Whyte Inktrap

Fabian Harb drew the first version of ABC Whyte years ago, after coming across a type sample from the early heyday of grotesques during a bout of archival digging. A few years later, we noticed that the design had aged gracefully, and so our lead designer Erkin Karamemet took up the task of exploring new possibilities for it. Fourteen months of dedicated work and 27,040 characters later, two related-yet-visually-distinctive font families materialized: ABC Whyte and ABC Whyte Inktrap.

ABC Whyte has smooth and sharp transitions, while Inktrap has curt yet also curvy ink traps at its joints. Ink traps were of course necessary during the hot type era, in order to improve printing quality. With the emergence of variable font technology, we were intent on reviving and rethinking the idea of ink traps in the context of new tools. Both families consist of 10 weights with corresponding Italics, amounting to 40 font styles in total. Each also features a wide range of international punctuation and currency signs.