Futura®100 ଓଡ଼ିଆ

Shapes in Indic scripts cannot be reduced to basic geometric forms because they are inherently complex. Futura®100 Odia reframes how Renner’s work can be reinterpreted by centering creative intent and design details. The focus is on reducing lettershapes to their essence and removing gestural flourishes. Roundness is intrinsic to Odia, but further rationalisation was required to bring it close to Futura’s grammar. The design features distinctive round counters, even in letters like ଢ ଣ; this acts as a shared motif within the Indic families. Corners in ଏ ନ ହ ଉ go from pointed in the Light to chamfered in heavier weights mirroring similar shapes in Latin. The angles at which terminals are cut and how they are finished varies throughout the character set. A mixture of angles — orthogonal to the stroke direction, vertical and horizontal — all borrowed from the original Latin creates a pleasant tension between humanism and mechanical geometry. This effect is bolstered by horizontal tails in ର ୟ ଇ ଉ that co-exist with diagonal constructions elsewhere.

The flavours of Futura® and other modernist typefaces of the last century have seeped into the Indian lettering and graphic design landscape through globalisation and cultural exchange. Futura®100 Odia is synthesised from these inheritances, while benefiting from direct access to Renner’s original designs. 

Careful attention has been paid to the rhythm of horizontal proportions, one of the features that makes the original Latin design stand apart. Within the confines of what is agreeable in the script, Futura®100 Odia echoes this by having considerable width variation in Light, which evens out to a more conventional cadence in Bold. This transformation is evident within the shape of ଖ, for instance. The vertical proportions are also harmonised with other scripts in the family.

Futura®100 Odia is an excellent resource for graphic designers seeking to localise international designs for the Indian market, as well as for Indian designers looking to make use of Futura®’s modern, rational spirit. 

Futura®100 Odia is available in six weights as well as a variable font. It joins 22 other scripts to serve more than 90% of the world’s population: Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Chinese, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Georgian, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Greek, Hebrew, Kannada, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Latin, Malayalam, Myanmar, PanAfrican Latin, Tamil, Telugu, and Thai.

What was new and disruptive for its time has now become a hinge upon which type design turns and graphic design rests. More than mechanical, Futura®100 is structural. It gives such strength and stamina to the text that it has lasted a century and, with this iteration, will remain in constant use by more designers worldwide for the foreseeable future.

About Futura®
Original design: Paul Renner
Copyright of the original design: Bauer Types
Copyright of Futura®100: TypeTogether (with authorization from Bauer Types).
Futura® is a registered trademark of Bauer Types. Used under license.