Velo takes its name and spirit from the bold, uncompromising lettering of 60s and 70s editorial design and early cycling posters, where space was precious and impact was everything.
Compressed grotesques from the late 1800s solved a practical problem – fitting maximum message into minimum width – but their dense, geometric forms also possessed a graphic power that later generations would fully exploit. Most notably, Willy Fleckhaus transformed Schmalfette Grotesk (Walter Haettenschweiler, 1954) into a defining element of Twen magazine's radical layouts from 1959 to 1971, setting bold type white-on-black against graphic photography that redefined editorial design.
Velo builds on this tradition with intentionally minimal optical correction at stroke intersections, creating a modular, mechanical quality that feels both engineered and expressive. The typeface is distinguished by its circular 'O' forms that exaggerate the compressed proportions, along with a set of delicate hairline symbols that provide textural contrast.
Available in ten weights with multiple OpenType alternates, Velo offers designers a versatile tool for bold editorial design, posters, and any application where presence is non-negotiable.
Designed by: Hugh Morse
Year: 2025
Glyphs: 1,140
Encoding: Latin Extended
File Formats: OTF, WOFF, WOFF2
Version: 1.0