Söhne Font

Kris Sowersby released Söhne through Klim in 2019. Its source account relates Akzidenz-Grotesk and Helvetica to the material appearance of Standard Medium in Unimark’s New York subway wayfinding. It is a contemporary interpretation of that experience, not a claim that Söhne was the original subway font.

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.

The family includes roman and italic designs and offers alternate a and g forms. Inspect those feature settings in the publisher specimen before comparing a neutral-sans word shape. Related width and monospaced branches should be identified separately in a design specification.

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 short directional heading, a place name and a paragraph. Check the weight contrast and distinguish letters from numerals without depending on colour alone. Inter and Libre Franklin provide independently designed grotesque comparisons for the same practical roles.

For independent comparisons, try Inter 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 Söhne 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.