TF, 2 letters that signify at the same time Type Foundry and Typographie Française (French Typography). 205TF is a type foundry that brings together the work of independent typeface designers, some of them well known, others closer to the beginning of their career, all highly talented. Each of them developing characters where a certain French spirit can be felt. 205TF is a foundry on a human scale, and beyond the distribution of their work, it supports typeface designers by making their creations available to a wider audience, allowing for greater recognition of their work.
205TF makes a choice of quality: a small number of creators, a precise selection of characters. The number is of little importance, the quality however is essential.
All of the characters are developed according to common standards (set standard, set pro and set spécial). The typefaces have – at a minimum – an extended set of characters (Latin extended) and this allows them to be used for compositions in a wide range of languages. With an Opentype format, they provide access to specific characters such as small capitals (according to the characters), different series of figures (aligned, old style, proportional and tabular), ligatures, fractions, etc.
This format allows access to specific typographic settings according to the characters. - For the group of characters – functions “All caps”, “Case sensitive punctuation”, “Tabular lining figures”, “Tabular old-style figures”, “Proportional old-style figures”, “Ligatures”, “Fractions”, “Ordinals”, “Contextual alternates”, “Localized forms”, etc.
For certain characters — “Small capitals”, “Capitals to Small Capitals”.
The presentation and interest of each function are detailed in the typeface specimens that can be downloaded for each typeface.
The groups of characters function with both MacOs and Windows platforms and have been tested for Office and Adobe applications. They can then be easily installed on the vast majority of computers and the direct transfer of a file that uses 205TF typefaces from one platform to another and from a Macintosh version of software to a Windows version of software is a process which is seamless.
For cases involving a specific and/or proprietary operating system or specific software, please contact us directly.
Team
Rémi Forte, Foundry Manager
As Foundry Manager, Rémi Forte supports 205TF’s type designers in the development of their projects. He is also in charge of the foundry’s communication and customer relations.
Alongside his work for 205TF, Rémi is developing a practice-based research thesis in the TransCrit Research Unit (University of Paris 8), which follows his studies at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (ENSBA) in Lyon, and Atelier national de recherche typographique (ANRT) in Nancy.
He also teaches graphic design and typography.
Damien Gautier, Founder and Partner
Cofounder of 205TF in 2017, Damien Gautier is codirecting the foundry’s operations and contributing to the catalogue as a type designer. His typefaces are available exclusively at 205TF, such as Maax, Plaak, Plaax, Alcalá or Beretta.
Florence Roller, Founder and Partner
Cofounder of 205TF in 2017, Florence Roller is codirecting the foundry’s operations. She leads with Damien Gautier the graphic design studio Bureau 205 and the publishing house Éditions deux-cent-cinq. Coauthor of 3 manuals on visual identity, posters and typography, she holds a degree from the École supérieure des Arts du Rhin in Strasbourg (HEAR).
New releases are carefully selected every year by the team and its advisory board, comprised of Matthieu Cortat, Thomas Huot-Marchand and Alice Savoie. They stand for a level of quality that our customers deserve and look for.
Matthieu Cortat is a type designer. He has designed several custom typefaces for clients, such as Eastpak, Caran d’Ache, the City of Lausanne, the Terminal Four at JFK Airport in New York or the TV channel Eurosport. He is Head of Master Type Design at the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL). His typefaces are exclusively available at 205TF, including the most recent ones Zénith, Cosimo, Helvetius, Yorick or Molitor.
Thomas Huot-Marchand divides his time between teaching, type design and graphic design. Since 2012, he is Director of the Atelier national de recherche typographique (ANRT) in Nancy. A former resident of the Académie de France in Rome – Villa Médicis in 2006–2007, then at the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography of Pasadena from May to July of 2019, he is now living and working in Besançon, where his activity as a Graphic Designer has developed mainly in the cultural sector. He has been a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) since 2010. The typefaces of Thomas Huot-Marchand are exclusively available at 205TF, such as Album, Garaje, Minérale or Minuscule.
