Klavika

Designer: Eric Olson // Foundry: Process // Country of origin: United States Release year: 2004 // Classification: Geometric Sans

Released at the height of the “Web 2.0” era, Klavika has become a prototypical sans serif of the information age. This is reinforced by the fact that it is the basis for the Facebook logo, but it’s been widely used in many other markets as well, including the automobile, sports, and publication industries. The foundation of the typeface is the pill shape. Lettershapes that are conventionally curved (“c,” “e,” “o,” “s”) are instead flat-sided with a slightly concave top and bottom. Rectangular Geometrics existed before, in 19th-century Display faces, and in the 1960s with Eurostile, but Klavika’s freshness comes from its open apertures — terminals (even on the distinctive, open-bowled “g”) point outward, allowing letters to breathe and relieving rigidity.