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Columbia Sans Display

Specimen

Healthcare Science
Magenta Spectrum Spot Architecture Femto-Photography
Telecommunication Color Perception Phosphorescentes
Social ↗ Science GlobalLab℠ ²³⁴Th Thorium
Magenta Spectrum Spot Architecture Femto-Photography
Magenta Spectrum Spot Architecture Femto-Photography
Incandescence Golden Ratio Chromatography

Information

Design

Jean-Baptiste Levée

Team

Mathieu Réguer
Quentin Schmerber

Version

2.001

About this font

Columbia is an unorthodox blend of multiple historical models. Initially commissioned by science magazine Sciences & Avenir, Columbia strikes a balance between rigorous topics and an approachable, informal tone. In its early drafts, the drawings could be considered a “sans-serif version of Times New Roman”, but Jean-Baptiste Levée soon extended the exploration to include the 16th- and 17th-century typography exemplified by Guillaume Le Bé and Christophe Plantin. Columbia also excavates the so-called Elzevir style, an example of permeability between French and Dutch flavours. It is a combination that establishes a confident and trustworthy voice. The type’s restrained nature eschews caricature, giving paragraphs a clean texture while retaining the classical touch expected from late Renaissance typefaces. The family’s lively italics brighten the mood.

Columbia offers two optical sizes which do not follow the expected stylistic features of the genre. For the purpose of space-filling large headlines, Columbia Display has a rather generous x-height and dense coverage, while Columbia, with its smaller x-height, sculpts a more distinguishable word silhouette. Despite its initial relationship to Times New Roman, Columbia rejects the idea of a rotating contrast axis between weights. As a result, Columbia’s oblique distribution of weight is maintained throughout the family.

Formats

Static (OTF, TTF, WOFF, WOFF2)

Language support

Acheron, Achinese, Acholi, Afar, Afrikaans, Aimaq, Alekano, Aleut, Algerian Arabic, Amahuaca, Amarakaeri, Amis, Anaang, Andaandi, Dongolawi, Anuta, Ao Naga, Aragonese, Arbëreshë Albanian, Arvanitika Albanian, Asháninka, Ashéninka Perené, Asu (Tanzania), Atayal, Baharna Arabic, 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, Caribbean Hindustani, Cashibo-Cacataibo, Catalan, Cebuano, Central Aymara, Central Kurdish, Central Kurdish, Chadian Arabic, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chiga, Chiltepec Chinantec, Chokwe, Chuukese, Cimbrian, Cofán, Congo Swahili, Cook Islands Māori, Cornish, Corsican, Creek, Crimean Tatar, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dehu, Dehwari, Dogri (individual language), Dutch, Eastern Arrernte, Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic, Eastern Oromo, Egyptian Arabic, Embu, English, Ese Ejja, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Gagauz, Galician, Ganda, Garifuna, Ga’anda, German, Gheg Albanian, Gilbertese, Gooniyandi, Gourmanchéma, Guadeloupean Creole French, Gulf Arabic, Gusii, Hadrami Arabic, Haitian, Hani, Hazaragi, Hijazi Arabic, Hiligaynon, Ho-Chunk, Hopi, Huastec, Hungarian, Icelandic, Iloko, Inari Sami, Indonesian, Iranian Persian, Iraqi Arabic, 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, Libyan Arabic, 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, Mandjak, Mankanya, Manx, Maore Comorian, Maori, Mapudungun, Matsés, Mauritian Creole, Meriam Mir, Meru, Minangkabau, Mirandese, Mohawk, Montenegrin, Moroccan Arabic, Munsee, Murrinh-Patha, Mwani, Mískito, Naga Pidgin, Najdi Arabic, Ndonga, Neapolitan, Ngazidja Comorian, Niuean, Nobiin, Nomatsiguenga, North Levantine Arabic, North Mesopotamian Arabic, North Ndebele, Northern Kurdish, Northern Qiandong Miao, Northern Sami, Northern Uzbek, Norwegian, Nyanja, Nyankole, Occitan, Ojitlán Chinantec, Omani Arabic, Orma, Oroqen, Palauan, Paluan, Pampanga, Papantla Totonac, Papiamento, Pedi, Picard, Pichis Ashéninka, Piemontese, Pijin, Pintupi-Luritja, Pipil, Pohnpeian, Polish, Portuguese, Potawatomi, Purepecha, Qashqa'i, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Rotokas, Rundi, Rwa, Saidi Arabic, Samburu, Samoan, Sanaani Arabic, Sango, Sangu (Tanzania), Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Sena, Seri, Seselwa Creole French, Shambala, Shawnee, Shipibo-Conibo, Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Sindhi, Slovak, Slovenian, Soga, Somali, Soninke, South Levantine Arabic, South Ndebele, Southern Aymara, Southern Kurdish, Southern Qiandong Miao, Southern Sami, Southern Sotho, Southern Uzbek, Spanish, Sranan Tongo, Standard Arabic, Standard Estonian, Standard Latvian, Standard Malay, Sudanese Arabic, Sudanese Creole Arabic, Sundanese, Swahili, Swati, Swedish, Swiss German, Tagalog, Tahitian, Taita, Talysh, Ta’izzi-Adeni Arabic, Tedim Chin, Tetum, Tetun Dili, Tiv, Tok Pisin, Tokelau, Tonga (Tonga Islands), Tonga (Zambia), Tosk Albanian, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Tunisian Arabic, Turkish, Turkmen, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Uab Meto, Uighur, Ume Sami, Upper Guinea Crioulo, Upper Sorbian, Urdu, 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, Zapotec, Zulu, Záparo