Alice Savoie is an independent type designer and researcher. She holds an MA and a PhD from the University of Reading. As a practicing type designer she has collaborated with international foundries and design studios. Her recent type design works include Faune, an award-winning typeface family for the French Centre national des arts plastiques. She teaches at ANRT in Nancy (France) and ECAL in Lausanne (Switzerland). 205TF distributes her typeface Romain 20.
Charly Derouault, Alexis Faudot and Federico Parra regularly collaborate with the foundry as graphic and type designers.
Roxane Gataud did work with 205TF from 2016 to 2020 as a type designer and font engineer.
Thomas Leblond, a graphic designer, participated in the creation of the foundry in 2017.
We look forward to possible font proposals. Please do not hesitate to contact us for sharing your projects.
Alcalá is based on the “Biblia poliglota complutense” (Polyglot Bible of Alcalá). It was the first edition of a complete polyglot Bible, as well as the first printed version of the New Testament in Greek (Septuagint) with gloss. Conceived between 1502 and 1517, it was produced under the patronage of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros.
The first drawings of Alcalá go back to 1995. A second version started in 2011, commissioned by a publisher for a French
and Malagasy edition of the Bible by J.N. Darby. Alcalá was developped in three styles: roman, italic and bold. Today, a new cut is added: Alcalá Black Display, its intended to compose titles and headings.
Alcalá has all requested qualities for editorial design, especally newspaper and magazine layouts. Its sharp design guarantes high readability, space saving and smart printed rendering in small sizes, as well as a great look in bigger uses. Look at its alternative punctuation! For book design, Alcalá Roman contains titling capitals and its Italic contains a serie of special ligatures.
While other characters has extended families, Damien Gautier decided to develop a reduced one. Alcalá has the only the cuts you need!
As every 205TF typefaces, Alcalá has an extented Latin glyphset which allows to compose many languages.
Caps Punctuation
Alternative punctuation
Proportional Lining Figures
Proportional Old Style Figures
Tabular Lining Figures
Tabular Old Style Figures
Automatic Fractions
Superiors/Inferiors
Ordinals
Discretionary Ligatures
Stylistic alternates
Arrows
This standard corresponds to the standard set to which is added a significant quantity of signs decided by the designer as a function of the typeface itself: small capitals, series of complete inferior and superior letters and numbers, titling capitals, etc. The detail of the characters available for each typeface is presented in the typeface specimen that you can download from our website.
The Andersen typeface was born out of the lack of typefaces adapted to children’s stories and the fact that they are often written to be read aloud. The major innovation was the creation of a complementary punctuation system. Indeed, in addition to classic glyphs, Andersen has 11 totally new punctuation marks that can be used to express feelings. As with Spanish punctuation, these glyphs are placed at the beginning and end of a sentence to help the reader to find the right tone. Also, the forms of the letters have been designed in such a way as to make it easier for dyslexic children to read them, by working on the distinction between similar forms such as b, d, p, q, 9, and 6 . Its design comes from the synthesis of the Humanes model and contemporary elements for the purposes of bringing a softness to the letterforms. The contrast is mostly low so that the typeface works just as well in titles, text, and captions. Andersen's versatility makes it possible to use it for both children’s literature and other media such as posters, as well as publishing in general.
Caps Punctuation
Feeling signs
Proportional Lining Figures
Proportional Old Style Figures
Tabular Lining Figures
Tabular Old Style Figures
Automatic Fractions
Superiors/Inferiors
Ordinals
Discretionary Ligatures
Stylistic alternates
Arrows
This standard corresponds to the Standard set to which are added specific signs depending on each typeface (alternative signs, stylistic signs, etc.) The detail of the available characters for each typeface is presented in the typeface specimen that you can download from our website.
Immortel, designed by Clément Le Tulle-Neyret, is a type family with four variants developed according to the Hippocratic theory of humors that explains these latter through the presence of one of the four principal fluids. Each one is the cause behind the development of a character trait: phlegm represents a lymphatic, sluggish, slow character (Immortel Infra); yellow bile, an angry and prideful character (Immortel Colera); blood, a jovial and warm character (Immortel Vena); and black bile provokes hopelessness and melancholy (Immortel Acedia).
This type family is envisaged like a human being, able to reveal different temperaments through the forms that it adopts. Each variant can be substituted for another without causing any change in the bulkiness of the text, as the metric system, which provides a structural link between the variants—set width, x-heights, the length of ascenders and descenders, height of capitals—is constant.
