Sendai is a new 6-weight type family by British designer Philip Kelly. Some of you may not know but Philip was part of the renowned Letraset Type Studio for 25 years. While at Letraset he built a large number of Letraset’s classic display typefaces under the direction of Colin Brignall. He is credited typefaces such as University Roman, Pump, Algerian, Gillies Gothic and Croissant.

His latest design Sendai, is a text typeface with slightly condensed shapes that help save space and also achieve punchy display headlines. The restrained serifs are a nod to the Latin styles of the past.
Sendai was conceived around 2001 and has been developed slowly ever since. The typeface began its life with larger, more Latin-like serifs. The quirky h, m, n, and r ’shoulders’ came later; likewise the ‘roll-arounds’ on the B, D, P, R, b, d, p and q.

Philip wanted the design to be slightly condensed to help with economical text setting, but not so condensed that legibility would suffer.The slight condensation makes for punchy display settings such as book jackets where space can be tight.

The fonts are available exclusively from Philip Kelly Digital Design directly.