The Letters

Tschichold

Albers

Mondrian

Taeuber-Arp

Moholy-Nagy

Crouwel

Igarashi

Riley

Josef Albers, Despite Straight Lines,
MIT Press, 1977

Friederike Fast (ed), Max Bill: No Beginning, No End,
Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess, 2008

David Juda (ed), François Morellet: 60 Random Years of Systems,
Annely Juda Fine Art, 2008

Ulrike Gauss (ed), Stankowski 06,
Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2006

Willi Kunz, Typography: Macro- and Microaesthetics,
Verlag Niggli, 1998

Lucas Zwirner (ed), Anni Albers: Notebook 1970–1980,
David Zwirner Books, 2017

Kimberly Elam, Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition,
Princeton Architectural Press, 2001

Armin Hofmann, Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice,
Reinhold, 1965

Geometry is the branch of mathematics concerned with the shape of individual objects, spatial relationships among various objects, and the properties of surrounding space. It is one of the oldest branches of mathematics, having arisen in response to such practical problems as those found in surveying, and its name is derived from Greek words meaning “Earth measurement”. Eventually it was realised that geometry need not be limited to the study of flat surfaces (plane geometry) and rigid three-dimensional objects (solid geometry) but that even the most abstract thoughts and images might be represented and developed in geometric terms. In several ancient cultures there developed a form of geometry suited to the relationships between lengths, areas, and volumes of physical objects. This geometry was codified in Euclid’s Elements about 300 BCE on the basis of 10 axioms, or postulates, from which several hundred theorems were proved by deductive logic. The Elements epitomised the axiomatic-deductive method for many centuries. Analytic geometry was initiated by the French mathematician René Descartes (1596–1650), who introduced rectangular coordinates to locate points and to enable lines and curves to be represented with algebraic equations.

Algebraic geometry is a modern extension of the subject to multidimensional and non-Euclidean spaces. Projective geometry originated with the French mathematician Girard Desargues (1591–1661) to deal with those properties of geometric figures that are not altered by projecting their image, or “shadow”, onto another surface. The German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855), in connection with practical problems of surveying and geodesy, initiated the field of differential geometry. Using differential calculus, he characterised the intrinsic properties of curves and surfaces. For instance, he showed that the intrinsic curvature of a cylinder is the same as that of a plane, as can be seen by cutting a cylinder along its axis and flattening, but not the same as that of a sphere, which cannot be flattened without distortion. Beginning in the 19th century, various mathematicians substituted alternatives to Euclid’s parallel postulate, which, in its modern form, reads, “given a line and a point not on the line, it is possible to draw exactly one line through the given point parallel to the line”. They hoped to show that the alternatives were logically impossible. Instead, they discovered that consistent non-Euclidean geometries exist. Topology, the youngest and most sophisticated branch of geometry, focuses on the properties of geometric objects that remain unchanged upon continuous deformation—shrinking, stretching, and folding, but not tearing. The continuous development of topology dates from 1911, when the Dutch mathematician L.E.J. Brouwer (1881–1966) introduced methods generally applicable to the topic. The earliest known unambiguous examples of written records—dating from Egypt and Mesopotamia about 3100 BCE—demonstrate that ancient peoples had already begun to devise mathematical rules and techniques useful for surveying land areas, constructing buildings, and measuring storage containers.

Beginning about the 6th century BCE, the Greeks gathered and extended this practical knowledge and from it generalized the abstract subject now known as geometry, from the combination of the Greek words geo (“Earth”) and metron (“measure”) for the measurement of the Earth. In addition to describing some of the achievements of the ancient Greeks, notably Euclid’s logical development of geometry in the Elements, this article examines some applications of geometry to astronomy, cartography, and painting from classical Greece through medieval Islam and Renaissance Europe. It concludes with a brief discussion of extensions to non-Euclidean and multidimensional geometries in the modern age. The origin of geometry lies in the concerns of everyday life. The traditional account, preserved in Herodotus’s History (5th century BCE), credits the Egyptians with inventing surveying in order to reestablish property values after the annual flood of the Nile. Similarly, eagerness to know the volumes of solid figures derived from the need to evaluate tribute, store oil and grain, and build dams and pyramids. Even the three abstruse geometrical problems of ancient times—to double a cube, trisect an angle, and square a circle, all of which will be discussed later—probably arose from practical matters, from religious ritual, timekeeping, and construction, respectively, in pre-Greek societies of the Mediterranean.

Styles

Graph Light

Graph Light Italic

Graph Regular

Graph Regular Italic

Graph Bold

Graph Bold Italic

Graph Diplay

Graph Display Italic

OpenType features

Language (English)

Language (Română)

All Caps deactivated

All Caps activated

Contextual Alternates deactivated

Contextual Alternates activated

Default figures

Tabular Lining figures activated

Default figures

Proportional oldstyle figures activated

Fractions deactivated

Fractions activated

Numerator, Denominator deactivated

Numerator, Denominator activated

Glyphs

Basic character set

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Accented characters and language options

ÀÁÂÃÄĀĂÅĄÆǼĆĈČĊÇĎĐÈÉÊËĒĔĚĖĘĞĜĠĢĤĦÌÍÎĨÏĪĬİĮĲ\u0134 ĶĹĽĻĿŁŃŇÑŅŊÒÓÔÕÖŌŎŐØǾŒŔŘŖŠŚŜŞȘŤŢȚŦÙÚÛŨÜŪŬŮŰŲẀẂŴẄỲÝŶŸŹŽŻẞÞàáâäāăãåąæǽćčĉċçďđèéêěëēĕėęffğġģĥħıìíîĩïīĭįĳȷ\u0135 ķĸĺļľŀłńňñņŋòóôõöōŏőøǿœŕřŗśŝšşșţțťŧùúûũüūŭűůųẁẃŵẅỳýŷÿźžżßþð

