What is the Henderson Slab font?

A few bold caps drawn by Albert Du Bois for the 1906 Henderson Sign Painter book started me in the direction of looking at how sign painters approached slabs after the industrial revolution. The usual happened from there. My exercise in the early lettering roots of what eventually became the definition of geometric typography ended up having a life of its own. The majuscules led to minuscules, one idiosyncratic bold weight led to six more, and uprights led to italics. What was kind-of-interesting in the early twentieth century persuaded me to make it interesting enough a century later. This of course meant alternates, swashes, the standard baggage that keeps calling my name. More… Henderson Slab is a family of seven weights plus italics, all full of open features and extended Latin language support. Part of this family’s appeal is its coverage of nearly the entire of the slab serif through the last 100 years — the basis is the manual, humanist origins, the swashed forms come right out of the phototypesetting era, and the alternates and mostly modern constructs of contemporary ideas. The result is a set with the ability to function in modern spaces, from corporate to editorial, in text or display, while both winking and nodding at the roots of what is now considered a geometric endeavor. (Basic version do not include alternates, swashes, etc).

Henderson Slab Font families

The Henderson Slab includes the following font families:

• Henderson Slab Thin
• Henderson Slab Thin Italic
• Henderson Slab Extra Light
• Henderson Slab Extra Light Italic
• Henderson Slab Light
• Henderson Slab Light Italic
• Henderson Slab Regular
• Henderson Slab Regular Italic
• Henderson Slab Semi Bold
• Henderson Slab Semi Bold Italic
• Henderson Slab Bold
• Henderson Slab Bold Italic
• Henderson Slab Black
• Henderson Slab Black Italic
• Henderson Slab Basic Thin
• Henderson Slab Basic Thin Italic
• Henderson Slab Basic Extra Light
• Henderson Slab Basic Extra Light Italic
• Henderson Slab Basic Light
• Henderson Slab Basic Light Italic
• Henderson Slab Basic Regular
• Henderson Slab Basic Regular Italic
• Henderson Slab Basic Semi Bold
• Henderson Slab Basic Semi Bold Italic
• Henderson Slab Basic Bold
• Henderson Slab Basic Bold Italic
• Henderson Slab Basic Black
• Henderson Slab Basic Black Italic

Henderson Slab Preview

Here is a preview of how Henderson Slab will look. For more previews using your own text as an example, click here.