Draft:Sofia Pro

Based on geometric shapes with a slightly contrasted stroke, Sofia Pro can be classified as a geometric sans-serif according to the Vox-Atypi classification, or as a humanist typeface according to the Thibaudeau classification. This typeface family is inspired by characters of the same classification as Futura, created in the 1920s-1930s by Renner, or the ITC Avant Garde designed in 1970 by Herb Lubalin.

The main characteristic of this typeface from other geometric sans-serifs lies in the less pronounced rhythm of the uppercase letters. They have been designed with a more homogeneous and regular witdth, giving words a less pronounced rhythm than other geometric typefaces. Another aesthetic feature that sets it apart from other geometric sans-serifs is the wide apertures of letters, which is much more pronounced, giving the typeface a modern appearance and distinguishing it from other existing geometric typefaces.{{Cite book |last=Gourvat |first=Olivier |title=Sofia Pro Specimen |date= |publisher=Mostardesign Type Foundry |year=2024 |isbn=978-2-9597314-0-2 |location=France |publication-date=December 2024 |pages=11-13 |language=English}}

Less common in geometric typefaces, a slightly higher x-height makes the readability of lowercase letters more evident when reading long paragraphs.

Published under the name Sofia, the typeface family was officially released on December 2009, by the current Mostardesign Type Foundry. Spacing and kerning were executed by Igino Marini.

File:Sofiapro-versions-overview.jpg

In 2012, Gourvat released the OpenType version of Sofia Pro, making modifications to numerous glyphs as well as adding the Black weight. {{Cite book |last=Gourvat |first=Olivier |title=Sofia Pro Specimen |date=December 2024 |publisher=Mostardesign Type Foundry |year=2024 |isbn=978-2-9597314-0-2 |location=France |pages=3-4 |language=English}}The following year, he also created the condensed version. In 2014, a version with rounded terminals, Sofia Soft, was added.

Although Sofia Pro is inspired by Futura, it stands out with its own identity and originality. Gourvat's approach in creating the font is widely recognized in the graphic design industry, which values the renewal of geometric sans-serif fonts and the freshness it brought, without copying the most popular fonts of the same style.{{Cite web |date=2 December 2016 |title=Free font freitag - Sofia Pro |url=https://blog.papierdirekt.de/freefontfreitag-sofia-pro/ |access-date=11 April 2024 |website=Papier Direkt}}

Sofia Pro is particularly appreciated for its balance between neutrality and warmth, allowing it to seamlessly integrate into various visual contexts without compromising the main message.

Its success is largely due to its adoption by many designers worldwide, as well as its use by several international companies in their communications. In 2024, Sofia Pro is used by more than 14 million daily users and appears on 70 billion web pages. Its Regular styles appear on over 7 billion web.{{Cite web |last=Gourvat |first=Olivier |date=10 February 2025 |title=Reflexions about the new version of Sofia Pro |url=https://oliviergourvat.com/reflexions-about-new-version-sofia-pro |access-date=10 February 2025 |website=Olivier Gourvat Website}}

Established typographic professionals, such as MyFonts {{Cite web |last=Middendorp |first=Jan |date=14 November 2014 |title=My:Creative characters. The faces behind the fonts - Issue#87 |url=https://www.myfonts.com/pages/newsletters-cc-201411 |access-date=15 April 2024 |website=MyFonts}}and Monotype, have repeatedly recognized Sofia Pro for its readability and modernity. The font owes its popularity to its widespread use by numerous international companies in their communication efforts.

Here are some notable examples identified by the foundry:

Sofia Pro was employed in the presentation of the 85th Oscars ceremony, hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and hosted by Seth MacFarlane. The ceremony was televised in the United States by ABC. Various weights, including the Ultra Light weight, were used for the title in the television broadcast's graphics package, as well as for posters and presentation panels featuring the nominated artists.

A customized version of Sofia Pro, Lyft Pro, was created for Lyft in 2017. Lyft Pro includes an additional Heavy weight with modified glyphs. Lyft utilizes this customized version as its main font on its mobile application, website, and for its advertising communication on billboards.

