Handwritten typeface Inkwell brings the personality of a pen to a functional font

Inkwell, a font just released by type foundry Hoefler&Co, was developed to find a middle ground between expression and functionality. Based on handwritten designs, the font conveys personality and informality while being as versatile as a standard typeface.

The font comes in a wide variety of styles: serif, sans, script, Blackletter, Tuscan and Open. Each is offered in six weights, from technical pen thin to graffiti marker black, all carefully designed to be harmonious when used together on the page, and can be used on everything from books to apps.

Avoiding many of the associations of old-fashioned lettering and formal calligraphy, Inkwell instead is a contemporary and friendly typeface, with softness and approachability. Compared with the strictness of a font, “handwriting… serves to record the thoughts of an author,” Jonathan Hoefler says, “but has the freedom to move from style to style as the message dictates. A writer might scribble a paragraph in cursive handwriting, but punctuate key points with capitals, or backtrack to over-ink some crucial point with darker and more deliberate strokes. It’s a flexibility that makes handwritten communications compelling.”

Bringing this quality to a functional face for graphic designers to employ in their work, Inkwell “captures the honest and familiar qualities of the pen” with the character set, weight range and technical finish of a high quality font.