Octant is an original display typeface by Catharsis Fonts (Christian Thalmann) drawing inspiration from Victorian-age steel and brass engineering, as well as from blackletter typography. Despite its many innovative departures from traditional letter architecture at the detail level, its overall shape is based on the familiar timeless proportions of humanist serif tradition, which renders it easily legible.
While Octant shines in display roles, it also performs well in short texts such as poetry or block quotes. Apart from serving as a fresh alternative to blackletter, it evokes hand-crafted metalwork, daring feats of engineering and innovation, and adventurous journeys on airships and sailboats. Thanks to its unique and unmistakable look, it delivers a memorable impact in any role.
Octant comes with extensive language support and a generous collection of ligatures. For ease of use in typographically unsavvy applications (such as PowerPoint), the distribution includes an alternate version of the font (“Octant Ligatures”) in which all ligatures are declared standard rather than discretionary.
Acknowledgements. Many thanks to the helpful folks on the Typophile.com forums, whose feedback and support were crucial in developing Octant from a few doodles to a mature font! Special thanks to Rainer Scheichelbauer from glyphsapp.com for helping with localization and troubleshooting. Spacing and kerning by Igino Marini’s iKern service. This font is dedicated to Simone.
