Serendipity often occurs in typefaces from the hand of international, award-winning type designer, Joachim Muller-Lance. The design of Cortina was inspired by a small shape he found by coincidence: a tiny triangular tab in a software panel that resembled a futuristic ‘A’. Joachim then developed the entire concept from this idea into a family of three styles: Cortina Base, Slate, and Plate. Each is modeled on the same conceptual form sharing proportions, but with different features.

The letterform proportions of the Cortina family originated with the half-diamond ‘A’ at 45° angles: 1px up, and 1px wide. From its mass and height, the base rectangle for E, H, N, etc. was drawn slightly shorter to optically match the height of the A, and the width similarly adjusted to optically match the mass of half-diamond. The proportion fell close to 4:3, so this exact ratio was intentionally chosen for the overall design.

Likewise, the elliptical shape of the ‘O’ approximates the triangle and rectangle in optical dimension and is slightly squared to fine-tune its mass. Half-round shapes like C, D, and G were then adjusted to match the ellipse and rectangle.

All outer shapes use sharp angles, and large curves based on ellipses. Any corners sharper than 90° are mitered, at 45° while the angles other than 45° (1:1) follow a 1:2 or 2:1 ratio.  The remaining proportions and details were determined aesthetically, to counteract any optical illusions resulting from those conventions set forth in the design of the type family.

Cortina is best used at larger point sizes where the unique forms and details can draw in the viewer’s eye. Put Cortina to work on posters, in games, on packaging, car accessories, book covers, or any project needing a technological edge.