Beau Sans: All you need to know about the #Euro2016 official typeface

Who will win the final? Who will be the leading scorer? Who will be the player to watch?

Typeroom will not be able to tackle these questions, yet we know who won the typographic derby of the season.

Typography and soccer require discipline. Ideal for people with passion and creativity, both “fields” require thought to express one’s expertise.

As EURO 2016 premieres today we take a look at a distinctive winner of the fest, Beau Sans Pro.

Inspired by Bernhard Gothic which is considered one of the first contemporary American sans serifs and was designed by Lucian Bernhard in the late 1920s, Beau Sans is a type designer’s attempt to simplify the anatomy of a text typeface without compromising its readability.

Panos Vassiliou wanted to bring some lightness to his craft. An easy-going visual manual, ideal for clear messages that spell “Goal!”.

“The first version was completed back in 2002 and introduced one year later in our 3rd catalog, under the name PF Traffic. Sometime later it was decided to make a few improvements but the project was so carried away that the new typeface which emerged needed urgently a new name” comments Parachute’s founder Panos Vassiliou.

The graduate of the University of Toronto with a major in Applied Science and Engineering who transitioned like a line of stroke from engineering to typography, knew what he was after.

Most importantly the type designer  who has won numerous international awards including a Red Dot, knew exactly what to explore with this newly discovered project of his.

By introducing Bauhaus-like minimal forms to the characters he created Beau Sans, a modern sans serif family of 16 fonts.

“Just like all other Parachute fonts, it covers a broad range of languages by incorporating 3 major scripts i.e. Latin, Greek and Cyrillic in one font. Furthermore, every font in this family has been completed with 270 practical symbols for packaging, public areas, environment, transportation, technology, fabrics and urban life. This typeface is totally recommended for titles and/or body text when you want to give a distinct and contemporary identity to a product or service” he adds.

Beau Sans Pro is a typeface that clearly matches Brandia Central’s artistic visual identity for UEFA Euro 2016.

The message of the game is written loud and clear.