Tangerine

‹Tangerine› is a calligraphic typeface inspired by many Italian chancery hands from the 16th and 17th centuries such as Giovanni Francesco Cresci. Its tall ascender, the most distinct characteristic of this type, takes a wide line space between lines and gives a graceful texture. Use ‹Tangerine› for titles or short texts at large sizes.

I was just off my university and started making this typeface as my first script. I regularly posted the progress to Typophile, the most active online forum on typography back then. This is where my design got picked up by Google which was about to launch a new service called web fonts. It was 2009 and web font was a revolutionary new technology.

It wasn’t particularly made for on-screen purpose, but perhaps that is why it was chosen as a good example to demonstrate the visual distinction web fonts can make. It was a great honour for me to be among the first 10 offerings. As an answer to the frequently asked question, Google Web Fonts including mine are open-source and entirely free to use for commercial purposes. Outside of the web uses, I frequently see it used in books, cafes and similarly individually owned shops.

I made it for a woman after whom the typeface was named, and I say no more :)

— Tangerine is designed by Toshi Omagari of Google Fonts.