Tasty Type: FontFont

Berlin based FontShop International (FSI) was founded in 1990 by renowned type makers Neville Brody and Erik Spiekermann. Under the FontFont label, FSI has made available thousands of high quality and trendsetting fonts. FontFont has optimized some of their most famous and best-selling fonts for use on the web. Here are my five favorite FontFont web fonts and a snapshot of their capabilities in the browser.

FONTASTIC PICKS

FF Enzo Web

The Enzo family comes with beautifully drawn thin variants that look fantastic in titles, quotes and even in logo faces. I love that the distinctive wide open bowls, counters and eyes are maintained in even the stronger weights. My only complaint (which you can chalk up to being a ridiculous pet peeve of mine) is that the tail in the uppercase R feels lazy and childish. In contrast, I'd prefer a descending stroke that's closer to the nicely curved tail of the uppercase Q.

FF Tisa Web

Inspired by 19th Century wood type and drawn for magazine, FF Tisa is a master of legibility with a ton of personality. Having a large x-height makes Tisa a perfect candidate for body copy and titles alike. It's playful in bright colors and refined and elegant in high contrast palettes. FF Tisa wins my vote for favorite in today's tasty type set.

FF Meta Web

FF Meta was specifically designed for small point sizes in the mid 1980's and has quickly become a staple font for screen display. For a sans serif, FF Meta is loaded with character that, in my opinion, gives it a huge advantage over typical sans serifs. Trade that Helvetica/Arial stack in for FF Meta!

FF Dax Web and FF Dax Web Condensed

A Futura-esque condensed with a "slightly roman touch," FF Dax Condensed is sleek and space-saving for display and titles. Its wider Kin FF Dax is also tighter than most but much more readable in paragraphs. The two combined make a fantastic complete system.

FF Nuvo

With distinctive, sometimes even oddly shaped strokes, the rounded FF Nuvo is a beautifully pronounced font. It's a pleasure to use in headlines and titles but difficult at smaller sizes within long passages. Still, with a careful line-height and a tiny bit of letter spacing, FF Nuvo can do a great job in body copy.