In the small village of Munkedal, located on the northern part of the rugged Swedish west coast, lies the 150-year-old Munken paper mill. It is not only one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of uncoated paper, it is also one of the world’s most environmentally-friendly paper mills.
Now, Munken is expanding its global spread through a new visual rebranding. The paper mill has launched the Munken Colab initiative, which debuts in the form of a brand new font called the Munken Sans today. The font is put together by typographers Laurenz Brunner, Jonas Williamsson and Cornel Windlin from the Swiss type foundry Lineto. The elegant and modern sans serif typeface took inspiration from the Swedish traffic font Tratex, that can be seen on all official traffic signs in Sweden and was originally designed på Kåge Gustafsson in the 1960s.
— I’ve had a fascination with road signage for as long as I can remember. The former Swiss traffic type by the “Schweizerische Normen-Vereinigung“, was an early inspiration as a student learning to draw fonts. I remain intrigued by these characters in their ability to balance raw formal details from the mechanics of their creation while needing to be legible at high speeds. Conceptualizing and creating a contemporary version of “Tratex” has been an exciting challenge to both honour the original and update it for use both on and off the road, says Laurenz Brunner in a statement.
The font has already been sent by email from Munken to creators and typographers within its clientele, but there’s still a chance for you to get a hold of the font, completely free of charge, by filling out a form. This special offer for free download is valid for a limited period, between 1 October 2020 and 1 February 2021.
