JAF Herb
Just Another Foundry · Tim Ahrens · 2010
A blackletter drawn from sixteenth-century cursive broken scripts, designed to retain fraktur's complexity without its conservative or aggressive associations.
About
Originating in Tim Ahrens's MA Typeface Design studies at the University of Reading, JAF Herb draws on sixteenth-century cursive broken scripts and printing types, with connecting letterforms at a tight spacing. The family spans Regular and Bold in both standard and condensed widths, giving it range for brand identity work where historical texture is wanted without the ideological baggage fraktur typically carries. The ATypI letter.2 award and its deployment in contemporary Austrian bakery branding confirm its practical utility in modern identity contexts.
Classification
Based explicitly on sixteenth-century cursive broken scripts and printing types, with fraktur-derived connecting letterforms; classified as blackletter despite its intent to avoid negative connotations associated with the style.