The sister pair of typefaces — the sans serif Pepi and the slab serif Rudi — is based on a playful engagement with the fundamental geometric shapes of the circle, square, and triangle, elements that formed the foundation of early typographic modernism.
The simple, Bauhaus-inspired functional typefaces of Herbert Bayer and Paul Renner established an entirely new trend at the beginning of the twentieth century. Typefaces derived from the circle achieved success through their novelty, objectivity, and fresh formal qualities. When Rudolf Wolf’s slab serif Memphis — often described as “Futura with serifs” — was later released, it effectively created a new stylistic school suited to the emerging needs of modern design, for which earlier typefaces appeared too ornamental, outdated, or obsolete.
Pepi and Rudi introduce certain contemporary features into this proven concept of constructed type. They create a regular rhythm by harmonizing character widths and increasing the x-height. An extreme range of ten weights, from Hair to Ultra, together with corresponding slanted styles, supports versatile use across the full spectrum of graphic design. Carefully designed diacritics, clear punctuation, tabular figures, ligatures, arrows, and alternate lowercase forms represent a standard that will satisfy anyone who needs to work efficiently with a neutral geometric display typeface.