This typeface was more of a struggle than any that I have drawn. Why? Because I couldn’t figure out why it needed to exist.

The Neo Grotesk genre has been well trod. Since Helvetica first appeared in 1957 most every type designer has made one (or two) similar typefaces. Naturally, there was no reason we should be left out. Or was there? Is there anything new to say in the genre? Do we actually have to say anything new or can we just say “Hey! We also made a NeoGrot!”

Amongst the many starts and stops, a reason to actually make the typeface slowly revealed itself. It didn’t come from the glamorous work of Mid-Century Swiss designers but from the utilitarian work that we see every day. Typefaces like Matthew Carter’s CRT Gothic or Video. Typefaces that were meant to look good in bad places. Type that was meant to just work everywhere, that would do its job just as well projected on an old Television set in an airport or in glossy print.

Matthew Carter’s Video (Photo by Stephen Coles.)

From this idea, the final version of Parabolica was born. It is a Neogrotesk that is even more stripped down. Pulling not just from the familiar families of the genre, Parabolica also references some decidedly non-grotesk type like Franklin Gothic. From its subtle weight modulation (that gets stronger as the optical size get smaller) to the larger apertures, Parabolica is meant to get dirty.

With two optical variations, Parabolica can work big or small, or however you’d like. The Text version features squared-off counters (that become more square as the fonts get bolder) to allow a little more white space in the interior of the letters in order to aid legibility. It also has a larger x-height, looser spacing, and more contrast in the diagonal strokes (such as the K, V, Y, etc.)

Comparison of Parabolica (in red) and Parabolica Text (outline).

The Regular Optical size is designed for use at bigger-than-text sizes (but feel free to use it at any size.) It has tighter spacing and is a bit more curvy than the text version but still has the same large apertures.

Like all Neo Grotesks, Parabolica is a sturdy workhorse typeface family. However, it’s meant to work everywhere.

OpenType Features

Default
Activated
Tabular Numbers
012345
012345
Superscript & Subscript
012345
01234567890
Numerator & Denominator
012345
01234567890

Design Notes

In the Regular and Hairline weights, the horizontal terminals end at the same height for better use in logos and identity work. In the bolder weights, only the lowercase lines up perfectly.
In both optical sizes, Interior curves flatten out to create sharp 90° edges that render well. Exterior curves extend & bow out and create a taper for the end of the stroke.
The text optical size features a larger x-height, more space where the bowls join the stems, looser letter spacing, and slightly square counters; all to help it work better at small sizes.
Letters with diagonal strokes have even greater changes in the text optical size. They feature slight increase in contrast between the left and right strokes and a much deeper join for added white space.
For the text optical size, not only is the spacing a little looser but the letters are a little wider to aid in legibility at small sizes.
For UI work, Parabolica includes a host of symbols, drawn to work perfectly with capital-height letters.

Language Support

  • Afrikaans
  • Albanian
  • Algonquin
  • Asturian
  • Basque
  • Bavarian
  • Bemba
  • Bikol
  • Bosnian
  • Breton
  • Catalan
  • Cheyenne
  • Cornish
  • Croatian
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dutch
  • English
  • Esperanto
  • Estonian
  • Faroese
  • Fijian
  • Finnish
  • French
  • Galician
  • German
  • Greenlandic
  • Hawaiian
  • Hungarian
  • Icelandic
  • Indonesian
  • Irish
  • Italian
  • Kurdish
  • Latin
  • Latvian
  • Lithuanian
  • Luxembourgish
  • Madurese
  • Malagasy
  • Malay
  • Maltese
  • Mandinka
  • Māori
  • Norwegian
  • Occitan
  • Polish
  • Portuguese
  • Quechua
  • Romanian
  • Romansh
  • Northern Sámi
  • Lule Sámi
  • Inari Saami
  • Samoan
  • Serbian
  • Slovak
  • Slovenian
  • Spanish
  • Strine
  • Swahili
  • Swedish
  • Tagalog
  • Tswana
  • Turkish
  • Umbundu
  • Vietnamese
  • Walloon
  • Welsh
  • Wolof
  • Xhosa
  • Zulu