A new sans-serif family rooted in functionality, combining a clear, neutral design with a harmonious and distinctive look.
Baumer is an acronym derived from the names Baum and Bauer. Initially, the project began as a digitization of the typeface Folio, first designed by Walter Baum and Konrad Friedrich Bauer in 1956, connecting to its origins and paying homage to the original designers. Over time, the project expanded beyond Folio, incorporating elements from other sans-serif typefaces, such as Mercator, a wonderful Dutch neo-grotesque drawn by Dick Dooijes in 1959. Baumer Grotesk has transcended its original inspirations and become something new and distinct. Despite the typeface’s evolution, the name “Baumer” remained unchanged.
Designed by Erkin Karamemet, with the great help of Gregor Maria Sahl, this typeface equips designers with all the necessary tools to effectively use type styles and create clear, organized hierarchies. During development, a selection of four weights and their corresponding italics was crafted to ensure all styles are easy to read and perform well across various sizes and applications.
The soft curves of Baumer Grotesk are accompanied by subtle straight terminals. These soft shapes reflect the overall round appearance and help communicate a friendly expression. To enhance this round feeling, the lowercase “o” was made wider than “b,” “d,” “p,” and “q.” In relation to “n,” these forms remain in homogeneous proportion. The ascenders and descenders have matching proportions, contributing to a systematic and cohesive appearance. The capital letters are slightly heavier than the lowercase, and the digits are balanced between the two, resulting in a consistent, well-weighted look.
Various alternative letterforms deliver flexibility, especially for brand design. These stylistic sets are not just aesthetic; they also serve a functional purpose. Due to the historical similarity of certain letterforms, especially in neo-grotesque sans-serif typefaces, alternative glyphs were developed to ensure legibility according to DIN 1450. For instance, the uppercase “I” has added serifs, the lowercase “l” was extended with a foot, and the number “0” was equipped with a crossbar.
Historically, ligatures were used in hot metal type to reduce the space between letters. In line with this principle, Baumer Grotesk introduces a modern solution that goes beyond traditional “ligatures.” When letters that do not align harmoniously appear side by side, a form change occurs to compensate for excessive white space.
Today, type spacing is handled dynamically, but ligatures are not designed for such flexibility. In strongly tracked or kerned text, ligatures are usually disabled, as they are constrained by fixed spacing. To improve the appearance of text in today’s dynamic setting, sequences such as “ff,” “tt,” “ft,” “rt,” and “rf” are modified, with the left arm of the “t” and “f” cut off. In words like “Arte,” “Craft,” or “Affiche,” this creates more uniform white space between letters.
Unlike traditional ligatures, which connect letters, Baumer’s ligatures are independent, enabling greater flexibility in tracked or kerned text. This allows users more control over letter spacing, with the option to toggle this feature on or off as needed. The alternate letterforms of the ligatures were also added as regular alternatives, offering complete control over the various forms.
Round Punctuation
Originally featuring square punctuation, which remains the default style, Baumer Grotesk offers an option for round punctuation to complement the typeface’s overall roundness and enhance its character.
Circled Numbers
The multi-part circled digits come in two variants: positive and negative. These digits can be displayed individually or grouped. A custom size was developed specifically to balance the digits within the circles, distinct from ordinal numbers.
Bi-form Characters
This function, which brings certain lowercase characters to the size of capital letters, was inspired by the typeface Folio, where Bi-form characters were initially available only as special figures in extended styles.
The four defined weights are designed for optimal compatibility. While larger type families with extensive weight options certainly have their merits, many designers find that a more streamlined approach is sufficient for most projects. Baumer Grotesk simplifies this process by focusing on a concise selection of essential weights, with clear predefined pairs that offer appropriate contrast, making the selection intuitive.
Based on the well-known 7x7 grid, this matrix encompasses both the base form and the maximum within the range of the weights. By splitting this range into four, the weights Regular, Medium, Bold, and Black were defined, forming pairs that complement each other perfectly. These predefined weights offer two combinations: Regular + Bold and Medium + Black, highlighting text in two degrees of grayscale.
Baumer Grotesk includes 1,294 glyphs per style. A large part consists of language-specific characters. The accented characters cover Latin-scripted languages spoken across 212 countries, providing complete support for all Latin-based languages such as French, Spanish, Turkish, Icelandic, Vietnamese, and more.
Special thanks to Ishar Hawkins, Gregor Maria Sahl and Leon Schniewind for the help on this essay.
