The typeface borrows from the numerous alphabets produced by Fournier, retaining only the finest cuts and adding its own peculiarities: anachronical ampersand, reversed letters in reverence to poster ephemeras of the times…The “Graphiques” series are designed to allow for polychromic settings. “Gothic” series are a nod to the residues of modernism. Faithful to the tradition of optical sizes, different designs have been assigned to different scales of use.
The Fournier ODP has the classical Serif style. The lighter weights are especially based on Fournier’s Cicero Poetique, a narrow series designed to fit a 12-syllabus poetry line in a specific length. Bolder weights are more connected to his Gros Canon, a fierce design with generous x-height for titling purpose. The companion Sans is a delicate contrasted serifless design, while the supportive act is played by a less contrasted Gothic, a wink to Fournier’s modernity.At the tipping end of this 45 members type system are the Graphique series, a high-contrast design that is invisibly stenciled to allow for multicolor and playful typesettings.
While Fournier is definitely a contemporary brush up of a timeless classic, historical touches have been scarcely allocated, such as italic d, g and z alternates that refer to Fournier’s mannered yet radical cursives. More funny are the reversed letters that are typical mistakes of hasty (or lazy) typographers of the seventeenth century: caught in the rush of an emergency poster typesetting, they would carelessly flip metal letter blocks. This results in odd-looking, offset words that recall the charm of a lighthearted jobbing work. Fournier’s emblematic ornaments have been digitized anew and embedded in the fonts.
