Triforium

Triforium is a type family (or ‘type system’) intended for architectural and environmental projects and particularly for contexts in which lines are set touching to form a continuous field or pattern. The basic design is a ‘sans serif Roman’, a monoline sans serif with humanist characteristics.

The design is based upon a ratio of thirds. The small-cap ‘lower case’ has an x-height two-thirds of the cap height, and the stroke width of each successive weight is 150% of the preceding weight. This means that with careful combination of sizes and weights a consistent stroke width can be maintained across different sizes, as shown below.

The family currently numbers nine fonts. In addition to the four weights there are condensed fonts in the light and regular weights, and an extra condensed font in the light weight. In addition there is a bold inline font in which the outline strokes are equal to those of the light weight, and a font of extra bold titling initials in which the outline strokes are equal to those of the regular weight. 

Selected letters have linking variants to enable them to connect vertically or horizontally to adjacent letters. Ornamented em-dashes and bar glyphs provide for further structural support.

Further versions are planned which will include a more modulated ‘waisted’  or ‘glyphic’ flare-serif form and stencil versions of all weights and widths. This is a work-in-progress designed for my own use, and I expect to be revising, editing and extending it for some time.