About the design concept

Elementar was designed to bring more typographic flexibility to digital screens. It increases the available range of possibilities by exploring the pixel grid systematically using combinations of basic parameters. This parametric approach enables the generation of thousands of single fonts in different styles, heights, weights, widths, element shapes etc.

The main range of variations for each style can be represented as a prism whose axes can be used to navigate the possible combinations of parameters. Slicing the prism in different ways produces 2-dimensional diagrams which show groups of related fonts.

Elementar font names include their coordinates in relation to the parametric variation space, expressing their multi-dimensional nature in the conventional ‘family name’ + ‘style name’ format. Elementar styles are mapped to the family names, while height, weight and width are combined to form the style name.

The parametric approach of Elementar increases the choices for static typography on low-resolution screens, and opens a whole new universe of possibilities for using type dynamically. Used as animation frames and linked to user interface events, Elementar variations can be used as the basis for a new grammar of interactive typography patterns in electronic media.

Heights

Elementar 1.0 is available in heights from 9 to 17px. Heights are measured from descender to ascender and apply only to the vertical dimension of the glyphs (non-proportional scaling).

Elementar also comes with an additional set of ‘micro fonts’ in sizes between 9 and 1px for use in dynamic animated transitions.

Stroke weights

The Elementar system enables independent control of vertical and horizontal stroke weights. Elementar weights are expressed by a pair of numbers: the first for the vertical, and the second for the horizontal stroke weight (in pixels).

Widths

Finally, Elementar also has a width axis. The number of available widths varies per weight: the bolder the weight, the fewer practically applicable widths there are. The width parameter is expressed by one number, which refers to the internal space between vertical strokes.