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Capitolium 2 font family

Up to 5 Typefaces / 1 Value Packs
Supports at least 33 languages (Pro / OT CFF)

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Supports up to 74 languages.

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Supports up to 18 OpenType features.

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Capitolium 2

A classic antiqua in modern dress:
Capitolium 2 and Capitolium News 2
by Gerard Unger

An update has not only extended the glyph range of the classic antiqua font Capitolium by Gerard Unger but has also improved its typesetting qualities thanks to adaptation and augmentation. Let us introduce you to this carefully designed and well developed font.

Capitolium 2 was commissioned to mark the 2000-year Jubilee of the Roman Catholic Church and the first drafts were created in 1998. While designing the font, the prominent Dutch typographer, Gerard Unger, focussed on ensuring that it would be appropriate for use in the information and wayfinding system that would guide pilgrims and tourists around Rome. So although Capitolium 2 is quite comfortable within the framework of most modern production processes and even on monitors, it is too fragile for newsprint. After completing the commission for the Catholic Church, Unger got down to work again to design Capitolium News 2, a variant which is robust enough to assert itself in the context of newsprint.

The forms of the Capitolium family are derived from that of a Baroque antiqua font. The significant contrasts in line width and slightly tapering serifs determine the character of this apparently timeless and traditional font. But there are tiny idiosyncrasies, such as the off-set diagonals of the “k”, the open “P”, the extended foot of the “R” and the generously curved tail of the “Q”, which give the font an individual personality.

To ensure that the characters have the robustness to assert themselves among the rough and tumble of newsprint, Unger has reduced the contrast in line width in Capitolium News 2 and has made the characters somewhat broader. The slightly increased x-height also enhances legibility in the smaller point sizes.

Capitolium 2 is available in the weights Light, Regular and Bold, and there are matching Italic variants for the two more substantial weights. There are also three weight variants of Capitolium News 2 – Regular, Semibold and Bold – and all have corresponding Italics. The Italic weights have been conceived as genuine cursives, and these new characters have, for example, arched line terminals and drop-like serifs. There are closed forms of letters, such as the lowercase “a”, while the “f” has a descender.

The update to Capitolium 2 and Capitolium News 2 have not only imparted a completely new cadence to the family and added kerning options, but a total of 250 new glyphs have also been added. These primarily ensure that the fonts can support additional languages, so that Capitolium 2 and Capitolium News 2 now fully conform to the Latin A standard. The update has also made available broken variants, superscripts and subscripts, and oldstyle and lining figures for setting proportional text and table columns.

As the script used for the church jubilee information and wayfinding system in 2000, Gerard Unger’s Capitolium has proved its worth. However, its restrained, classical charm means that it is suitable for use in a wide range of other contexts, such as magazines and books. And the somewhat more robust Capitolium News 2 is in its perfect environment when used to set newsprint. The Capitolium family is a highly versatile and professionally furnished all-rounder that will serve you well in all manner of design projects.