An ‘R’ set in the Roslindale typeface

Showcasing Roslindale: A New Specimen Microsite

By Scott Kellum

We love Roslindale by David Jonathan Ross, so when he approached us to design a specimen site to showcase the font’s rich design characteristics and history we jumped at the opportunity. We worked with David to scaffold a rough outline of the microsite and André Mora to draft content.

The design space of Roslindale is something we wanted to highlight. David visualizes this space as a triangular prism, a shape we dubbed “the horn”. It shows how widths stem out as optical size increases, creating a richer and more complex area for large type. We created an interactive version of this horn so that people could navigate around the design space, gaining better understanding of how Roslindale works.

“the horn” for the Roslindale design space, with a wide area in the display sizes for weight and width and a narrow area in the text and micro sizes for weight

Interspersed within the sections we wanted to create a more traditional specimen. With all the styles available, we had the roman, italic, and uppercase variations scroll past when moving down the page while still being editable.

“the horn” for the Roslindale design space, with a wide area in the display sizes for weight and width and a narrow area in the text and micro sizes for weight

With the popularity of Roslindale there was no shortage of in-use material to pull from. For this we created a rich grid of images linking back to Fonts In Use. It’s one of our favorite parts of the design with an editorial yet visuals-forward aesthetic.

“the horn” for the Roslindale design space, with a wide area in the display sizes for weight and width and a narrow area in the text and micro sizes for weight

Visit the Roslindale specimen website

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