Responses by Panos Vassiliou, type designer, Parachute Typefoundry.
Background: I designed PF Centura to reinterpret historical typefaces, blending the elegance of Clarendon with the durability of Antique. My goal was to create a versatile, contemporary typeface that retained the aesthetic charm of 19th-century styles while addressing modern design needs. The primary target audience includes graphic designers, typographers and branding professionals who require a flexible, high-quality typeface for both print and digital applications. By incorporating multiple axes for weight, width and italics, PF Centura provides designers with the adaptability they need for various creative projects.
Design thinking: The solution centered on balancing historical inspiration with modern usability. Clarendon’s decorative appeal and Antique’s rugged functionality were key reference points, but the challenge was to integrate them seamlessly into a single, adaptable typeface. By leveraging variable font technology, PF Centura offers extensive customization options, making it more flexible than traditional serif fonts. Additionally, features like stacked fractions, Unicase characters and carefully aligned figures enhance the typeface’s usability across different applications, from editorial design to branding.
Challenges: Maintaining historical integrity while optimizing the font for contemporary needs. Clarendon and Antique typefaces were designed for different purposes—one for impact and decoration, the other for durability and legibility. Merging their characteristics required careful design refinements.
Another challenge was ensuring the typeface’s readability across different sizes and printing conditions while preserving its unique aesthetic. Developing a variable font with multiple axes also introduced technical complexities, as maintaining consistency across all styles required meticulous fine-tuning.
Visual influences: The primary influences were 19th-century Clarendon and Antique typefaces, particularly those used in posters, headlines and industrial-era publications. Historical metal type specimens informed key design choices, especially in shaping serifs and stroke contrast. Modern typographic technology also played a role, influencing my decision to include variable font capabilities. This ensures that PF Centura remains adaptable for a wide range of design contexts.
Time constraints: Time constraints influenced the project’s development process by necessitating a phased approach. In 1999, I introduced the early version, PF Centura-3D, as a simplified two-style design before evolving it into the comprehensive PF Centura release. This gradual progression enabled me to extensively test and refine the font. Constraints also required prioritization of core features, such as weight and width variations, with additional refinements to be implemented in later iterations.
Specific project demands: Supporting multiple scripts—such as Cyrillic, Greek and Latin—added complexity, requiring extensive character development to maintain consistency across languages. Ensuring high legibility for both display and text use was another critical demand, influencing stroke weight and spacing adjustments. Additionally, incorporating variable font technology meant addressing technical challenges related to interpolation and font performance. While these demands made the project more intricate, they ultimately contributed to PF Centura’s broad usability and long-term relevance.
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