Type specimen: Xerox
Product material from the print manufacturer Xerox, using the typeface of the same name
Xerox Interbrand

Xerox

Modern Antiqua in a flattering form

The Xerox typeface was created in 2007 as part of the corporate design of the eponymous printer manufacturer. It is based on the predecessor font FS Albert by the British graphic designer Jason Smith and has a soft, friendly form. The creative impulse, in Smith’s recounting, came from the success of the Bliss and Meta fonts by Jeremy Tankward and Erik Spiekerman, respectively, as well as from the physiognomic example posed by his pudgy little son Albert: “My impression at the time was that a lot of major brands and global companies needed to show a warmer, more humane side of their corporate cultures.”

The result was an especially thick typeface with soft contours that recalls primary school letters. Meanwhile Xerox, developed from FS Albert by Smith and his colleague Phil Granham, now exists in various languages.