Last week, Mário Feliciano announced the release of two new type families - FTF Flama and FTF Garda Titling, both available exclusively from the designer. (Please note my judgement is based on the splash pages featured on the website, as there are no PDFs available for download.)

FTF Garda Titling is an all-capital typeface which revives the spirit of inscriptional lettering. It's a nifty little titling system, taking the Trajan cliché into less travelled territories. Number One follows the rule book pretty religiously, with serifs that have a soft, more organic quality. Number Two offers an interesting flare serif variant, and conjures up images of Parisian fashion brands and stone inscriptions on Italian villas. Number Two is halfway in between Number One and Number Three which is a sans serif, opening up even more options. There are a few nice alternates, both subtle (the alternate S) and striking (a gorgeous alternate R in Number Two and Three), as well as a (limited) number of ligatures.

When I read that FTF Flama was being described as a "neutral" sans serif, I grew a bit weary. Unlike Mário, I believe there are more than enough of those around, so he'd better have a damn good reason - and a design to match - to unleash yet another one of those on an unsuspecting crowd of goatee stroking art directors and architects. Surprisingly, when I headed to the website, it turned out to be about the most fun I ever had discovering a typeface.

What makes FTF Flama so enjoyable is that it is the typographic equivalent of a "supergroup" - you know, members of different legendary music bands form a new group. The type family wears its influences on its sleeve, but does that so well it's a delight when those influences reveal themselves across the several weights.

FTF Flama is a straight-sided sans. The light weight clearly shows it is influenced by the technical DIN model, especially the capitals and the lowercase e, g & l. The sturdy serifs on the capital I are a nice touch. When you look closely though, the subtle stroke modulation lends it a grotesque feel. This gets more pronounced in the middle weights, which are more akin European grotesques, specifically Akzidenz Grotesque. The heaviest weight then veers towards American gothics like Franklin Gothic for the capitals and Bell Gothic for the lowercase - check the d, e, s and definitely the g.

But it doesn't stop there. One can also find references to wood type models like H&FJ Knockout and FB Rhode - for example in the numerals - and even a wink to Rotis Sans: the lowercase c shows how it should be done. And the family doesn't disappoint in the italics, where a couple of design quirks get the opportunity to really shine.

To conclude, FTF Flama is a highly enjoyable family peppered with "typographical citations", with lovely true italics, and available in a comfortable amount of weights. So next time I'll read about yet another new "neutral" sans, I'll wisely shut up and check it out before passing judgement.

BTW, As I don't drink any alcohol, let's consider the "beer-swilling" as creative license by the esteemed Mister Earls.