Algebra evolved from Granger, a headline typeface designed by Susana Carvalho and Kai Bernau for the US edition of Esquire. Algebra is a broad-shouldered slab serif typeface in two optical sizes, built on superelliptical forms. Algebra Display is crisp and lively, with brutalist details. Its calmer multipurpose companion Algebra has loose spacing, giving a remarkably comfortable texture in text. Algebra references Adrian Frutiger’s Egyptienne, Georg Trump’s Schadow, and Hermann Zapf’s Melior, but its clean lines make it appropriate for contemporary use in modern magazine design. Its designers describe it as a Grotesk, but with serifs. The flat vertices where diagonals intersect (as in the A or M) give a brutal feeling, playing nicely off of the bulky round shapes. Functionally, the flat vertices keep the letters from clogging even at text sizes on screen and under the worst printing conditions.
