Helveesti
Dinamo Typefaces · Dinamo (Fabian Harb, Robert Janes, Johannes Breyer, Fabiola Mejía) with Andree Paat · 2014
A digitisation of a Soviet-era Helvetica clone discovered in an Estonian children's book, distinguished by its phototypesetting ink-trap spikes.
About
Found by Fabian Harb while teaching in Tallinn in 2014, the source typeface was a Soviet-era Helvetica imitation printed in a vintage children's book, complete with spiked ink traps at stroke junctions designed to compensate for phototypesetting bleed. Dinamo digitised and expanded it into eight weights with italics, offering two subfamilies: Helveesti with the spikes smoothed away, and Helveesti Spikes retaining the original mutant corners. Spacing and kerning by Igino Marini; a variable version, Helveesti Plus Variable, is also available.
Classification
A digitisation of a Soviet-era Helvetica clone, retaining its phototypesetting-era ink-trap spikes as a defining characteristic; sits firmly in the grotesque sans tradition descended from Helvetica.