This new font family has a condensed feel and a geometrical design expression. It combines a highly unusual lowercase with more conventional capitals to achieve functionality with just the right amount of character. The differentiation between weights is subtle and carefully set for optimum on-screen impact and clarity at large sizes.

The square letter shapes give Oscine its basic style, and the corners of the characters are rounded to make this a more friendly design. The condensed proportions and high x-height make it a perfect choice for wayfinding, while refined draughtsmanship, shortened descenders and a strong personality ensure its suitability for headlines and titles. An unconventional lowercase gives Oscine its instant recognition factor. The characters are bold in their execution and the missing tails and spurs on selected letters (a, b, d, p, and q) render them delightfully idiosyncratic.

According to Bruno Maag, Chairman of Dalton Maag, “Oscine has great potential for use in branding, display and advertising. In the lowercase, the missing spurs may not be what people are used to seeing, particularly in the ‘a’. However, this strong design feature, which some may say doesn’t 100% fit, is what makes it quite cool as a brand font.”

Oscine isn’t a text font. It is a very flexible display font that can be used in a wide variety of situations. A very different look and feel is created depending on whether the uppercase and lowercase are used independently or in combination. Used on its own the uppercase behaves like a traditional grotesk and the corresponding effect is serious and hard hitting. Introducing the lowercase makes the result more humanist and playful and with this contrast the personality becomes softer and highly distinctive.