FS Split is a highly innovative, experimental type family developed by the boutique foundry Fontsmith (now part of Monotype) that challenges conventional rules of typography. Designed by Fernando Mello and Jason Smith, it is a dual-system typeface consisting of two distinct siblings: FS Split Sans and FS Split Serif. Rather than being a traditional “perfectly matched” superfamily, it is intentionally built around “graphic collisions”—balancing quirks, tension, and structural dualities to give designers a bold tool for blending contrasting modern font styles. 🛠️ The Anatomy of the Duality
The core philosophy of FS Split is to allow a sans and a serif font to share the exact same geometric design space while displaying radically conflicting personalities.
FS Split Sans: Built with a clean, geometric, and circular modernist look.
FS Split Serif: Rooted structurally in 19th-century Scotch Roman transitional fonts, featuring sharper variation between thick and thin strokes, soft tear-shaped terminals, and oversized circular counters.
Shared Eccentricities: Both variants retain matching quirky proportions to maintain harmony. Round characters are unusually wide, while straight characters remain narrow. They share identical x-heights, long ascenders and descenders, dramatic oversized dots over the ‘i’ and ‘j’, and an aggressive 18-degree forward-slanted italic profile. 🎨 How to Boldly Blend Them in Design
Because the type family is intrinsically designed to harmonize and clash simultaneously, it removes the guesswork from traditional font pairing. Designers can utilize its dual nature across digital and print mediums using these strategies:
Establish Visual Hierarchy: Use the dramatic, high-contrast FS Split Serif for prominent headlines, logos, and pull quotes. Switch to the pragmatic, clean FS Split Sans for body copy, technical diagrams, and UI micro-copy.
Embrace Weight Contrast: Combine a heavy weight of the Sans family with a lighter weight of the Serif family (or vice-versa) to highlight distinct layout concepts and seamlessly guide the reader’s eye.
Leverage the “Graphic Collision” Theme: Originally launched alongside a newspaper specimen designed by Studio.Build, the font thrives when layout elements are allowed to clash. Do not be afraid to overlay the Sans and Serif variants in editorial spreads, packaging, or brand identities to create energetic, contemporary friction.
Both variants are available to explore on commercial typography ecosystems like MyFonts.
Are you looking to use FS Split for a specific type of project (like web design, packaging, or print)? I can provide tailored layout and hierarchy rules for your exact use case.
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