FF DIN

Category	Sans-serif
Designer(s)	Albert-Jan Pool
Foundry	FontFont

FF DIN is a realist sans-serif typeface designed in 1995 by Albert-Jan Pool, based on DIN-Mittelschrift and DIN-Engschrift, as defined in the German standard DIN 1451. DIN is an acronym for Deutsches Institut für Normung (German Institute of Standardisation).

At a 1994 meeting of the ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale) in San Francisco, Pool encountered Erik Spiekermann, who encouraged him to design a revival of DIN 1451 for release by FontFont, the type foundry Spiekermann had just established. Today, FF DIN is one of the foundry’s best-selling typefaces.

Sharing structural similarities with DIN 1451, FF DIN differs in its weight distribution and naming conventions, and has a far wider character set. It includes ranging (old style) figures and several refinements that allow it to perform better as a print and screen text face.

The family includes five font weights in two widths (Normal and Condensed), each with italics. The entire family includes extended characters such as arrows, fractions, Euro sign, lozenge, mathematical symbols, extra accented Latin letters, and superscript numeral figures. Alternate glyphs include rounded dots, old style figures, and alternate cedilla. With time Eastern European, Greek and Cyrillic character sets have been added as well.

In summer 2010, FontFont introduced a completely new drawn round version called FF DIN Round, including five weights (Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Black). Assisted by Ivo Gabrowitsch of FontShop International, Albert-Jan Pool wrote the brochure FF DIN Round – digital block letters. It provides additional information on both the design and the history of round sans serif typefaces. FF DIN Round Pro also includes a Cyrillic character set for all weights.

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Wikipedia