Wexford Oakley

Wexford Oakley

Wexford Oakley Regular

Wexford Oakley Regular

Wexford Oakley Alternates

Wexford Oakley Alternates

Typography is the design and arrangement of the simple graphic glyphs that embody language. A typeface conveys tone and emotion, often before a single word is read. Each character is shaped by centuries of use, misuse, and reinvention; these glyphs aren’t static, they mutate to reflect shifts in culture and technology. Type carries the fossil imprints of its evolution: the serifs of the Roman chisel, the flourish of pen on parchment, and more recently, the mechanical construction of pixels and Bézier curves. The anatomy of a typeface – its ascenders, bowls, terminals, x-height – operates as a kind of dialect; a grotesque sans and a humanist serif speak with very different inflections. Typography is rarely neutral – it encodes values like reliability, luxury, rebellion, sincerity, intimacy. True geometry rarely reads well to the human eye. Letters must often be subtly distorted to look correct. Circular letters like “O” overshoot the baseline and cap height to appear optically aligned; vertical and horizontal strokes differ in thickness to appear equal. These imperceptible adjustments are foundational to good type design.

Wexford Oakley Regular

Typography is the design and arrangement of the simple graphic glyphs that embody language. A typeface conveys tone and emotion, often before a single word is read. Each character is shaped by centuries of use, misuse, and reinvention; these glyphs aren’t static, they mutate to reflect shifts in culture and technology. Type carries the fossil imprints of its evolution: the serifs of the Roman chisel, the flourish of pen on parchment, and more recently, the mechanical construction of pixels and Bézier curves. The anatomy of a typeface – its ascenders, bowls, terminals, x-height – operates as a kind of dialect; a grotesque sans and a humanist serif speak with very different inflections. Typography is rarely neutral – it encodes values like reliability, luxury, rebellion, sincerity, intimacy. True geometry rarely reads well to the human eye. Letters must often be subtly distorted to look correct. Circular letters like “O” overshoot the baseline and cap height to appear optically aligned; vertical and horizontal strokes differ in thickness to appear equal. These imperceptible adjustments are foundational to good type design.

Wexford Oakley Alternates

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
À
Á
Â
Ã
Ä
Å
Æ
Ç
È
É
Ê
Ë
Ì
Í
Î
Ï
Ð
Ñ
Ò
Ó
Ô
Õ
Ö
Ø
Ù
Ú
Û
Ü
Ý
Þ
Ł
Œ
Š
Ÿ
Ž
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
ß
à
á
â
ã
ä
å
æ
ç
è
é
ê
ë
ì
í
î
ï
ð
ñ
ò
ó
ô
õ
ö
ø
ù
ú
û
ü
ý
þ
ÿ
ı
ł
œ
š
ž
π
ª
º
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
!
#
*
,
.
/
:
;
?
\
¡
·
¿
"
'
«
»
(
)
[
]
{
}
-
_
&
@
|
¦
§
©
®
°
$
¢
£
¥
%
+
<
=
>
~
^
×
÷
`
´
ˆ
˜
¯
˘
˙
¨
˚
˝
ˇ
¸
˛

Wexford Oakley Character Set

About

Wexford Oakley imagines what might happen if the priniples of rational ruler-andcompass modernism had been appied to the Old English gothic blackletter instead of the Trajan Roman serif. It’s as if Paul Renner had updated the mediaeval lettering tradition. The two versions provide a choice of forms – the Alternates more closely resemble the original Gothic traditional forms, while the regular version uses more modern, and perhaps more readable in a contemporary context, sans serif letter shapes.