Though solemn in appearance, Diploë is playful in application. Monokrom’s new sans serif family is conceived as a variable spectrum, ranging from narrow to wide, light to black, covering roman and italic styles, as well as intermediate postures. Individual fonts are available in three widths, counting seven weights each, for a total of fourty-two styles. Diploë is a late rendition of a genre of sans serifs that borrows its structure and proportions from Renaissance writing. The typeface’s abrupt transition from stems to branches and its preference for horizontal directionality are traits that derive from these ancestors.

Diploë’s arches spout high from the stem – a feature echoed in its large apertures. When combined with a left-leaning contrast axis, the lineal humanist tends to exhibit a pronounced asymmetry. Diploë uses a few tricks to rein in this tendency: the magnet-like arches grow almost horizontally from the stem, reverberating across the horizontal axis to form bowls. The symmetrical distribution of thicks and thins offers additional stability. Finally, Diploë’s proportions tend toward uniform widths in all characters. The resulting shape language suggests a wide stance, but its sturdiness also helps stabilize the narrower styles.

The extreme ends of the spectrum offer ample graphic opportunities, whether as dramatic contrast or in animated applications. Not so obvious, perhaps, is the enhanced handling of complex text typography that the Diploë family makes possible. It can set narrow columns as well as long-form paragraphs, with precise control of ink density across multiple levels of information.