Case study CFF Raet

This case study CFF Raet shows our new custom brand font we created for the international HR software company Raet. It comes in 3 sans serif roman weights; Light, Regular & SemiBold. We were challenged by the client to solve the problem of »how to create a corporate typeface with a strong character, visualizing the Raet Brand Personality, that still achieves a pleasant (on-screen) reading experience.« With officies in Europe and Latin America, Raet wanted a font family that covers all these languages.

The humanistic design style is rooted in the italic style of handwriting, clearly visible in letters like the e, f, g and y. Distinctive characters and little quirky details make it both a corporate and friendly typeface. This resembles Raet’s drive, focussing on people rather than technology. They call this ‘all about you’.

Constructing the proportions

At the beginning of the design process, we searched extensively for the correct proportions for the font family. Since it had to work optimally both on the screen and in print, we carefully coordinated the glyph vs font family dimensions, the weight and the x-height.
CFF Raet has wide shoulders, a minimal contrast, open apertures and solid proportions that accommodate for a good legibility. The spurless letters reduce details, making it visually pleasing to the eye.

“We carefully looked for the proportions of each character and constructed it in such a way that it creates an even colour in text”, says Type Director René Verkaart. “Our fonts will mainly be used in large sizes for print headlines or website banners, bringing out the refined details that give the fonts its distinctive personality. Of course in longer body copy it performs equally well.”

The fonts had to work well in all possible environments and for all users. So with Raet’s internal team leader and UX Designer we came to the conclusion that the font should have as few ligatures and OpenType functions as possible. We carefully designed the characters so that no glyph collisions arose. In addition, we have designed certain characters in such a way that, in combination with others, they work as a ligature. A great example is the ‘ft’ combination.
Ultimately, we decided to design only two ligatures; the default ‘fi’ and ‘fl’. Not out of pure necessity, but more as a homage to good typography.

Distinctive characteristics

We have hidden many subtle quirky details in the font, from the rounded bowls of the P and R. The bent legs of the V, W, k. The stick of the t reduced weight at the top. And of course the flamboiante g, z and Q. Just to name a few.
We believe that custom fonts must have their own character and must convey the Brand Identity and Brand Voice loudly and clearly, without disturbing the receiver. Typography provides a powerful, unifying element that helps convey this across various marketing communications. It provides increased visibility across all touch points.

Carefully crafted numbers

At Characters Font Foundry, we have a profound love for numbers. These 10 characters are very decisive for the typeface. Structurally aligned in tables, annual- and financial reports, they are small gems with their own mind. Lively, friendly and warm they are in complete harmony with the rest of the font family but still play in their own league.

What the client says about us

“For the Raet brand, the font is a very important element, besides the colors and the photography. René has managed to create a font family that fits very well with the other pillars and that communicates our brand very well. You can not create that if you do not listen carefully and look at all aspects of a brand, and that’s what René did very well. He then made the perfect translation to our own Raet fonts. I can highly recommend René if you are looking for an expert who can translate your brand identity to a font.”

Maartje Grossouw – Manager Corporate Communications

Gratitude and pride

Commissioned by Raet, and in partnership with design & marketing agency GSTALT, we created this custom Raet font family that ensures a consistent look and feel across all customer touchpoints in all languages. CFF Raet is a proprietary typeface that will not be made available for sale.