National 2 Font

Kris Sowersby’s National 2 followed the original National with a comprehensive redraw in 2017. Klim’s account describes refined curves and weights, plus Narrow, Condensed and Compressed branches added to the standard width. This is a revised family rather than a single replacement font file.

Read the publisher’s family page for the source account and the edition currently offered. Keep a family name distinct from its particular release, width or optical branch.

Further source context: Klim — National 2 design information.

The width branches solve different layout problems: Narrow can improve copy fit while the most compressed forms are intended for expressive large type. Compare numerals, alternate forms and italics in the actual edition. Avoid horizontally squeezing a standard style to imitate a separately drawn branch.

Use the original publisher specimen to inspect those features. An alternative can share a broad role without having the same letter shapes, metrics or character coverage.

Test a publication system with one long headline, a shorter headline and a paragraph. Compare the designed widths at a shared height before reducing the point size. Source Sans 3 and Libre Franklin offer separate practical sans comparisons, with their own proportions and feature sets.

For independent comparisons, try Source Sans 3 and Libre Franklin. Use the same wording and approximate output size. The related style guide provides broader design context.

Use Klim Type Foundry to try the original and investigate the files, styles and terms for your intended workflow. This site does not distribute or serve National 2 font software.

The editable alternatives here have their own source profiles and included licenses. For the difference between a font file and copied characters, read Unicode text versus fonts.