"After spending my early years experimenting mostly with display faces, my focus now is to make functional text fonts, incorporating both traditional and modern aspects.
Delicato is, in many aspects, built in a traditional way. Still, some modern details have been implemented which classic designs sometimes lack. The prime goal was to make a strong text font for books and longer texts in general. This fact does not exclude the possibilites for use elsewhere.
Throughout history existing designs have often been the source of inspiration for newer ones. Delicato is no exception and looking closely, similarities can be found in the lowercase of Jeremy Tankard’s Enigma and the stems of Petr van Blokland’s Proforma. My goal is to respect these sources and turn my own creation into something new with a unique and personal touch.
Most text faces carry a basic set of weights like regular, italic, bold and small caps. I wanted to expand that a little bit further and added a medium, alternates and a set of ornaments to make the family complete and versatile."
– Stefan Hattenbach –
Spacing & kerning
Apart from letterform aesthetics, every typeface needs precise and consistent spacing and kerning. This has been executed with patience and regular tests throughout Delicato’s development. This efort should secure a smooth design process for designers using all kinds of diferent languages and letter combinations.
Delicato regular, medium and bold are spaced to allow changes in weight without a change in the text row. The contrast between regular and bold are distinct. If a »metal type feeling« is desired, regular can easily be replaced with medium and still maintain contrast.
Inktraps
In small type, ink can accumulate at the close angles, especially on some of the uppercases. A, M, N, V and W are the letters afected most. This can be avoided with the addition of »ink traps«, a tiny bit of extra space where the tight angles meet. This makes the afected letters appear as the rest, protecting them from ink build up.
Ornaments
The ornaments added are made to fit nicely together with the rest of the family. Used in a delicate way they compliment the overall graphic design. There are many opportunities to combine them with each other. Use them as frames, patterns, illustrations or symbols.