About the designers

  • Jean-Baptiste Levée is a type designer with a strong focus on corporate and bespoke typefaces.

    Jean-Baptiste Levée

    CEO, founder

    Jean-Baptiste Levée (1981) has designed over a hundred typefaces for industry, moving pictures, fashion and media. He is the founder of the independent foundry Production Type.

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

Case-Sensitive Forms

[CASE-SENSITIVE] !¡?¿-–—()[]{}‹›«»· ­

off

Small Capitals

Small Capitals ­

off

Small Capitals From Capitals

SMALL CAPITALS ­

off

Standard Ligatures

fichier flicker affliger ­

off

Discretionary Ligatures

Th ct st sp ­

off

Historical Forms

History ­

off

Slashed Zero

0123456789 ­

off

Lining Figures

H0123456789 ­

off

Proportional Figures

H0123456789 ­

off

Oldstyle Figures

H0123456789 ­

off

Tabular Figures

H0123456789 ­

off

Superscript

H012345679 ­

off

Scientific Inferiors

H012345679 ­

off

Numerators

H012345679 ­

off

Denominators

H012345679 ­

off

Fractions

1/4 1/2 3/4 ­

off

Ordinals

2a 2o No. ­

off

Ornaments

+ − ± × ÷ = < > ­

off

Stylistic Set 1

Diagram ­

off

Stylistic Set 2

Higgins’ Painting ­

off

Stylistic Set 3

012345678910 ­

off

Stylistic Set 4

012345678910 ­

off

Stylistic Set 5

<>+−×÷=± ­

off

Stylistic Set 6

abcdefghij ­

off

Pair well with Columbia Sans Display

  • Columbia Sans Display Bold Italic

    Useful type with an edge.

    Synthese Bold

    Creates versatile, expressive, and functional fonts

  • Columbia Sans Display Regular

    Useful type with an edge.

    Wigrum ExtraLight

    Creates versatile, expressive, and functional fonts

  • Columbia Sans Display Medium Italic

    Useful type with an edge.

    Tesseract Regular

    Creates versatile, expressive, and functional fonts

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Discover the Columbia Sans family

  • Columbia Sans

    12 styles: ExtraLight, ExtraLight Italic, Light, Light Italic, Regular, Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, SemiBold, SemiBold Italic, Bold, Bold Italic

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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.
    Enquire about custom fonts