Back in December 2024, I stumbled upon an old, dusty book in the back of a Nashville antique store. Inside the front cover, a handwritten note read: “Margaret J. Neary, August 1915” (WILD to see that). As I flipped through this book, I was immediately struck by how each page was framed with delicate letterpress botanical illustrations that immediately captured my heart.

At the time, I was craving a creative outlet – something to pull me out of a design rut and intense burnout. I’d been hearing over and over again from many of you that you were in need of a reliable, classic body copy typeface; so I began digitizing the type from this book as a type revival project, not realizing that this burnout-fueled exercise would eventually evolve into Suffix Serif.

From Blurry Scans to Beautiful Letters

The original pages were printed in a single weight, and the scans were… less than perfect haha. The nature of old letterpress forces you to navigate really inconsistent ink spread, and requires you to do more interpretation than tracing. And then there’s the challenge of not having any letters to reference at all (I only had 5 or 6 italic letters to use to interpret the entire italic style). But the result is a typeface that captures the warmth and soul of letterpress, with old-style numerals that add a touch of elegance to paragraphs.

Adding Contrast and Versatility

Initially, Suffix was a low-contrast text typeface. But as I printed proofs and started thinking about the usability aspect, I realized it needed more contrast for better legibility and flexibility in different contexts with different materials. I had originally drawn the forms to match the printed result rather than what I’d interpret the letter block (kind of like a stamp in letterpress) to look like. This decision ended up adding two months (yikes) to the project but was worth every minute! The final version is versatile, which was the entire goal of the shift, so it looks stunning both in print and digital, at any size.

Special Features

I also included the botanical illustrations as character alternates for the uppercase A and B, so you can create borders by typing ABABAB and switching on the stylistic alternates. And one of my all-time favorite characters, the ampersand, was fully interpreted from the style of the other characters without a reference (can you tell I’m proud? haha). I LOVE the ampersand soooo much.

And the end result?

A text typeface I’m head over heels for. Suffix Serif comes in twelve styles across six weights, from thin to bold. It’s classic, beautiful, and balanced – a typeface you can use for years to come, regardless of trend! You can see it in use and license it here. I can’t wait to see how you use it in your own work!