Like many good display fonts, Pensum Display has a higher contrast and slightly narrower proportions than its body-text focussed cousin. But let’s get into the particularities: Pensum Pro already featured some triangular details — but Nils really wanted to turn them up to eleven. So, Pensum Display brings out the triangularity in each and every single serif.

From text to display. As the wedge serifs in K or n were concentrated into complete triangles, details like the legibility-improving kink in K were refined and sharpened. Last, but not least, stroke endings, as in a, c or e were brought to wickedly sharp points.

Nils made the italics more graphic: the x was clarified and its overall triangularity further accented. In the v, details that were originally only just hinted at were brought out into stark relief. Now we’re going to take a closer look at the g:

Triangularity as a design feature doesn’t just stop at Pensum Display’s serifs. The top flag of the g is lifted up and becomes more and more vivid as you move from the light towards the heavier weights. Sometimes you’ve got to go extreme to harmonise, and the triangularity of that flag is — you’ve guessed it — a key feature of Pensum Display.

Nils kept the powerful horizontal strokes of the lowercase f and t but these letters still show Pensum’s quirky features. This makes them clearly visible in smaller display sizes and improves legibility even when Pensum Display is used at text sizes. Incredible.

Where letters like C and S got slightly more angular serifs, the 5 went crazier. Its top flag isn’t a subtle emphasis, but a proud statement. Here I am!

As well as the C and S, Nils brought emphasis to the uppercase F, E and T. Their serifs’ spiky upkicks into the overshoot create charm. A detail that adds flavour rather than distraction to text at large sizes.

Just because Pensum Display is for big display text doesn’t mean it’s clumsy. With an eye towards the hardcore book typographers who will want to get their headlines and short quotes just so, Nils made Pensum’s small caps slightly wider. True small caps, for an elegant contrast with the uppercase.

To summarize: Pensum Display distills Pensum Pro’s ingredients to create a typeface with a sense of clarity and precision. And, we have one last and significant example to show you: the little dent in the stem of f or j is exaggerated a lot. Haters gonna hate it, but it's a beautiful design feature for those who, like Pensum Display, are not too shy to take things one step further.

The character set of Pensum Display is nearly as comprehensive as you might be used to from Pensum Pro. The only things missing are some superior and tabular superior glyphs, but these are only necessary for the typographic enhancement of small text sizes only. Pensum Display is for display and nothing but display.

If you like the extremes of Pensum Display, embrace them. With our introductory offer of 50% off, now’s the time. The offer ends on the 12th of November.

And if you’re not yet sure, take the chance to test both versions of Pensum for free. See for yourself how they can complement each other in different sizes.