Umbra is a sans-serif display

typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands ...

designed in 1935 by R. Hunter Middleton for the

Ludlow Typograph A Ludlow Typograph is a hot metal typesetting system used in letterpress printing. The device casts bars, or slugs of type, out of type metal primarily consisting of lead. These slugs are used for the actual printing, and then are melted down an ...

company. It is an adaptation of the uppercase light weight of his earlier typeface

Tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

. The name Umbra refers to its

shadow A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette ...

effect, in which the actual letter shape consists of negative space and is defined solely by its black dimensional shadow. Several other typefaces were created in similar style around the same time, including shadowed weights of

Gill Sans Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill and released by the British branch of Monotype from 1928 onwards. Gill Sans is based on Edward Johnston's 1916 "Underground Alphabet", the corporate font of London Undergro ...

. Nebiolo's Ombra, part of their

Semplicità Semplicità is a sans-serif typeface of the geometric style. It was published by the Nebiolo type foundry of Turin, Italy from around 1928. Semplicità, named for the Italian for "simplicity", is an example of the new wave of "geometric" sans-s ...

family, is very similar. Umbra has been digitised.

References

Display typefaces Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1935 Letterpress typefaces Typefaces designed by R. Hunter Middleton Geometric sans-serif typefaces {{Typ-stub