Totentanz
Bureau Brut · Yoann Minet · 2017
A Didone-derived typeface by Yoann Minet that replaces fashion-magazine elegance with tombstone inscription and catacomb stencil as its reference points, producing a three-style family whose slanted cuts contort letterforms rather than simply inclining them.
About
Designed by Yoann Minet and published by Bureau Brut in 2017, Totentanz takes the Didone skeleton as a structural starting point but reduces contrast and increases sturdiness to suit running text as well as display use. In place of a conventional italic, the family offers a Slanted style whose strokes are crossed and deformed, and a Backslanted counterpart that leans the opposite direction, both drawing on the medieval Totentanz motif of Death paired with every rank of society. The conceptual framing is rigorous: the non-calligraphic, anti-cursive slanted styles are a direct rebuke to the hand gesture underlying most italic traditions.
Classification
Rooted in the Didone classification with high contrast and linear serifs, though deliberately departing from canonical elegance towards tombstone engraving and catacomb stencil references. The unconventional slanted styles further distinguish it from orthodox Didone models.