Modern Era, a new sans-serif type family courtesy of independent foundry Omsetype

First drawn in 2014 and trialled in a number of commercial projects ahead of its official release, it now includes Light, Light Italic, Regular, Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, Bold, Bold Italic, ExtraBold, ExtraBold Italic, Black, Black Italic and 4 supporting Monospaced cuts.

The character set has been expanded to include over 520 glyphs providing support for over 60 languages. The release also incorporates enhanced OpenType typographic and layout features including a number of stylistic alternatives.

"Initial concepts for Modern Era referenced early 20th century geometric and realist sans-serif typefaces, most notably Futura and Neuzeit," explains James Kape, one of the designers behind Omsetype.

"The name Neuzeit translates into English as 'new time' or 'modern era'. When these typefaces were designed this referred to a different period of time, albeit one equally as full of upheaval and rapid change as the digital age we live in today. Taking this as a starting point, Modern Era has been designed as a versatile sans-serif family for use in contemporary print and digital applications."

Modern Era is distinctive for its large x-height, minimal stroke contrast, slanted stem and counter/arm joints, pronounced arcs and its contrast of wider circular characters with narrower characters. These features give what was initially conceived as a functional typeface an idiosyncratic, friendly character making it equally suited for body copy and display. Check it out via omsetype.co.