Standard figures

00123456789

Tabular Lining characters

00123456789$¢£¥€฿₫₣₦₧₱₽₹₺₩ƒ%×÷+-=≠≈<>.,;:

Symbols and punctuation

&@%‰¶#§™©®ºª~^°†‡*“’‘’“”‚„.,:;…‹›«»•·-–—_!¡?¿×÷+-=≠≈<>≤≥/\()[]{}|$¢£¥€฿₫₣₦₧₱₽₹₺₩ƒ

Case-sensitive symbols and punctuation

•·-–—/\()[]{}|@¡¿

Fractions

½⅓⅔¼¾⅛⅜⅝⅞

Superscript and Subscript figures

^0123456789_0123456789

Information

About Graph

In 1991, while first discovering type design as a young designer, Mark Gowing drafted a rudimentary display typeface on an A1 piece of graph paper. The type was simple and angular, and very much a fashionable style of the time inspired by the likes of Neville Brody, Max Kisman and Zuzana Licko. Gowing revised the concept 25 years later when tasked to create a typeface for a publication documenting Gowing’s work in poster design (Mark Gowing, Inside the Oblong, Formist Editions, 2017). The resulting typeface is Graph – a rigid, angular family consisting of both text and display styles.

Graph is an exercise in restraint and control. Consisting only of perpendicular and 45 degree angles plotted on a metric grid, Graph employs no curves and its stroke contrast is derived only from the compression of proportion resulting from angled strokes that dissect the grid. In revisiting his original design, Gowing has expanded on the geometry, applying more traditional sans serif proportions than originally intended to impose a semblance of conventional legibility and practicality.

The eight style Graph family consists of a practical range of three weights and italics. The display style, while the same weight as the bold, is defined by its more reduced geometry and exaggerated grid nature. The display also features gridded kerning that is tighter than the text styles, causing the letterforms to align vertically and horizontally when in use, creating a strong graphic feel.

Release

2025

Design

Mark Gowing

Mastering

Connor Davenport

Features

Eight styles
Fractions, numerator and denominator figures
Inferior and superscript figures
Oldstyle figures
Tabular figures, currency and math symbols
Latin-based language support

Language support

Abenaki, Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Amis, Anuta, Aragonese, Aranese, Aromanian, Arrernte, Arvanitic (Latin), Asturian, Atayal, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bislama, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Chickasaw, Cimbrian, Cofán, Cornish, Corsican, Creek, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Delaware, Dholuo, Drehu, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, Folkspraak, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Gikuyu, Gooniyandi, Greenlandic (Kalaallisut), Guadeloupean Creole, Gwich’in, Haitian Creole, Hän, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hopi, Hotcąk (Latin), Hungarian, Icelandic, Ido, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Interglossa, Interlingua, Irish, Istro-Romanian, Italian, Jamaican, Javanese (Latin), Jèrriais, Kaingang, Kala Lagaw Ya, Kapampangan (Latin), Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Karelian (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kiribati, Kirundi, Klingon, Kurdish (Latin), Ladin, Latin, Latino sine Flexione, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lojban, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Manx, Māori, Marquesan, Megleno-Romanian, Meriam Mir, Mirandese, Mohawk, Moldovan, Montagnais, Montenegrin, Murrinh-Patha, Nagamese Creole, Nahuatl, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Ngiyambaa, Niuean, Noongar, Norwegian, Novial, Occidental, Occitan, Onĕipŏt, Oshiwambo, Ossetian (Latin), Palauan, Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Potawatomi, Q’eqchi’, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Rotokas, Sami (Inari Sami), Sami (Lule Sami), Sami (Northern Sami), Sami (Southern Sami), Samoan, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Seri, Seychellois Creole, Shawnee, Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Slovio (Latin), Somali, Sorbian (Lower Sorbian), Sorbian (Upper Sorbian), Sotho (Northern), Sotho (Southern), Spanish, Sranan, Sundanese (Latin), Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tok Pisin, Tokelauan, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Tzotzil, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Volapük, Võro, Wallisian, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Warlpiri, Wayuu, Welsh, Wik-Mungkan, Wiradjuri, Wolof, Xavante, Xhosa, Yapese, Yindjibarndi, Zapotec, Zarma, Zazaki, Zulu, Zuni

Usage notes

We are committed to the highest levels of font production. Graph has been professionally engineered to work seamlessly across all platforms and to perform exceptionally in print and on screen. The OpenType fonts contain a multitude of convenient features, such as automated case-sensitive punctuation and symbols, alternate characters and broad Latin-based language support to enhance your requirements.

While Graph is by no means a traditional text face, it is a very legible and useful typeface for text when used appropriately. Dynamic and structural at large sizes, Graph is exceptionally legible at small sizes.

Graph has been designed so that the geometric styles simulate conventional letterforms when viewed at small sizes. Settings at 12pt and less will appear more fluid and traditionally legible than larger sizes.

Fonts in use

Sissy, film poster, Arcadia Films
Design by Mark Gowing, The Letters

Mark Gowing: Inside the Oblong, publication, Formist Editions
Design by Mark Gowing, The Letters

See more in use