Studio René Bieder’s Quaria combines the elegance of a serif typeface with the robustness of a sans

Quaria marks the sixth release in René Bieder’s ongoing release schedule, as the Berlin-based type designer honours his commitment of releasing a complete typeface each month for eight months. A modern hybrid, the family’s DNA draws from a rich pool of typographic elements from the last 200 years without dedicating itself to any specific era. “How do you combine the elegance of a serif typeface with the robustness of a sans serif?” he asks. With Quaria’s release, Bieder delivers the answer. Saying that, getting there wasn’t easy. “Finding the right balance took three years,” the type designer recalls. It all started with a bold cap ‘A,’ posted on his Instagram page in August 2019. “At the time,” he explains, “I thought I’d be done with it in 2019. Actually, not that much has changed, to be honest. The soft serifs have remained and so has the robust character. What I have had a hard time with though were the light styles. Also, how much of the serifs should be kept? Should it become a hybrid, changing from sans serif to a typeface with serifs? How robust should the stroke contrast be?” The difference between the Display and Text versions is striking to the eye. “No surprise,” he notes, “the differences are in the stroke contrast and the spacing, two major aspects when designing a text typeface. I thought for a long time about how high the stroke contrast should be, and whether two versions are necessary at all, but then decided on the additional Display version, because it brings a bit more elegance to the layout.”