STIJN STEVENS
Sans Soucis Neo-Grotesk Magenta Humanist Sans-Serif
SANS SOUCIS: 4 WEIGHTS • 210+ GLYPHS
In the 21st century it is hard to express your own voice through written language. Unless if you are handwriting all your e-mails, thesis papers and Instagram DMs; our written communication is conveyed by a font designed by a typeface designer. While typeface designers are often grandmasters of their craft, it removes the personal element of communication. Written text doesn’t carry my voice, nor does it carry the shapes and quirks of my personal handwriting.
As such, I decided to design my own typeface. A font that can carry my voice in the digital age. A typeface that embodies how I wish to communicate: compact, legible, no frills and suited for both online and offline media.
When I set out to develop “Sans Soucis”, I had the intention of creating a highly legible typeface with a personality. The difficulty turned out being balancing “personality” and “legibility”: improving on one usually meant deteriorating the other.
In the end, the push for legibility is the very thing that became its character: squat curves, large open counters and an increased x-height
To assure good legibility, I printed sample texts at several stages in the design process. With a magnifying glass I was able to spot problem areas where glyphs had become hard to read or where kerning required more attention.
Initial sketch of Sans Soucis’ double-storey g.
Sans Soucis (unkerned) at 8 pts, printed with an inkjet printer on matte 90gr paper and magnified
Sans Soucis is continuously a work in progress. However after almost 2 years I’m happy to say that with its 840 glyphs divided over 4 weights it is a typeface that I am more than happy to use in my personal communication. Including all body texts on this website.
Sans Soucis is available for free, for all purposes, forever.
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© STIJN STEVENS I 2024
For questions, remarks and office party invitations,
do get in touch!
STIJN STEVENS I 2021