Salina: Crafting Timeless Elegance in Every Letterform

At Fontfabric, We just love playing with letters!

They express stories, emotions and powerful meaning. Salina is no different. Born from the creativity of Ivelina Martinova, Plamen Motev, and Vika Usmanova, Salina mirrors the journey of dedication, patience, and shared passion.

Today we focus on Salina – Our 6th release this year, along Gismo, Grima, Calleo, Auge and Petrov Sans. Salina emerges with a harmonious balance of modern aesthetics and timeless elegance. Just as each of our releases has its distinct personality and charm, Salina speaks to people across various domains.

The Essence of Salina

Salina is as much about its look as it’s about the feel. Its balance of thick and thin lines is a visual treat, ensuring it stands out in a sea of typefaces. Its curves, inspired by classic design motifs, bring both warmth and familiarity. But it’s not just about the aesthetics; Salina’s design also prioritizes readability, making it versatile across platforms.

The Richness in Details

The Salina typeface is quite the toolbox for designers. With 28 distinct styles, ranging from the delicate light to the assertive bold, it has a breadth that caters to varied design sensibilities. Its italics aren’t just slanted letters, but have been crafted to add dynamism to your text. Furthermore, its international character set, supporting all the latin based Languages, as well as Cyrillic, ensures that Salina resonates with global audiences. And of course all in a variable fonts.

Some of its standouts:

• Swashes: The Salina Swashes enhance designs with their ornamental flourishes, imparting elegance and motion.
• Character Depth: Its harmony of thick and thin strokes promises readability and aesthetics in tandem.
• Italics: Beyond being mere slanted counterparts, Salina’s italics introduce dynamism and zest to the text.
• Versatility: Salina is as much at home in big headlines as it is in expansive textual content, ensuring clarity paired with beauty. Perfect for editorial design, fashion industry, packaging, websites, posters and many many more.

See the full font here

Behind the Scenes with Salina’s Creators

It’s the people that give soul to a font. When Ivelina started with her sketches, she envisioned a typeface that spoke of elegance. Plamen’s iterative inputs and refinements breathed life into these sketches. Vika, with her meticulous approach, ensured that the typeface not only looked good but also functioned flawlessly across applications.

Interview:

What inspired you to create Salina, and how did you come up with the idea for its unique subfamilies?

Ivelina: “It’s a very dear memory to me. The love for typography was born during my university years, but the spark and desire to create fonts were thanks to the energy and good example I received from Martin Majoor and Sol Matas. That’s when I started Salina, which has come to life today thanks to Fontfabric and especially Plamen, who always strives for us to surpass ourselves and deliver the best of what we are capable of as designers.”

Plamen: “The drive for diversity ignited our inspiration for Salina. When Iva joined the team, she carried an exciting concept for a display serif font. I nudged this idea further, challenging her to craft Salina into a graphically rich serif font, complete with a complementary subfamily full of swashes.”

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced during the font creation process?

Ivelina: “That’s an interesting question because during the creation process of Salina, we made three font families before it emerged in its current form. We went through many variations and trials. At one point, we created over 250 ligatures for Cyrillic and Latin scripts, as well as around 300 swashes, not to mention the numerous tests :). The whole process was very interesting and important for me as a font designer, providing me with many topics to explore and contemplate. In fact, we joke that Salina is my third child.”

Plamen: “Striking the right balance was our biggest puzzle – finding that sweet spot between tradition and innovation, softness and sharpness. Our goal was to birth a contemporary serif like Salina that exudes elegance, gentleness, yet stands confident, irresistible, and unapologetically bold.“

How do you envision Salina being used by designers in the creative industry?

Ivelina: “Salina is a very interesting interpretation of a classic font with a modern twist. It is elegant and, at the same time, contemporary. It is suitable for product headlines in the fashion industry, for distinctive food items that want to stand out with style and individuality. The swashes are very suitable for showcasing the brand’s character, for movie titles, jewelry packaging, and film posters and many more.”

Plamen: “Salina’s natural home is in editorial design. It’s a perfect fit for headlines that aim to captivate and empathize. Its presence is simply too compelling to overlook. Beyond this, we can see Salina adding typographic flair to websites and branding identities.“

Did other fonts inspire you in the design process of Salina?

Ivelina: “Salina was born from sketches and the freedom of hand expressing the essence of the designer. Of course, it wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t for the critical insights of Plamen and Vika, the desire to create a product that has value and benefits the user.”

Plamen: “Yes, we drew from classic fonts like Baskerville and Didot. We were also inspired by the work of Neil Summerour, particularly his Lust series. His ability to weave emotion into each curve resonates with us. It’s that evocative sensation that we aimed to emulate in Salina.”

If Salina were a person, what qualities would they possess?

Ivelina: “Salina is energy, carries a lot of tenderness within while positioning itself with stability and a modern feel. Salina doesn’t go unnoticed, It’s graceful and elegant.”

Plamen: “If Salina were a person, she’d be the epitome of independence and power, wrapped up in elegance. She would command any room she walked into with her confidence and beauty, turning heads without even trying. Salina would be that rare blend of strength and style, a true force of nature.”

Inspiration in Action

We believe that the true test of a font is in its application. Be it on a webpage, a poster, or a magazine, Salina promises consistency and charisma. We’ve experimented, and the results have always been delightful. We’re eager to see the wonders you’ll create with Salina!

Design with Salina

Conclusion

As Salina takes its proud place in our collection, it brings with it the promise of creativity, adaptability, and shared joy. At Fontfabric, it’s never just about launching a font; it’s about adding to our ever-growing family of designs. From a dreamy sketch to a full-fledged typeface, Salina‘s journey has been one of patience, collaboration, and immense learning. We hope it finds a place in your design toolkit and your heart. Dive in, explore, and let Salina be a part of your story.

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