A new sans-serif family rooted in functionality, combining a clear, neutral design with a harmonious and distinctive look.
Baumer is an acronym derived from the names Baum and Bauer. Initially, the project began as a digitization of the typeface Folio, first designed by Walter Baum and Konrad Friedrich Bauer in 1956, connecting to its origins and paying homage to the original designers. Over time, the project expanded beyond Folio, incorporating elements from other sans-serif typefaces, such as Mercator, a wonderful Dutch neo-grotesque drawn by Dick Dooijes in 1959. Baumer Grotesk has transcended its original inspirations and become something new and distinct. Despite the typeface’s evolution, the name “Baumer” remained unchanged.
Designed by Erkin Karamemet, with the great help of Gregor Maria Sahl, this typeface equips designers with all the necessary tools to effectively use type styles and create clear, organized hierarchies. During development, a selection of four weights and their corresponding italics was crafted to ensure all styles are easy to read and perform well across various sizes and applications.
The soft curves of Baumer Grotesk are accompanied by subtle straight terminals. These soft shapes reflect the overall round appearance and help communicate a friendly expression. To enhance this round feeling, the lowercase “o” was made wider than “b,” “d,” “p,” and “q.” In relation to “n,” these forms remain in homogeneous proportion. The ascenders and descenders have matching proportions, contributing to a systematic and cohesive appearance. The capital letters are slightly heavier than the lowercase, and the digits are balanced between the two, resulting in a consistent, well-weighted look.
Various alternative letterforms deliver flexibility, especially for brand design. These stylistic sets are not just aesthetic; they also serve a functional purpose. Due to the historical similarity of certain letterforms, especially in neo-grotesque sans-serif typefaces, alternative glyphs were developed to ensure legibility according to DIN 1450. For instance, the uppercase “I” has added serifs, the lowercase “l” was extended with a foot, and the number “0” was equipped with a crossbar.
Historically, ligatures were used in hot metal type to reduce the space between letters. In line with this principle, Baumer Grotesk introduces a modern solution that goes beyond traditional “ligatures.” When letters that do not align harmoniously appear side by side, a form change occurs to compensate for excessive white space.
Today, type spacing is handled dynamically, but ligatures are not designed for such flexibility. In strongly tracked or kerned text, ligatures are usually disabled, as they are constrained by fixed spacing. To improve the appearance of text in today’s dynamic setting, sequences such as “ff,” “tt,” “ft,” “rt,” and “rf” are modified, with the left arm of the “t” and “f” cut off. In words like “Arte,” “Craft,” or “Affiche,” this creates more uniform white space between letters.
Unlike traditional ligatures, which connect letters, Baumer’s ligatures are independent, enabling greater flexibility in tracked or kerned text. This allows users more control over letter spacing, with the option to toggle this feature on or off as needed. The alternate letterforms of the ligatures were also added as regular alternatives, offering complete control over the various forms.
Round Punctuation
Originally featuring square punctuation, which remains the default style, Baumer Grotesk offers an option for round punctuation to complement the typeface’s overall roundness and enhance its character.
Circled Numbers
The multi-part circled digits come in two variants: positive and negative. These digits can be displayed individually or grouped. A custom size was developed specifically to balance the digits within the circles, distinct from ordinal numbers.
Bi-form Characters
This function, which brings certain lowercase characters to the size of capital letters, was inspired by the typeface Folio, where Bi-form characters were initially available only as special figures in extended styles.
The four defined weights are designed for optimal compatibility. While larger type families with extensive weight options certainly have their merits, many designers find that a more streamlined approach is sufficient for most projects. Baumer Grotesk simplifies this process by focusing on a concise selection of essential weights, with clear predefined pairs that offer appropriate contrast, making the selection intuitive.
Based on the well-known 7x7 grid, this matrix encompasses both the base form and the maximum within the range of the weights. By splitting this range into four, the weights Regular, Medium, Bold, and Black were defined, forming pairs that complement each other perfectly. These predefined weights offer two combinations: Regular + Bold and Medium + Black, highlighting text in two degrees of grayscale.
Baumer Grotesk includes 1,294 glyphs per style. A large part consists of language-specific characters. The accented characters cover Latin-scripted languages spoken across 212 countries, providing complete support for used Latin-based languages such as French, Spanish, Turkish, Icelandic, Vietnamese, and more.
Special thanks to Ishar Hawkins, Gregor Maria Sahl and Leon Schniewind for the help on this essay.
