Typecache reveals the best typefaces of 2013

Typecache, the online index and showcase for type foundries and font sellers, recently celebrated a big year for type design and type literacy as they declared their top picks out of the record 550 releases announced in 2013.

We’ve been browsing through their selections and here are our highlights.

Oskar (from $67 approx.)

Designed Paul van der Laan, Oskar is a beautifully-crafted update to the geometric Art Deco tradition, it may be a good solution when Futura or Century Gothic are almost, but not quite, what you’re looking for.

Harir (from $165 approx.)

Impressively and thoughtfully conceived, Harir by Bahman Eslami, is not only versatile (its three optical variations are painstakingly adjusted for their specific purposes), but is also multilingual, as it includes a full set of Latin characters. Type nerds beware, Bahman Eslami’s passionate story of the font’s heritage and inception (on Typophile), could cost you hours as you pursue fascinating references to Persian typographic principles.

Lumin (from $124 approx.)

The Lumin family by Nikola Djurek is a different kind of versatile, with variations including Lumin, Lumin Display, Lumin Sans and Lumin Sans Condensed. Originally developed for editorial applications as well as the demands of print, it’s got a hefty x-height and overall low contrast (with interesting exceptions).

Ogg (from $50)

Designed by Lucas Sharp; Ogg was inspired by the lettering of book designer Oscar Ogg, is delightfully audacious in its fragility and its flamboyant serifs (my favorite is the capital ‘T’). Check out the equally plucky alternates over at Incubator.

Erotica (from $19 approx.)

Another cheeky typeface, Maximiliano Sproviero’s award-winning Erotica seems to whisper breathily, “Don’t even bother taking me to a cheap printer.” You can thank your lucky stars there is also a (very slightly heavier) font set for smaller sizes. Sproviero also offers a pro version with more (and more elaborate) glyphs, an inline version, a coordinating roman caps set, and a stunning user’s guide.

See the entire list of twenty Typecache favorites on their website. Make sure to scroll all the way down or you’ll miss the additional 30 faces that were shortlisted before the final selection.

Penina Finger

Penina Finger is passionate about design, real brand and community. She owns the Fantastic Machine design studio and is also a partner at H1Talent. Feel free to say hi, ask questions and debate ideas with her on Twitter @peninasharon.