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Acier

Specimen

BYZANTINE
SODA
ACID
TOOL
POSTMASTER CENTER OF GRAVITY GENERAL PRACTITIONER
IRON
SEPTUAGENARIAN DOWNGRADE MICROORGANISM
STEEL
RELATIVE SOLAR CARBON PLEXUS
H
O
C

Acier In Use

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Information

Design

Cassandre

Team

Jean-Baptiste Levée

Version

1.004

About this font

Giving Cassandre another shot at stardom

Designed by Cassandre (born Adolphe-Jean Mouron, 1901-1968) in 1930, Acier was the second design by the legendary artist to be published by the Deberny & Peignot foundry. As a dual-color display typeface, designed in two series (Noir and Gris), Acier is, according to Jérôme Peignot, a “distant relative of Bifur”. Like its predecessor, it is a caps-only alphabet, maybe less spectacular and more pragmatic.

Was Acier Cassandre’s initiative or a market-wise commission from Charles Peignot, who surely wanted to make the most of the Futura trend? The type was mainly aimed at publishing and newspaper use, to be used in conjunction with photographic illustrations. The specimen's commercial pitch clearly stated the intention: “[…] designed in two directions to align with the tones of photosetting. Acier Noir, with its strong contrast, echoes the black and white effects of illustrations. While Acier Gris echoes the soft greys of mono- or dualtones prints. This balanced addition is a typographic premiere.” We do not know if sales met expectations, but the typeface was rarely seen in action during the 1930s. It stayed in the shadow of Europe (Peignot’s version of Futura), whose sales long topped the foundry rankings.

Acier, as an “Antique”, is a self-assumed modernist typeface and mixes several influences: above all, functionalist decorative arts, design, and architecture, along with urban epigraphy. It is also emblematic of the various aspects of 19th-century display typography, exploring the fantastical and three-dimensional aspects that were fashionable at that time. Acier bears this link into the metal from which it took its name (NB: “Acier” means “Steel” in French), just as Jérôme Peignot notices: “Few typographic works have been so effective in connecting the physical and graphical worlds”.

Jean-Baptiste Levée’s revival is the first to bring Acier into digital form. After careful study of original specimens, Levée redrew the two styles (Noir & Gris) from scratch, maintaining two optical sizes, and added Solid, Outline, and Strokes fonts for the application of color effects.

© www.cassandre.fr APPROVAL 2021-01-21-01 By the ESTATE OF AM.CASSANDRE

Formats

Static (OTF, TTF, WOFF, WOFF2)

