Mosaic is an attractive condensed family by Clemens Piontek in which he revisits the influence of compact display typefaces. This semi-modular, warm family with its compact ascenders and descenders offers a rhythmic interplay between amplified curves and sharp corners. Available in Regular and Outline weights, Mosaic offers near ready-made designs for logotypes, posters and headlines, balancing a powerful voice and a heavy impact with a refined, rational and almost pared-back visual language. Its modularity, meanwhile, affords an affinity with animation.

Mosaic’s high x-height creates compact lines of text which emphasise a highly considered level of detail. An important part of its design lies in its negative space, which is just as important as its letter shapes. For example, the typeface’s carefully considered spacing becomes instrumental in the Outline version: the thickness of capital letters matches that of the spacing between each letter, which creates an incredibly satisfying visual rhythm. The negative space also creates surprises: a white square appears in the counters of the C, &, 3 and 5, while certain glyphs (s-a, e-s and i-l, for example) pair especially well. Mosaic also plays with the internal space of letters: counters are condensed to extremes and vary internally between square and rounded corners according to the external shapes of the glyphs. One of the most intriguing aspects of Mosaic is its versatility of application. The font invites experimentation with its two styles and stylistic sets. Combining them—as well as overlaying two font layers—opens new design possibilities. The typeface can be modulated just like a mosaic, giving endless possibilities to create a visual identity from modular elements.