FG147 Replica Font
Expertise: Civic & Public | Publication | Typeface
Design: November 2023
FG147 is a serif typeface built from an 1889 specimen book and grounded in the logic of writing.
This reverse-contrast typeface is reconstructed from historical samples of the Bonston Type Foundry. Unlike many contemporary versions that treat contrast as a stylistic trick, FG147 follows Gerrit Noordzij’s theory of stroke construction, restoring logic to the unusual thick-horizontal / thin-vertical structure.
Each letter was redrawn from printed references, then developed into a full type family in three weights.
By interpreting the available characters structurally, I built a serif system that functions beyond display. The typeface was later tested in a self-published specimen booklet, using a newspaper format that reflects its historical context—where reverse-contrast types served both as bold headlines and readable text.
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