Saggi
Saggi Regular
Saggi Italic
About the typeface:
My fascination with Nicholas Kis’ letter designs and life story started about seven years ago. A Hungarian who once upon a time came to Amsterdam with a printing project, and stayed on to study type cutting, and became a renowned type-founder and publisher, resonated much with my own story. I was retracing his steps when roaming the narrow streets of Amsterdam. I was wondering which characteristics we shared. Was he stubborn? A know-it-all perhaps? Was he also an introvert? Did he quietly listen to other people’s conversations? Did he feel like a stranger in the low countries but also in Hungary? From these pondering and accompanying research came our publication Reviving Type with Céline Hurka, which was a practice-based research of type revivals. From student essay to book, this project connected me with many type designers, and so I met Géza Sipos, who shared my passion for Nicholas Kis’ typographic work. Géza suggested to work on a new revival together based on Lorenzo Magalotti’s Saggi di naturali esperienze…, a fascinating book of scientific experiments, set in Kis’ types. After years of work, numerous video calls and correction rounds we released Saggi on Future Fonts. The work is still in progress, soon more weights and character set extensions are to be expected.
Saggi is a fresh interpretation of Kis’ types. It combines the qualities what we thought made these letters so peculiar: strict and consistent design that remains playful and friendly, clean letter-shapes full with details referencing the quirks of letterpress printing, a steady roman with monumental capitals and an extra dynamic italics with calligraphic strokes.
This typeface is (being) made for hybrid use. As it is principally a text typeface, much of the design work is invested in making it appropriate for setting complex texts – literary or scientific – with a wide language support and numerous Open Type features. However, the elegant, round letterforms with their high contrast look mighty fine on larger sizes! From children’s books to opera posters, many-many applications are possible.
Number of glyphs:
667
File formats:
.otf .woff .woff2
Language support:
Abenaki, Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Amis, Anuta, Aragonese, Aranese, Arrernte, Arvanitic, Asturian, Atayal, Aymara, Basque, Belarusian, Bemba, Bikol, Bislama, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Chickasaw, Cimbrian, Cofan, Corsican, Creek, Crimean Tatar, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Delaware, Dholuo, Drehu, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, Folkspraak, French, Frisian, Friulian, Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Gikuyu, Gooniyandi, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean, Gwichin, Haitian Creole, Han, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hopi, Hotcak, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ido, Ilocano, Indonesian, Interglossa, Interlingua, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Javanese, Jerriais, Kala Lagaw Ya, Kapampangan, Kaqchikel, Karelian, Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kiribati, Kirundi, Klingon, Kurdish, Ladin, Latin, Latino Sine, Lithuanian, Lojban, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Manx, Maori, Marquesan, Meriam Mir, Mirandese, Mohawk, Montagnais, Montenegrin, Murrinhpatha, Nagamese Creole, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Ngiyambaa, Niuean, Noongar, Norwegian, Novial, Occidental, Occitan, Oshiwambo, Ossetian, Palauan, Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Potawatomi, Qeqchi, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romansh, Rotokas, Sami Inari, Sami Lule, Sami Southern, Samoan, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Seri, Seychellois, Shawnee, Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Slovio, Somali, Sorbian Lower, Sorbian Upper, Sotho Northern, Sotho Southern, Spanish, Sranan, Sundanese, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tok Pisin, Tokelauan, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Tuvaluan, Tzotzil, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Venetian, Vepsian, Volapuk, Voro, Wallisian, Walloon, Waraywaray, Warlpiri, Wayuu, Welsh, Wikmungkan, Wiradjuri, Wolof, Xavante, Xhosa, Yapese, Yindjibarndi, Zapotec, Zulu, Zuni.
Design:
Géza Sipos & Nóra Békés
Year:
2022-ongoing
Mentoring:
Type specimen layout:
Géza Sipos & Nóra Békés
Cover image:
Fortepan / Richter Gedeon Chemical Factory. Fortepan / MZSL / Ofner Károly