Josefin Sans
Created by Santiago Orozco of Typemade and named after his mother Josefina, Josefin Sans draws inspiration from Futura, Kabel, and Scandinavian design to produce an elegant geometric sans-serif with a vintage sensibility. Its most distinctive feature is an unusually low x-height set at half the cap height, giving it a tall, fashion-forward appearance ideal for luxury, editorial, and lifestyle brands. Available as a variable font with a weight axis, it includes a companion slab-serif family called Josefin Slab.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789
About Josefin Sans
- Designer
- Santiago Orozco
- Foundry
- Typemade
- Released
- 2010
- License
- SIL Open Font License 1.1
- Category
- Geometric Sans
- Recommended Weight
- 600
- Variable Axes
- weight
- Script Support
- Latin, Vietnamese
- Available Weights
- 100200300400500600700
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Frequently Asked Questions
What makes Josefin Sans' proportions so distinctive?
Josefin Sans has an unusually low x-height set at exactly half the cap height, which is significantly lower than most modern sans-serifs. This gives uppercase letters prominent visual dominance and creates a tall, elongated appearance in mixed-case text. It's a deliberate nod to 1920s-30s geometric typefaces that prioritized elegance over dense text efficiency.
Is there a serif companion to Josefin Sans?
Yes, Josefin Slab is a companion family that shares the same distinctive proportions and low x-height but adds slab serifs to the letterforms. The two families are designed to work together, sharing identical metrics so you can mix them in the same layout without disrupting line lengths or vertical rhythm. It's available on Google Fonts as a separate family.
How does Josefin Sans achieve its art deco character?
The art deco quality comes from the combination of purely geometric construction (circular bowls, even stroke widths) with the low x-height and tall ascenders that echo 1920s display typography like Futura and Kabel. The Thin and Light weights especially evoke vintage poster design. Its single-storey 'a' and clean terminals reinforce the period aesthetic while remaining usable in modern digital contexts.