LL Home Var
Lineto · Clemens Piontek · 2017
A revival of Spartan Classified — Linotype's distorted 1951 hot-metal derivative of Futura — redeveloped by Clemens Piontek into an eight-style family with an eccentric but highly functional charm.
About
Originally pressed into service for the Skulptur Münster 2017 identity by graphic designers Lex Trüb and Urs Lehni, LL Home draws on Spartan Classified's paradoxical proportions: letters individually condensed, shortened or given arbitrary terminals to survive 5.5pt newspaper printing, which at larger scales become oddly appealing design features. Piontek redrew the shapes over several years, adding three weights plus italics to the original book cut, and the family is also available as a variable font. All-caps settings exploit the wide, stern uppercase while lowercase body text behaves with an entirely different rhythm, making the two registers feel almost like separate typefaces that nonetheless cohere.
Classification
Rooted in Futura's lineage via the Spartan Classified hot-metal variant, LL Home is a grotesque sans with eccentric proportions and terminals that defy pure geometric classification.