Thanatos
Herzberg Design · Herzberg Design · 2023
A sharp-cornered serif in eight weights and three optical sizes, drawing on calligraphy and woodcut craft for a typeface that balances character with genuine usability.
About
Two years in the making, Thanatos runs across 48 styles combining eight weights with Text, Deck and Display optical sizes, each in Roman and Italic. Its knife-like serifs, broken counterforms and subtly concave stems trace a lineage to Berthold Wolpe's Albertus, though the result reads as craftsmanship and solidity rather than ornament or horror. The Text cut widens forms and reinforces stroke connections for smaller settings, while the Display cut preserves the family's delicate, incisive character at larger sizes.
Classification
A sharp-cornered serif with calligraphic and woodcut origins, knife-like serifs and broken counterforms place it firmly in the display serif tradition, though its three optical sizes extend usability down to text settings.