ZDF
bBox Type · Ralph du Carrois & Anja Meiners · 2017
A bespoke corporate type system designed for Germany's ZDF broadcaster, comprising 126 static fonts and 3 variable fonts across three widths and three styles in roman and italic, with uniwidth spacing throughout.
About
Developed from 2017 onwards for ZDF, the second-largest public broadcaster in Europe, the system addresses the demands of simultaneous streaming, live broadcast and accessibility requirements across multiple channels. Its defining technical feature is uniwidth spacing, ensuring text lengths remain constant when switching between weights – critical for dark/light mode and accessibility toggling. The family covers 80+ languages via an extended Latin character set, and has been extended with variable font support since 2023.
Classification
A broad corporate type system with multiple widths and styles suggesting a humanist sans-serif construction suited to broadcast and digital media contexts, with uniwidth spacing as a key technical feature.