Alena
Nouvelle Noire · Roland Stieger · 2019
A humanist serif in eight weights tracing its origins to a 1980 Jost Hochuli woodcut, redrawn with optically constant stroke widths for calm, unobtrusive text.
About
Roland Stieger drew Alena from a woodcut by Swiss typographer Jost Hochuli, anchoring the capitals in the proportions of Roman inscriptions from the first and second centuries AD and grounding the lowercase in the humanistic minuscule. Optically equalised stroke widths give the text a quiet evenness that holds at small sizes without appearing mechanical. The eight matching italics, each inclined at just 5 degrees with a narrow ductus recalling the earliest italic types, integrate smoothly into body text while remaining clearly distinct from the uprights.
Classification
Based on Roman Capitals of the first and second century A.D. and humanistic minuscule letterforms, with optically constant line widths; firmly in the humanist serif tradition.