Designed by Jérôme Knebusch, Immediate is a sans serif font household. This typeface has five designs and was released by BAT Foundry.

The typeface that shifts gears

Since its origins, typography has been closely associated to the handwriting from which it comes from. The quicker we compose, the more the writing is done without raising our hand; typographic shapes stemmed from this action are understood as "cursive". So, why not picture the opposite: that the shapes decomposed into a number of strokes represent a slower execution speed? This is the course Jérôme Knebusch took in the development of Instant.

Naturally, speed produces light marks on the paper, while a slower pace lead to a heavier mark. This is the spirit behind Instant, a household in which each member is defined by a speed, which in return lends it both shape and weight: Immediate Vivid, Instant Quick, Instantaneous Regular, Instantaneous Slow, Immediate Heavy. Immediate Vibrant encapsulates handwriting, animated by a vivacious motion, while Immediate Heavy is a sans serif, with robust and reassuring kinds. Each weight is an intermediate action which permits the passage from one extreme to another.

Instant casts doubt on some established practices of typography. The semantic function generally appointed to italic-- generally highlighting a language component-- is just possible by juxtaposing contrasting weights. On the other hand, Immediate lets modern typographers find italic's first function, which was conceived as a style in itself, chosen for its own qualities. A wealth of expressiveness is at the heart of this household, allowing the user to stage a range of connotations within a single text.

Typographic research task par excellence, Jérôme Knebusch created Instant at Atelier national de recherche typographique, beginning in 2005. It received the mindful support of Hans-Jürg Hunziker.

Font Family:
· Instant 1 Vivid
· Instant 2 Quick
· Instant 3 Regular
· Instant 4 Slow
· Instant 5 Heavy