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Mass-Driver

@mass-driver.com

Independent foundry based in The Hague. We make typefaces that are sensitive to the past, but designed for the present. https://mass-driver.com Posts by Rutherford Craze, [type]founder.

225 Posts1054 Follower225 Folgt
Mass-Driver@mass-driver.com · 3mo ago

Type Foundry Directory (typefoundry.directory) is one of the best resources out there for finding independent type designers & foundries. This month, not just the nameplate but the entire site is set in our latest typeface, MD UI — there’s no better specimen than a real-world use case.

Screenshot of the Type Foundry Directory, showing the name of the site in MD UI. Partly visible at the bottom are a couple of rows of the main list of type foundries.
Mass-Driver@mass-driver.com · 4mo ago

Last month was the 25 year anniversary of the legalisation of equal marriage in the Netherlands. To mark the occasion, the Dutch Central Bank and the Royal Mint together issued a limited-run €5 coin, designed by Koos Breen and set in my typeface, MD Nichrome.

Closeup photo of a silver coin balanced on fingertips. The design features a series of concentric circles, mostly cut off on the left side to form a rainbow motif, with each band engraved at a slight angle to create a gradient effect as it catches the light. The engraved text, in all-caps MD Nichrome, reads ‘25 jaar openstelling van het huwelijk voor iedereen’ (‘25 years of marriage [being] open for everyone’), the two Os of ‘voor’ overlapped like linked rings, and the final word (‘everyone’) set apart and highlighted in the centre of the rainbow.The same coin, tilted slightly to show the gradient effect of the ‘rainbow’ section in a different light.
Mass-Driver@mass-driver.com · 6mo ago

Have you used any of our fonts in a live project? If you’re able to share an image or two (or better yet, submit a @fontsinuse.com post!), I’d love to hear what you worked on, and potentially feature it on the next version of our website

Ben Fry@benfry.com · 6mo ago

Using a great typeface is like cheating at design because your work instantly gets so much better. After years of mucking, we started using MD System in a prototype. Seeing what the tool *could* look like was a huge motivation to finally make it happen. Once we saw it, we couldn't wait to build it.

Mass-Driver@mass-driver.com · 8mo ago

When you design a typeface, there’s always a feeling of “I hope someone does X with it”. For MD System, @fathom.info’s Rowboat is cooler than even my most optimistic goals:

Mass-Driver@mass-driver.com · 8mo ago

When you design a typeface, there’s always a feeling of “I hope someone does X with it”. For MD System, @fathom.info’s Rowboat is cooler than even my most optimistic goals:

Ben Fry@benfry.com · 8mo ago

21,689 rows of film data (100 MB file!) and filtering by Director instantaneously on hover. All in the browser, no roundtrip to a server. Just insane what we can do here: rowboat.net/f/7vb8dx84 (I'm actually moving slower in the first half to make it less confusing—second half is actual speed.)

Linotype Pilgrim@symbo1ics.bsky.social · 8mo ago

@mass-driver.com has a modern revival of MICR-ish typefaces: polychrome.mass-driver.com #typography

MD Polychrome Typeface

MD Polychrome is a display typeface based on the unique ‘retro high-tech’ aesthetic of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR), and the pre-digital fonts which it inspired.

polychrome.mass-driver.com

F.O.@get-effed.bsky.social · 8mo ago

I've never heard of this or of them, but what a fucking brilliant typeface. Very Pearl & Dean

Mass-Driver@mass-driver.com · 9mo ago

For any game developers* caught by the Monotype/Fontworks price hikes: - you can use our fonts for video games - there are no usage caps or renewal fees - unrestricted trial fonts for in-engine testing - smaller dev teams pay less. mass-driver.com *Extended Latin support, but not Japanese, sorry!

MD Nichrome, a geometric sans-serif with a strong retro flavour, syncopated proportions. It’s inspired by 70s sci-fi paperback covers, and available in 16 styles (8 weights, from a very thin to a very bold, with matching obliques).MD Polychrome, a typeface based on magnetic ink bank numbers (and the various retro-high-tech fonts they inspired in the 60s and 70s). Available in four styles, loosely corresponding to different print sizes rather than weights.MD IO, a monospaced typeface intended for super-legible text. It’s somewhat futuristic in appearance (but not distractingly so) with strongly textured italics. Available in 16 styles, with weights from very light to very bold.MD Lórien, a slightly ornate serif influenced by Caslon and the 18th century European typefaces which Caslon’s fonts were derived from. It’s available in five weights, with matching italics, swash caps, ligatures, etc. etc.
Mass-Driver@mass-driver.com · 10mo ago

Made the call last week to push our late 2025 release to early 2026. The delay might be disappointing, but I feel extremely fortunate that we can take as much time as this project needs. In the meantime, here’s a preview of something else I’ve been working on: MD Thermochrome icons

Sample text with some icons set in MD Thermochrome. It’s a dot-matrix–inspired typeface constructed from circles and rounded horizontal lines, and the icons are rendered in the same style.
Mass-Driver@mass-driver.com · 11mo ago

A small update: if you’re buying fonts via our website, there’s now an option to apply a 50% student discount without needing to contact us. (You can always use our trial fonts in class without paying anything — this is only for commercial projects, published websites, etc.) mass-driver.com

Screenshot of a section of the checkout page on our foundry website, showing a checkbox marked ‘Licensee is a student’ (currently selected). The line below reads, ‘50% off. Student licenses remain valid after you graduate.’
Mass-Driver@mass-driver.com · 12mo ago

Happy to have been able to contribute some thoughts to @goodspeed.bsky.social’s latest piece for @its-nice-that.bsky.social. It’s great to see an article on design ethics consider type and UX, which generally don’t follow the typical client–agency model. www.itsnicethat.com/features/is-...

The Good, the Bad, and the Iffy: is there such a thing as an ethical designer?

Designers from Pentagram, Koto, Creech, and more talk candidly about the murky waters of client selection, the logistics and risks of rejecting work on moral grounds, and how to keep afloat without lo...

itsnicethat.com

Mass-Driver@mass-driver.com · 12mo ago

A small update on web fonts: from today, we’re no longer including the .woff format by default, since browser support for .woff2 is virtually identical (96% vs 96.7%). We’ll continue to provide them on request for any users who need them.