Nordre Type / Halden Grotesk
01 — Cover

A geometric grotesk that ships without a font file. Every large letter on this page is a drawing made of numbered points, so the specimen can show what a font hides. Switch to X-ray and the letters show their bones.

Nordre TypeSpecimen No. 42 weights drawn, 7 promised

Halden Grotesk, a type specimen

02

Anatomy

One glyph, pinned out. Squares sit on the curve, circles pull it from outside. Every coordinate is in units of a thousandth of the em, measured from the baseline and the left side bearing.

a / U+0061 Drag any point

A–Za–z0–9 Type any character to pin it out here. Shift for capitals.

03

Construction

The round letters are cut from one compass setting. The O is a true circle of radius 356; the G borrows it and stops; the D keeps half and stands it against a wall.

The O is 12 units taller than the H. It has to be, to look the same.

A curve only touches a line at one point; a flat top touches it all the way along. So the circle goes six units over the cap line and six under the baseline. Drawn here with the vertical scale stretched eight times, because at true size you are not supposed to notice.
04

In use

Twelve capitals, eleven lowercase and ten figures will not set a novel. They will set a harbour. Everything below is composed from the drawn letters only.

Hairlinepromised
Thinpromised
Lightpromised
Regulardrawn
Mediumpromised
Semiboldpromised
Bolddrawn
Blackpromised
Ultrapromised
Halden KunsthallSummer show

Sign fragments, hull numbers
and other salvaged alphabets

Gate
Ferry terminal / Halden
  • Tickets
  • Customs
  • Gangways
  • Toilets
Panel H-04 / cap height 120 mmRead at 30 m
05

Spacing

A letter owns the white on either side of it. Some pairs have to share. Slide the cobalt letter until the gap stops looking like a gap; the drawing will tell you when you have found the foundry’s value.

Pair T o ← drag →
06

Colophon

Halden Grotesk was drawn by Solveig Aamodt at Nordre Type between two winters. It is released, slowly, from a former chandlery on the harbour.

Why the a has one storey

People ask, usually kindly. I drew the o first, and it was right. The a is that o with a wall built against it: the same circle, the same counter, one straight stem cut flat where it stands on the baseline.

A second storey would have been a second opinion. Halden has one fortress and has never felt the need for two.

Solveig Aamodt / Halden / March 2025

Licensing

  • Desktop licenceOne handshake.
  • Web licenceOne handshake, with eye contact.
  • App licenceA postcard from wherever the app is used.
  • BroadcastAsk Solveig. She will say no, then yes.
  • Trial fontsThere are no fonts. That is rather the point.

Character set