Typographically, each variant is inspired by the work of type designers, following the course of history:
— Immortel Infra finds its source in the work of Robert Granjon, a typeface engraver from the 16th century;
— Immortel Colera in the work of Jean Jannon, an engraver from the 17th century;
— Immortel Vena is influenced by the work of Jacques-François Rosart, an engraver from the 18th century;
— Immortel Acedia takes its inspiration from the engraving Melencolia I by Albrecht Dürer (1514) and attempts a synthesis between two traces of a priori opposing tools, one made by the flat tip and the other by the narrow point. In this sense it is closer to a 21st century typeface.
Immortel Infra and Vena, variants intended to be used with running text, possess two italics: the first, called “Median”, slightly slanted, is ideal for composing long text; the second, called “Italic”, with its very sharp angle and ornate instrokes and terminals, is ideal for emphasis.
To best serve running text, the Infra and Vena variants possess two grades: this signifies that these two variants have two slightly different weights that conserve the same set width so as to have a more or less dark text color according to the page layout and/or the sensitivity of the user. Grade 2 can also be used to compose knocked out text on a dark background.
This type family began life in October 2016 in the Atelier national de recherche typographique (ANRT, Nancy – France). It development was pursued thanks to the support of the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) in 2018.
Lowercases
Small Caps
Standard Punctuation
Caps Punctuation
Small Caps Punctuation
Proportional lining figures
Proportional old style figures
Tabular lining figures
Tabular Old style Figures
Prebuild & automatic Fractions
Superiors/inferiors
Nominators/denominators
Ordinals
Symbols & Mathematical Signs
Standard Ligatures
Discretionary Ligatures
Contextual Alternates
Accented Uppercases
Accented Lowercases
ACCented Small Caps
Ornaments
Arrows (ss01)
Ornemental Ligatures (ss02)
This standard corresponds to the standard set to which is added a significant quantity of signs decided by the designer as a function of the typeface itself: small capitals, series of complete inferior and superior letters and numbers, titling capitals, etc. The detail of the characters available for each typeface is presented in the typeface specimen that you can download from our website.
The Kelvin typeface is the culmination of a sensitive thinking around a modern aesthetic in typography. It is expressed through two stylistic axes — with and without serifs — with both being based on two historical ideas of modernity. Even though their designs are not based on the same skeleton, Kelvin Avec and Kelvin Sans are tied together by a common philosophy, that of building as opposed to plotting or drawing. Each one is accompanied by an italic and a titling version in which their inherent characteristics find themselves exacerbated.
Kelvin Avec takes its inspiration from typefaces which appeared at the beginning of the 18th century, attached to the family of traditional serifs. Its main reference is the Romain du Roi whose creative process is divided into two stages: a conceptual study which is then followed by an adaptation of the designs during the engraving of different sizes.
The Kelvin Sans pays tribute to the typefaces which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century and that we connect to the family of geometrical sans serifs. The observation of typefaces created by Jakob Erbar, Rudolf Koch, Edward Johnston and Paul Renner along with typefaces from promotional advertising documents from the epoch, came to nourish the design process of the Kelvin Sans.
Proportional Lining Figures
Proportional Old Style Figures
Tabular Lining Figures
Tabular Old Style Figures
Automatic Fractions
Superiors/Inferiors
Ordinals
Discretionary Ligatures
Arrows
This standard corresponds to a set of characters that respond to the Extended Latin standard. It allows for the composition of a large majority of Western European languages. To do this, signs have been added to the standard latin alphabet, either through use of diacritic signs, or through construction of specific signs. The Extended Latin standard does not contain specific Cyrillic or Greek characters. The detail of the characters available for each typeface is presented in the typeface specimen that you can download from our website.
The list of languages in which it is possible to compose is in the specimen.
This typeface is based on the Maax, designed by Damien Gautier in 2012. It is a typeface with more convivial, naturally rounded terminations. Like the Maax, this typeface contains a number of sets of characters that give each one a rhythm and a particular colour to text.
The Maax Rounded is available in 3 weights and their italics: regular and italic, medium and medium italic, bold and bold italic.
