As the year draws to a close and the first quarter of the 21st century nears its end, the typography world continues to deliver exceptional design innovations. November 2025's typeface releases showcase a remarkable range spanning from deeply personal explorations to ambitious technical achievements, featuring grotesques that boldly challenge Helvetica's dominance and experimental systems born from collaborative workshops.
A defining characteristic of this month's typography releases is the ongoing dialogue between tradition and innovation. Several fonts draw inspiration from historical precedents including British typographic heritage, mid-century modernism, and Art Nouveau flourishes. However, these new releases go far beyond simple revival, instead using history as a foundation to create type families that feel simultaneously grounded in tradition and refreshingly contemporary.
Leading the charge against Helvetica's overwhelming cultural presence is Die Grotesk by Kris Sowersby. This typeface from Klim Foundry represents their first retail variable font, rooted in the study of original metal cuts and modernist principles. Die Grotesk is designed for perfect typographic texture across all sizes, with variable axes enabling seamless, precise control of weight and letter spacing while maintaining integrity at every size. Rather than dismissing or uncritically embracing Helvetica's power, this alternative offers fresh air that breathes new life into the grotesque tradition.
Another strong contender in the anti-Helvetica movement is Marblis by Julien Fincker. This modern grotesque alternative offers clear, neutral forms that convey stability and reliability while introducing subtle personality that prevents the typeface from disappearing into background ubiquity. The family comprises 10 weights plus italics, totaling 20 styles, with over 1,410 glyphs per font supporting 200 Latin-based languages. Marblis demonstrates its versatility through comprehensive OpenType features and variable font capabilities, making it particularly suitable for corporate design, editorial work, and signage systems.
Frere-Jones Type's Edgar marks a significant milestone, celebrating the tenth anniversary of Mallory's release with a serif sibling that has been in development for a decade. Designed primarily by Tobias Frere-Jones with significant contributions from Nina Stössinger, Edgar is an oldstyle text family exploring the intertwining of personal and public histories. Named after Frere-Jones' great-grandfather Edgar Wallace, a prolific crime writer, the typeface draws on British typographic tradition through the work of William Caslon and Alexander Phemister. This unlikely combination of sources creates letterforms that may not be individually perfect but knit together into words with compelling rhythm.
Collaborative design takes center stage with Montreuil, a transatlantic partnership between Julien Priez and James Edmondson's OH no Type Co. This comprehensive two-part family is named after the French city where Priez lives. Montreuil Play emerged from 15-year-old sketches exploring kit-based letterforms that could join together for interesting variations and abstract graphics. The companion Montreuil Text serves as the functional complement, offering a simplified, proportional family with multiple weights and italics suitable for extended reading.
Breaking new ground in linguistic support, Bilzig by Jeanne Saliou represents a landmark achievement. Created following research at the Atelier national de recherche typographique, it's the first typeface designed specifically to support the typographic, linguistic, and cultural needs of Breton, Gallo, Welsh, French, and other European languages. Beyond comprehensive language support, Bilzig integrates innovative features for Breton consonant mutations and inclusive writing, addressing contemporary linguistic challenges that most typefaces ignore.
Perhaps the most experimental release is Tapeface by Varada Rege, part of an ongoing project called "How to [not] design a typeface." This font was co-created by 27 individuals during a workshop where each participant received one alphabet sheet and one color of tape. Every 30 seconds, sheets were passed to the next person, allowing everyone to contribute to every letter. The result is a typeface shaped by many hands that exists as a living, evolving type system authored collectively rather than owned individually.
Display typefaces also shine this month with Felix Braden's Aquavit, which combines the crisp precision of high-contrast sans-serifs with the warmth of vintage design. Inspired by Art Nouveau's organic forms, flowing lines, and expressive motifs, it walks the line between cool sophistication and handcrafted natural charm. The typeface proves functional and legible even in smaller sizes, making it ideal for exclusive lifestyle products including beauty, jewelry, fashion, music, food and beverage, and interior design.
Yuni Grotesque by Philipp Neumeyer and TypeMates positions itself as more than just a compressed sans serif. With playful and highly suggestive curves, this typeface offers a six-weight range from Hair through Medium to Black, including italic styles heavily sloped at an expressive 18-degree angle. With more than 900 glyphs per style supporting 270 languages, Yuni Grotesque is well-suited for intricate branding, sophisticated layouts, oversized movie titles, or large-scale event signage.
Innovation in variable typography comes from Alberto Molina's Turia, which explores vertical proportion as a variable. Each letter can expand or contract in height, allowing type to adapt visually and conceptually to different compositions. Named after the river flowing through Valencia, this beveled, all-caps typeface comes in three predefined heights plus a variable version allowing users to dynamically adjust individual letter heights. An interactive tool inspired by experimental workflows allows users to play with Turia's variable properties and generate custom compositions.
Rounding out the collection are several distinctive releases including Pinokio by Tanguy Vanlaeys, a hybrid typeface combining geometric sans-serifs with slab serif structure; ALT Erogenous by Eunice Su, a bold display serif inspired by 1972 book cover lettering; and Ramboia by Rui Abreu and Catarina Vaz, a playful take on French Old-Style tradition that recently earned a Certificate of Excellence from TDC 2025. These November releases demonstrate that whether designers seek versatile text families with extensive language support, display faces with architectural presence, or experimental systems that challenge conventional authorship, the typography world continues to push boundaries while honoring its rich heritage.
