Roslindale
David Jonathan Ross · David Jonathan Ross · 2017
A revival of De Vinne, the 1890s American serif, redrawn by David Jonathan Ross into a variable type system spanning text to display across three widths and nine weights.
About
Born from a single Condensed Bold sent to DJR's Font of the Month Club in 2017, Roslindale has grown into a conical design space with Text, Display, Narrow, and Condensed subfamilies sharing a single variable axis for slant, width and weight. The typeface smooths De Vinne's lumpy Victorian forms while preserving the friction between its sharp serifs and round terminals, a combination that reads as simultaneously plain and decorative. Its italic transitions progressively from sloped roman to fully cursive, and the variable slant axis lets designers dial in precise degrees of italicness.
Classification
Roslindale is rooted in De Vinne, an 1890s old-style serif with Victorian characteristics, marked by a tension between sharp stubby serifs and round bulbous terminals with hints of diagonal stress. DJR classifies it as an old-style serif but acknowledges its Victorian origins resist that label.