Parabolica Font Family

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

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.