Briton Smith details the creation of Family Type's first variable typeface, Universal Sans

New Zealand native Briton Smith co-founded London-based design studio OMSE alongside James Kape in 2016. He led the studio’s type design under the name OMSETYPE, creating a wide range of commercial and bespoke typefaces including the sans serifs Athletics and Modern Era. However, as OMSETYPE grew, Briton’s work began to demand its own identity and he has therefore moved on to launch Family Type as its own entity, with the innovative variable typeface Universal Sans leading the way. EM: Hi Briton. So, OMSETYPE has become Family Type. Why the name change? BS: OMSETYPE was an offshoot of the design studio OMSE I co-founded a few years back with a longtime collaborator James Kape. I had been designing type for a number of years and we started integrating custom type into our projects, then launched OMSETYPE to sell licences for some typefaces. The type side of the business grew and we decided it made sense to split them up as we had different areas of focus – I’ve left OMSE to create a separate entity just focusing on type called Family Type!