Stymie Font

Stymie was created by Morris Fuller Benton for American Type Founders in 1931, according to the Linotype account. Its slab serif construction reworked ideas associated with Memphis. The historical metal-type project and a later digital publisher’s package are different stages of the family’s life.

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.

Compare regular-width and condensed resources in the linked edition. Evaluate the relationship of the slabs to the main strokes at the intended size. Keep the publisher and resource name with a specification because different digital editions need not include an identical set of styles.

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.

Try a strong newspaper-style heading and a short advertising line. Compare a regular and condensed arrangement within the same frame. Use a quieter companion for supporting text and judge the slabs at final output size before adding outlines or other effects.

For independent comparisons, try Arvo and Rokkitt. Use the same wording and approximate output size. The related style guide provides broader design context.

Use Linotype to try the original and investigate the files, styles and terms for your intended workflow. This site does not distribute or serve Stymie 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.