TT Ricordi Allegria is an elegant and sophisticated modern Florentine grotesque inspired by the semi—erased font in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. The font created by Antonina Zhulkova reflects the transitional stage between the classical font with variable proportions, tending to the Roman capital type, and the Florentine sans-serif. The characteristic features of the font are the variability of the proportions of the characters, the contrast between the strokes, triangular wedge-shaped symbols and the absence of traditional serifs.
The main visual feature of the font is its diversity and the ability, using different stylistic sets, to completely change the character and perception of the font. The drawing of the characters from the main set is strict, which makes the font look harsh, as if the inscription in the font is really carved out of stone. And with the help of another set, we can add roundness or even smoothness to the font. This is due to the fact that the letters (E R K Q J Y in Latin, and L K W E in Cyrillic) from the second set have either very noticeable “curlicues” or smooth, rounded “legs”. In addition, the font includes a set of beautiful ligatures for use in display inscriptions, such as large headings.
An interesting point when working on the font was the creation of a Cyrillic set, since Cyrillic does not easily fit into the concept of Florentine grotesque and accented half-script. The most difficult thing in working on Cyrillic was creating a system of intervals for characters, as was done in the Latin alphabet, and ensuring that when typing in Cyrillic, the text pattern remained beautiful. That is why the letters D L U S appearing in the font family look somewhat unusual to the eye, and the proportions of other Cyrillic characters are also not quite “classic”. In general, the Cyrillic set looks more display-like than its Latin prototype, but at the same time it lacks a sense of historicity or the legacy of the Soviet past, which often comes to the fore when working on the design of the Cyrillic alphabet in this type of fonts.
TT Ricordi Allegria consists of two weights (Regular and Bold) and one variable font. Each style includes more than 750 characters, as well as 19 OpenType functions. Interesting features of the font include three stylistic sets that significantly change the perception of the font, a set of bright display ligatures, several neat icons that are suitable for separating text and emphasize the visual language of the font.
