The idea for Generis™ came to Erik Faulhaber while he was traveling in the USA. Seeing typefaces mixed together in a business district motivated him to create a new type system with interrelated forms.
The first design scheme came about in 1997, following the space saving model of American Gothics. As development progressed, a serif face, a slab serif design, and a further simplified sans serif were added.
Consisting in each case of two typographic styles with and without serifs, Generis represents a type system for the next generation.

Generis System
The unified basic form and the individual peculiarity of the styles lead to Generis’ systematic, total-package concept. Every style builds itself around a core of weights: Light, Regular, Medium, and Bold. Additional weights,
small caps, old style figures and true italics complete the system.
As the basis of the visual appearance with connecting forms, the Generis type system offers infinitely combinable elements. A range of accented characters allows text to be set in 48 Latin-based languages, offering maximal typographic free range.

Continue reading this article: The four Generic Styles