Max Phillips developed FF Spinoza over a period of eleven years. With the goal of readability in mind, Phillips named the typeface after seventeenth-century rationalist and lens-grinder Baruch Spinoza, a man whose job it was to help people see clearly. The family is an elegant workhorse, a classic text family with enough individual character to hold its own in display sizes. It was inspired by mid-century German book faces like Trump Mediaeval and Aldus, and by the types of Nicolas Kis. Its intended virtues are firmness, clarity and modesty.