With the efficient and precious help of Roxane Gataud and Corentin Moyer.
Stylistic Alternates
Caps Punctuation
Proportional Lining Figures
Proportional Old Style Figures
Tabular Lining Figures
Tabular Old Style Figures
Superiors/Inferiors
Ordinals
Arrows
This standard corresponds to a set of characters that respond to the Extended Latin standard. It allows for the composition of a large majority of Western European languages. To do this, signs have been added to the standard latin alphabet, either through use of diacritic signs, or through construction of specific signs. The Extended Latin standard does not contain specific Cyrillic or Greek characters. The detail of the characters available for each typeface is presented in the typeface specimen that you can download from our website.
The list of languages in which it is possible to compose is in the specimen.
- Album Sans
- Album Slab
- Garaje Cond A
- Garaje Cond B
- Garaje Cond C
- Garaje Cond D
- Garaje Cond E
- Garaje Cond Mono A
- Garaje Cond Mono B
- Garaje Cond Mono C
- Garaje Cond Mono D
- Garaje Cond Mono E
- Garaje Mid
- Garaje Multi
- Garaje Total
- Garaje Wide A
- Garaje Wide B
- Garaje Wide Mono A
- Garaje Wide Mono B
- Minérale
- Minuscule
Minuscule is a typeface designed for very small sizes. Its creation was inspired by the theories of ophthalmologist Emile Javal and his “theory of compact prints” (Physiologie de la lecture et de l’écriture / Physiology of reading and writing, Paris, Alcan, 1905). Thomas Huot-Marchand initiated this project at the Atelier national de recherche typographique in 2001-2002, and completed it, designing the italics in 2006–2007 during a residency in the Académie de France in Rome – Villa Médicis.
The font comes in five versions, all optimised for 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 points. The design evolves progressively as "the size decreases": the spacing and the "x-height" increase, the contrast decreases, "inktraps appear" and the design is simplified. The MinUscule 2 is the strangest: “at this size, said Javal, we pay more particular attention to the difference between the letters”. As a consequence, the particularities of each sign are exaggerated, and the secondary details eliminated.
The contrast of the italics is not found in the spacing, almost identical to the roman, but by a more rhythmic design, progressively more lively and broken.
The Minuscule has received a number of awards: from the Type Collectors Club in New York in 2005 (Certificate of excellence in type design); Erik Spiekermann declared it to be the Favourite Font of 2007 in Typographica (http://typographica.org/typeface-reviews/minuscule/ ), and Paul Shaw described it as one of the typefaces of the decade in Print magazine (http://www.printmag.com/imprint/ten-typefaces-of-the-decade/ ). In 2016, a group of more than 256 original drawings of the Minuscule were acquired by the Centre national des arts plastiques.
“A historically inspired face that is stranger than either ITC Bodoni or ITC Founder’s Caslon is Minuscule (2005), a typeface designed by Thomas Huot-Marchand to test the ‘theory of compact printings’ pronounced by Louis-Emile Javal, a nineteenth-century French ophthalmologist. The font comes in five versions, all optimised for small sizes: Minuscule Six (6 pt), Minuscule Cinq (5 pt), Minuscule Quatre (4 pt), Minuscule Trois (3 pt), and – a true micro-font – Minuscule Deux (2 pt). This last item is as bizarre as anything created during the heyday of grunge type back in the 1990’s.”
Paul Shaw, Scale and spirit (size-specific fonts) in Eye 71 Vol.18, spring 2009
With the efficient and precious help of Roxane Gataud.
(Minuscule 3, 4, 5, 6)
Caps Punctuation
Small Caps Punctuation
Proportional Lining Figures
Tabular Lining Figures
Automatic Fractions
Superiors/Inferiors
Ordinals
Stylistic Alternates (Italic only)
Arrows
This standard corresponds to the standard set to which is added a significant quantity of signs decided by the designer as a function of the typeface itself: small capitals, series of complete inferior and superior letters and numbers, titling capitals, etc. The detail of the characters available for each typeface is presented in the typeface specimen that you can download from our website.
