An App That Tells the Fascinating Stories Behind 5 Fonts

Typographers, like most artists, are influenced by the world around them. The fonts you read on a page or computer screen are often a reflection of what’s happening in the world at any given moment. We tend to not think of fonts that way—they have a distinctly utilitarian purpose for most of us. And yet, if you look into their backstory, you’ll find that many have a rich, storied path to existence that tells a lot about history itself.

There are plenty of books out there that will help you beef up on the subject matter, but if you’re looking to spend a little less time, a new app called Typendium (iPhone), is a quick-hit look at the backstory of five different fonts. Created by William Robinson and Robyn Nevison, both artists and designers from England, Typendium is like a mini type history book all packed into a simple, slick interface.

The app was originally a way for Robinson to practice his coding skills while learning more about typography. He had recently watched the film Helvetica and found the subject to be fascinating. “I wanted to learn more about typography but I’m not actually a designer who is creating his own type or designing magazine covers,” he says. “I basically made this for myself.”

Robinson dove deep into the subject, focusing mostly on the people who created each font. In a lot of ways, reading through Typendium entries is almost like reading an abridged biography of the designers themselves. You’ll learn about John Baskerville, who Robinson describes as the “Steve Jobs of his day,” and how he took a meticulous approach to typesetting, even as novice. Baskerville was first a penmanship instructor, then a tombstone engraver, both of which informed his later career as a typographer. His resulting font, Baskerville, has hints of penmanship with the flourish of the uppercase Q.

Likewise, you’ll read how Futura is largely the product of Paul Renner’s attempt to design a more legible alternative to Germany’s traditional black letter type design and how Eric Gil, the designer of Gil Sands was, as Robinson describes him, “a problematic figure.” (He claimed, in a personal diary, to have molested his children, slept with his sister, and had sex with his dog.)

You get to read two font stories for free (Futura and Baskerville), but you have to pay for the other three. Scroll through all of the fonts and you’ll arrive at a little box asking for suggestions for which fonts to include next. Robinson says Helvetica has been a popular, if not at all surprising, request. As has Comic Sans, much to his disappointment. “I don’t know if I can bring myself to put Comic Sans in the app, though it does have an interesting story,” he says. “Maybe I’ll add it on April Fools.”

You can download Typendium for free here.

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