Studio René Bieder’s Stakkat reinvents and reinvigorates the ‘dusty’ slab serif typeface genre

In a world where classic slab serif typefaces are often allied with old western movies and dusty bookshelves, Stakkat, the sixth monthly release from Berlin-based practice Studio René Bieder, brings an invigorating, contemporary perspective to the genre. Designed to offer an unconventionally analogue vibe within our everyday digital space, Stakkat is a prolific six-weight family – with matching italics and OpenType features – built for versatility alongside its aesthetic endeavours, marking itself as a modern interpretation of the typographic style. Detailing Stakkat’s modern riff on slab serifs, Bieder tells us that “the design of the Stakkat family is based on the Clarendon/Ionic model,” whereby its differentials are found within the structural details of the typeface. “I have eliminated teardrop terminals in many spots in order to modernise the chunky character,” he continues, introducing ink traps as both a stylistic choice and to avoid ink pooling when printed. “Overall, too much rounding, such as in the serifs,” Bieder explains, “was avoided to strive for a sharp-edged overall look,” creating a typographic architecture true to the potential power of slab serifs. Thematically exploring new areas for the genre, however, the inspiration behind Stakkat’s name and the overall rhythm of the typeface comes from a very melodic context. “The name comes from the Italian ‘staccato,’ which is a musical form of articulation,” Bieder explains. “When notes are played staccato, the successive notes are clearly separated from each other and seem choppy,” an adjective Bieder sees fitting to the design of Stakkat, especially within the typeface’s italic cuts. “I wanted to implement the razor-sharp character,” he describes, recalling the definitively atypical results of his italic designs. “An interesting side effect of this was that the lowercase letters almost looked like they had been drawn with a thick tip Edding marker,” Bieder notes, appearing more like graffiti tags than an average slab serif. “I found it particularly exciting to design the italic cuts,” he adds.