Ringside
Hoefler & Co · Hoefler & Co · 2015
An American grotesque superfamily built for text, with six widths that each take different design decisions instead of stretching one master.
About
A sans-serif superfamily by H&Co that picks up from Knockout but is drawn for text rather than headlines. Ringside spans six widths (Compressed, Condensed, Narrow, Regular, Wide and Extra Wide), each with a companion italic and a range of weights, and adds a ScreenSmart cut for small-size screen work. Each width takes its own design decisions: the Compressed and Condensed pair flat-sided romans with swelling italics, the Narrow and Regular favour rounder forms, and the Wide and Extra Wide introduce fully curved characters with diagonal stroke endings. Tabular figures, fractions and an extended character set make it serviceable for editorial systems, identity work and information design that needs typographic variety inside one family.
Classification
H&Co describe Ringside as a sans-serif system designed for diversity rather than homogeneity, picking up from Knockout but built for text, with six widths that take different design decisions instead of uniformly stretching one master.