Language support

Acheron, Achinese, Acholi, Afar, Afrikaans, Alekano, Aleut, Amahuaca, Amarakaeri, Amis, Anaang, Andaandi, Dongolawi, Anuta, Ao Naga, Aragonese, Arbëreshë Albanian, Arvanitika Albanian, Asháninka, Ashéninka Perené, Asu (Tanzania), Balinese, Bari, Basque, Batak Dairi, Batak Karo, Batak Mandailing, Batak Simalungun, Batak Toba, Bemba (Zambia), Bena (Tanzania), Bikol, Bislama, Borana-Arsi-Guji Oromo, Bosnian, Breton, Buginese, Candoshi-Shapra, Caquinte, Cashibo-Cacataibo, Catalan, Cebuano, Central Aymara, Central Kurdish, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chiga, Chiltepec Chinantec, Chokwe, Chuukese, Cimbrian, Cofán, Congo Swahili, Cook Islands Māori, Cornish, Corsican, Creek, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dehu, Dutch, Eastern Arrernte, Eastern Oromo, Embu, English, Ese Ejja, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Galician, Ganda, Ga’anda, German, Gheg Albanian, Gilbertese, Gooniyandi, Gourmanchéma, Guadeloupean Creole French, Gusii, Haitian, Hani, Hiligaynon, Ho-Chunk, Hopi, Huastec, Hungarian, Icelandic, Iloko, Inari Sami, Indonesian, Irish, Istro Romanian, Italian, Ixcatlán Mazatec, Jamaican Creole English, Japanese, Javanese, Jola-Fonyi, K'iche', Kabuverdianu, Kala Lagaw Ya, Kalaallisut, Kalenjin, Kamba (Kenya), Kaonde, Karelian, Kashubian, Kekchí, Kenzi, Mattokki, Khasi, Kikuyu, Kimbundu, Kinyarwanda, Kituba (DRC), Kongo, Konzo, Kuanyama, Kven Finnish, Kölsch, Ladin, Ladino, Latgalian, Ligurian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low German, Lower Sorbian, Luba-Lulua, Lule Sami, Luo (Kenya and Tanzania), Luxembourgish, Macedo-Romanian, Makhuwa, Makhuwa-Meetto, Makonde, Makwe, Malagasy, Malaysian, Maltese, Mandinka, Manx, Maore Comorian, Maori, Mapudungun, Matsés, Mauritian Creole, Meriam Mir, Meru, Minangkabau, Mirandese, Mohawk, Montenegrin, Munsee, Murrinh-Patha, Mwani, Mískito, Naga Pidgin, Ndonga, Neapolitan, Ngazidja Comorian, Niuean, Nobiin, Nomatsiguenga, North Ndebele, Northern Kurdish, Northern Qiandong Miao, Northern Sami, Northern Uzbek, Norwegian, Nyanja, Nyankole, Occitan, Orma, Oroqen, Palauan, Paluan, Pampanga, Papiamento, Pedi, Picard, Pichis Ashéninka, Piemontese, Pijin, Pintupi-Luritja, Pohnpeian, Polish, Portuguese, Potawatomi, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Rotokas, Rundi, Rwa, Samburu, Samoan, Sango, Sangu (Tanzania), Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Sena, Seri, Seselwa Creole French, Shambala, Shawnee, Shipibo-Conibo, Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Soga, Somali, Soninke, South Ndebele, Southern Aymara, Southern Qiandong Miao, Southern Sami, Southern Sotho, Spanish, Sranan Tongo, Standard Estonian, Standard Latvian, Standard Malay, Sundanese, Swahili, Swati, Swedish, Swiss German, Tagalog, Tahitian, Taita, Tedim Chin, Tetum, Tetun Dili, Tiv, Tok Pisin, Tokelau, Tonga (Tonga Islands), Tosk Albanian, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkmen, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Uab Meto, Ume Sami, Upper Guinea Crioulo, Upper Sorbian, Venetian, Veps, Võro, Walloon, Walser, Wangaaybuwan-Ngiyambaa, Waray (Philippines), Warlpiri, Wayuu, Welsh, West Central Oromo, Western Abnaki, Western Frisian, Wik-Mungkan, Wiradjuri, Wolof, Xhosa, Yanesha', Yao, Yapese, Yindjibarndi, Yucateco, Zulu, Záparo

About the designers

  • «La résignation est neuf fois sur dix une lâcheté déguisée: un sursis que l’on demande à la mort.»

    Cassandre

    Designer

    Cassandre was a major figure in French graphic design, known for his energetic approach to typography and his experiments on legibility in his work. Born with two innate tendencies, a need for formal perfection and a burning thirst for lyrical expression, he found it difficult to reconcile the two.

Glyphs

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OpenType Features

Production Type ships OpenType fonts with built-in features such as ligatures, alternates, or pictograms. Here are some of the most important features. To view a comprehensive list of features, please refer to the PDF specimen.

Capital Spacing

UPPERCASE ­

off

Denominators

H012345679 ­

off

Fractions

1/4 1/2 3/4 ­

off

Numerators

H012345679 ­

off

Ordinals

2a 2o No. ­

off

Ornaments

+ − ± × ÷ = < > ­

off

Stylistic Alternates

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQ RSTUVWX ­

off

Scientific Inferiors

H012345679 ­

off

Stylistic Set 1

12345678910 ­

off

Stylistic Set 2

12345678910 ­

off

Superscript

H012345679 ­

off

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Useful type with an edge.

Useful type with an edge.

Production Type provide retail as well as dedicated creative services in typeface design for brands.

Based in Paris and Shanghai, Production Type is a digital type design agency. Its activities span from the exclusive online distribution of its retail type for design professionals, to the creation of custom typefaces for the industrial, luxury, and media sectors.
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