Romain 20 is a well-rounded and clear-cut interpretation of a French elzevir, revisited to suit twenty-first century taste. Designed by Alice Savoie, the family is released in 2020 after 8 years in the making.
Romain 20 is a contemporary adaptation of a metal typeface originally named “Romain Vingtième siècle”, distributed by the French Fonderie Allainguillaume at the very beginning of the twentieth century. Savoie stumbled across the typeface in a 1902 edition of the journal La fonderie typographique and was immediately seduced by its texture on the page.
The typeface features a unique combination of flavours, with some attributes that are very much reminiscent of French publishing and jobbing work of the period. Soft bowl terminals are balanced by sharp bracketed serifs. The typeface combines a certain idea of French elegance with a hint of Art Nouveau frivolity.
The typeface was initiated as a revival of the text cuts of the roman and italic styles. A bold and a bold italic were later added to the family for greater versatility. The generous and sturdy proportions of the regular and italic styles have been fine-tuned to be optimal at text size, while the bold variant can prove particularly efficient in display. The italic retains generous proportions, making it fairly comfortable to read in continuous settings. The bold is particularly dark.
Type design: Alice Savoie
Typeface development: Fátima Lázaro
Font mastering: Roxane Gataud
Lowercases
Small Caps (only for Regular and Bold)
Standard Punctuation
Caps Punctuation
Small Caps Punctuation (only for Regular and Bold)
Proportional Lining Figures
Proportional Old Style Figures
Tabular Lining Figures
Tabular Old Style Figures
Small Caps Figures (only for Regular and Bold)
Prebuild And Automatic Fractions
Superiors/Inferiors
Ordinals
Symbols & Mathematical Signs
Standard Ligatures
Discretionary Ligatures
Accented Uppercases
Accented Lowercases
Accented Small Caps (only for Regular and Bold)
Stylistic Alternates
Arrows
Ornaments
This standard corresponds to the standard set to which is added a significant quantity of signs decided by the designer as a function of the typeface itself: small capitals, series of complete inferior and superior letters and numbers, titling capitals, etc. The detail of the characters available for each typeface is presented in the typeface specimen that you can download from our website.
Thelo is a type family that emerged from a consideration of the publishing conditions in the digital era.
Designed by Tassiana Nuñez Costa between 2014 and 2020, the typeface aims to answer contemporary editorial questions of coherence and legilibility accross medias and reading formats. In order to adapt to different reading contexts, on screen as well as on paper, and to allow for an efficient hierarchization of content, Thelo has three variations of optical sizes (Display, Text and Micro) that refer to the optical settings typically used by punchcutters of the lead type era. Applied to digital typography, this principle allows the optimization of reading comfort on screen.
The constraints of digital media have driven Tassiana Nuñez Costa to make some striking formal choices:
Thelo Text (Regular, Italic, Bold) is adapted to the composition of running text. Its clean and functional design brings it closer to modernist style typefaces but its pointed connections and terminations evoke certain characteristics of flared glyphic typefaces.
Thelo Display (Light, Regular, Bold) has been designed for composing large sized texts such as titles. Its design is enhanced by lively and sharp lines.
Finally, Thelo Micro (Regular, Italic, Bold) is tailored to the composition of smaller sized texts such as footnotes and captions. Its quite solid rectangular serifs provide it with the aesthetic of a slab serif.
Thelo is named after the Thelocactus, a variety of cactus native to Mexico: linking the harsh aspect of on screen display and the arid lands of desert zones.
Lowercases
Standard Punctuation
Caps Punctuation
Proportional lining figures
Proportional old style figures
Tabular lining figures
Tabular old style Figures
Prebuild Fractions
Superiors/inferiors
Ordinals
Symbols & Mathematical Signs
Standard Ligatures
Accented Uppercases
Accented Lowercases
Historical Forms
Arrows
Ornaments
This standard corresponds to a set of characters that respond to the Extended Latin standard. It allows for the composition of a large majority of Western European languages. To do this, signs have been added to the standard latin alphabet, either through use of diacritic signs, or through construction of specific signs. The Extended Latin standard does not contain specific Cyrillic or Greek characters. The detail of the characters available for each typeface is presented in the typeface specimen that you can download from our website.
The list of languages in which it is possible to compose is in the specimen.