AntiquaFraktur

AntiquaFraktur is a typeface family that blends the classical Roman (Antiqua) style with the angular Blackletter (Fraktur) script, creating a hybrid that pays homage to both traditions while offering improved legibility. The design was created in the early 2000s by German type designer Hans Martin Bäcker and was first released by the Berlin-based foundry FrakturMensch as a revival of historical type specimens.

The typeface incorporates the straight vertical and diagonal lines of Fraktur but replaces many of the ornate flourishes and ligatures with more restrained alternatives. This makes it easier to read at small sizes, while still retaining the distinctive “fancy” look that characterizes Blackletter. AntiquaFraktur includes a full set of lowercase, uppercase, numbers, and punctuation, as well as a small Greek alphabet, making it useful for academic publications, books, and sign design.

In practice, AntiquaFraktur has found favor among publishers in German-speaking countries, where it is often used for frontispieces, chapter headings, and epigraphs. Because its design bridges the gap between Antiqua and Blackletter, it is also popular for modern branding projects that wish to evoke a historic German aesthetic without sacrificing readability. The typeface is distributed under a permissive license through the freetype repository, and several digitized versions have been made available for macOS and Windows operating systems.

Critics note that while AntiquaFraktur succeeds in reducing the diagnostic difficulty of reading Fraktur, it can still appear archaic in everyday body text. Nonetheless, the typeface remains a valued tool for designers seeking a stylistic reference to German typography’s past.