Galaxie Copernicus
Font Review Journal · Chester Jenkins & Kris Sowersby · 2009
A Plantin-derived text serif by Chester Jenkins and Kris Sowersby, released in 2009 as the final entry in the Galaxie collection, with reduced contrast and a tall x-height that make it exceptionally even on the page.
About
Designed to share proportions with the other Galaxie faces for easy mixing, Copernicus strips back the thick-to-thin contrast of its Plantin ancestor and minimises vertical stress, producing a stable, open colour at text sizes. Its heavier weights accumulate mass without losing grace, tipping into an almost slab-like presence that works as a standalone headline face. The italics depart markedly from the uprights, with eccentric details that give running text a distinctive personality.
Classification
A reconsideration of Plantin, itself a 1913 Monotype design, Galaxie Copernicus reduces thick-to-thin contrast further than its source material, minimises Old Style stress, and raises the x-height, placing it closer to transitional territory despite its Renaissance roots.