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We design libre / open source fonts. That means that you can use, modify and redistribute them freely! Learn more and contribute to the adventure of Velvetyne Type Foundry by reading our “about” page!

13 January 2023In 2023, a new version of Grotesk developed by Ariel Martín Pérez was released. This new version introduces new weights that are multiplexed, which means that you can change the weight of the font without changing the width of the paragraphs. This new version also presents some subtle optical corrections. Last but not least, it considerably expands the glyphset of the font with a brand new lowercase set as well as language support for Russian, Ukrainian, Tifinagh and many Latin-based languages.

BackOut 2.1

5 October 2022The 2.1 version of Backout presents improved spacing and kerning, some new ligatures and some subtle optical adjustments.

Basteleur v2.0

15 June 2022A bit more than a year after its original release, Keussel adds a new sharp thinner weight to the pre-existing soft bold weight of Basteleur. Welcome Basteleur Moonlight!!!

Pilowlava v1.1

22 March 2022Ukrainian design Maksym Kobuzan added the Cyrillic to Pilowlava, allowing speakers of Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Serbian languages to play with the typeface. The unicase approach of Pilowlava particularly suits the Cyrillic script and Maksym made a good use of his playful mind to offer a truly original Cyrillic.

Grotesk
Specimen
Infos
Versions
In use
Charset

GROTESK

Grotesk : 4-Gras

TOUJOURS S’AIDER JAMAIS CÉDER

Grotesk : 3-Regular

Grotesk : All Styles

You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen.

Grotesk : 1-Extrafin

ⵜⴰⵏⵣⵔⵓⴼⵜ ⵜⴰⵎⵇⵇⵔⴰⵏⵜ

Grotesk : 3-Regular

Ох, тяжко, важко!

Grotesk : 4-Gras

Here I pause for one moment, to exhort the reader never to pay any attention to his understanding when it stands in opposition to any other faculty of his mind. The mere understanding, however useful and indispensable, is the meanest faculty in the human mind, and the most to be distrusted; and yet the great majority of people trust to nothing else,—which may do for ordinary life, but not for philosophical purposes. Of this out of ten thousand instances that I might produce, I will cite one. Ask of any person whatsoever, who is not previously prepared for the demand by a knowledge of perspective, to draw in the rudest way the commonest appearance which depends upon the laws of that science; as for instance, to represent the effect of two walls standing at right angles to each other, or the appearance of the houses on each side of a street, as seen by a person looking down the street from one extremity. Now in all cases, unless the person has happened to observe in pictures how it is that artists produce these effects, he will be utterly unable to make the smallest approximation to it. Yet why? For he has actually seen the effect every day of his life. The reason is—that he allows his understanding to overrule his eyes. His understanding, which includes no intuitive knowledge of the laws of vision, can furnish him with no reason why a line which is known and can be proved to be a horizontal line, should not appear a horizontal line; a line that made any angle with the perpendicular less than a right angle, would seem to him to indicate that his houses were all tumbling down together. Accordingly he makes the line of his houses a horizontal line, and fails of course to produce the effect demanded.

Grotesk : 3-Regular

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Grotesk : 4-Gras

Download Fonts and sources

Font Infos

- Styles
- 1-Extrafin
- 2-Mince
- 3-Regular
- 4-Gras
- Initiated by
- Frank Adebiaye
- Modified & contributed by
- Ariel Martín Pérez
- Collections
- Geometric
- Sans Serif
- Writing systems
- Latin
- Tifinagh
- Cyrillic
- License
- SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1
- Get the source files
- Get the PDF specimen
- Initialy published on the 12 May 2010
- Last update on the 13 January 2023

Font description

Grotesk

[EN]

Grotesk is one of Velvetyne's first published typefaces. Designed by Frank Adebiaye in 2010 and released on Velvetyne in 2012, Grotesk is a heavily geometric sans serif typeface with an unusually large spacing. The original version of Grotesk is known because it was used on the official website of the city of Paris for many years. Even if the city's visual identity has changed since then, the broken "S" of Grotesk can still be seen in some of the technical vehicles of the city.

In 2023, a new version of Grotesk developed by Ariel Martín Pérez was released. This new version introduces new weights that are multiplexed, which means that you can change the weight of the font without changing the width of the paragraphs. This new version also presents some subtle optical corrections. Last but not least, it considerably expands the glyphset of the font with a brand new lowercase set as well as language support for Russian, Ukrainian, Tifinagh and many Latin-based languages.

You can use Grotesk to give a relaxed and elegant touch to your texts, its subtle art-déco flavour will enlighten any composition.

[EN]

Grotesk est l'une des premières fontes publiées sur Velvetyne. Dessinée par Frank Adebiaye en 2010 et publiée sur le site de Velvetyne en 2012, Grotesk est un caractère sans empattements fortement géométrique, qui présente un espacement étrangement large. La version originale du Grotesk s'est fait connaître parce que pendant longtemps elle a été visible sur le logotype du site officiel de la ville de Paris. Même si l'identité visuelle de la ville a changé dès lors, le "S" cassé de Grotesk est encore visible dans quelques-uns des véhicules techniques de la ville.

En 2023, une nouvelle version du Grotesk a été publiée, développée par Ariel Martín Pérez. Cette nouvelle version introduit des nouvelles graisses en mode multiplexage, ce qui veux dire que vous pouvez changer la graisse de la fonte sans faire varier la chasse du texte. Cette nouvelle version présente aussi quelques corrections optiques. Enfin et surtout, elle augmente considérablement le set de caractères de la fonte avec des nouvelles bas de casse et du support linguistique pour le russe, l'ukrainien, le tifinagh et des nombreuses langues basées sur l'alphabet latin.

Vous pouvez utiliser le Grotesk pour donner une allure élégante et décontractée à vos textes, son arôme subtilement art-déco saura relever toutes vos compositions.

Grotesk for Paris.fr17 Jan 2017

Versions history

This typeface is open-source. As such, it has been modified over the time and you can see here the different major versions it went by and the people working on these versions. You also can have access to the older versions of the files if you are a nostalgic person. Check all our design history on our fontlog page.

Family Tree

v1.0

v2.0

v3.0

v1.0