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GT Alpina by Reto Moser proudly calls itself a workhorse serif, but delights in playing with the very meaning of that concept. It reaches into the grab bag of typographic history to resurrect shapes some may mistakenly see as too expressive. Over the course of eight years Reto meticulously worked on melding these distinct shapes with a pragmatic execution. The result is a comprehensive family of seventy fonts covering a wide range of width, weight, contrast, and proportionality.



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This typeface showcase exclusively uses the new variable fonts format for all of its features and animations.

The visual language sharpened over time for both the roman and italic styles. The italics’ perky details and sharp angle plays well with the comparatively more reserved roman.

GT Alpina started its life in 2011 as a one-off typeface, designed for a book celebrating the 75 year anniversary of the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research. The typeface’s roots lie in classic book typography, which requires a steady rhythm and measured proportions. In the eight years since this first use, the typeface family has both evolved in its design and expanded in its breadth.

Thin Bold 🔴

Pumping & Posing☱ The design of the roman styles is first and foremost concerned with the reading experience. To that aim, the characters’ widths are carefully balanced. Unique and unexpected design details add personality to that solid rhythm and allow the typeface to express its outspoken personality.

Condensed Extended 🔵

☲Flexing & Stretching The Standard width subfamily is the main summit of GT Alpina, flanked by the Condensed and Extended widths. The three subfamilies are both functional and conceptual siblings to grow the typeface’s territory.

Normal Fine ⚫

Business and Pleasure ☰ The three widths are accompanied by a higher-contrast version each, the Fine subfamilies, which play with the contrast between the thick and thin parts of each letter. The result of this exploration emphasizes the typeface’s personality and lends an elegant air to its design.

Bland GT Alpina ⚫

Zany 🕹 Details While built to be a workhorse serif, the typeface isn’t trading personality for efficiency. The key for any typeface to shine lies in all the little details making up its personality. To illustrate these details, we’ve created a very bland example serif shown above and below, deprived from all of GT Alpina’s characteristic elements. The slight shift of the contrast axis—the angled axis of thick and thin parts in letters like the o—adds vitality to the text flow. Characters such as Q and Z invert the contrast for an even more dramatic effect.