In the late 18th century, Bodoni, Walbaum and Didot removed the angled, broad pen stress of the old style and invented the vertically-stressed modern style of type. However, they kept most of the conventions as to which parts of the letterforms should be stressed (thick) and which should be unstressed (thin). Following type’s origins in pen writing, the notion persisted that “downstrokes” should be heavier than “upstrokes”, so that one side of the cap A is thick (as in the oldstyle), and the other is not. More…

But why stop there? If the relationship between stress and letterform is up for grabs, then it’s possible to design a type which is thick and thin in unexpected places. Hence Artefact.

The choice as to which parts of the letters are stressed is not arbitrary. There is an underlying principle, which is to increase the size of the negative shapes in the letters, so that they eat into the positive, mainly vertical strokes. The effect of this is to lighten the weight of the face, and lessen the preponderant rhythm of vertical stokes.

The basic form and detail of Artefact are in the style of the late Victorian “Moderns” such as Century Expanded, DeVinne, and Modern No. 20. This is because in these styles the thin, rounded curves of lowercase letters such as p and n join their vertical strokes at a smooth tangent — in effect, there is an “o” in the middle of the b, d, p and q.

Artefact has three weights, Light, Regular and Bold. With its exceptionally fine detail, the Light is most suitable at large sizes. The Regular and Bold make for a surprisingly legible, if somewhat corroded, text setting.