Sofia Pro was also used in the TikTok mobile application developed by ByteDance between 2016 and 2022. for its communication on its mobile application and its advertising billboards. The brand used Sofia Pro as the primary font for titles, subtitles, text, and captions, utilizing both Sofia Pro Soft in combination with the regular version. During 2023, TikTok replaced Sofia Pro with a font specially designed for its application called TikTok Sans. The reception of this new font remains divided.{{Cite web |last=Cavender |first=Elena |date=17 May 2023 |title=No, you're not imagining it: TikTok changed its font |url=https://mashable.com/article/tiktok-sans-font |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517192417/https://mashable.com/article/tiktok-sans-font |archive-date=17 May 2023 |access-date=12 April 2024 |website=Mashable}}

Since 2017, the Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons has embraced Sofia Pro for its new visual identity, This typeface is used as their primary typeface and used on its website, mobile application, signage, packaging, advertising billboards, and digital communication.{{Cite web |last=Maynard |first=Maxime |date=12 August 2022 |title=Tim Hortons logo and branding |url=https://fontsinuse.com/uses/41476/tim-hortons-logo-and-branding |access-date=11 April 2024 |website=Fonts in use}}

In 2018, Pepsi also utilized the Sofia Pro font family for its official partnership with the UEFA Champions League. This global campaign, supported by the hashtag #loveitliveit, brought together five of the world's top players (Leo Messi, Marcelo, Toni Kroos, Carli Lloyd, and Dele Alli) through visuals featuring photos of the players integrated with the slogan "Love it, Live it", prominently displayed in large capital letters using the Sofia Pro Black font. Pepsi further extended this campaign by employing Sofia Pro on its packaging and limited edition cans, and aired a commercial featuring the same slogan in multiple countries.

File:Museum-sydney.jpg]]

Sofia Pro has been adopted in several cultural, healthcare, and educational infrastructures in the city of Sydney, particularly for wayfinding and signage systems. Paired with a specific color code, this typeface is used in iconic locations such as the Museum of Sydney, the hospitals in Mudgee, Goulburn, and Maitland, the Walsh Bay Arts Centre, as well as on the Nihon University Newcastle Campus and Mosman High School. These facilities are spread across 11 key sites throughout the city.

In 2022, Sofia Pro was also chosen as the primary typeface for the visual identity of the Paris International Agricultural Show. This new brand identity relies on Sofia Pro to give the agricultural show's brand a more contemporary feel. The typeface is also featured in its logo.

During the 2022 French presidential elections, Jean-Luc Mélenchon used the Sofia Pro font for his official campaign posters as well as for his campaign website. Designed with Sofia Pro as the primary font, the slogan "Another world is possible," which supports the rhetoric developed by Mélenchon, is deliberately written in lowercase letters to convey a message of closeness and counter the revolutionary image often associated with him. Some French media outlets, such as BFMTV{{Cite web |last=Vasque |first=Perrine |date=15 March 2022 |title=Présidentielle: la nouvelle affiche officielle de campagne de Jean-Luc Mélenchon |url=https://www.bfmtv.com/politique/elections/presidentielle/presidentielle-la-nouvelle-affiche-officielle-de-campagne-de-jean-luc-melenchon_AN-202203150356.html |access-date=12 April 2024 |language=French}} and Ouest France{{Cite web |last=Benech |first=Emile |date=17 March 2022 |title=Que révèlent les affiches des candidats à l'élection présidentielle ? |url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/leditiondusoir/2022-03-17/que-revelent-les-affiches-des-candidats-a-l-election-presidentielle-f3dacf2e-2580-446c-a06b-92d58bc63dab |access-date=12 April 2024 |website=Ouest France |language=French}}, analyzed the poster, describing it as one of calming and a departure from previous posters.

In 2024, a customized version of Sofia Pro, called LLB Sofia Pro, was created for the rebranding of the National Bank of Liechtenstein. LLB Sofia Pro includes specific variations of lowercase letters. It is used as the main font on their mobile application, website, and throughout their entire IT system.

File:Hamburgefonts-sofiapro.jpg

Sofia Pro underwent a major expansion in early 2025, expanding the family to four main variants: Normal, Narrow, Condensed, and Compact, for a total of 64 fonts. {{Cite web |last=Petzold |first=Dirk |date=April 2025 |title=Sofia Pro Font Family by Mostardesign (Upgrade) |url=https://weandthecolor.com/sofia-pro-font-family-mostardesign/201328 |url-status=live |website=We and the color}} Each variant is available as a variable font, allowing continuous adjustment of weight and, in some cases, width. This provides flexible options for adapting typography to various design contexts. The kerning and spacing were completed by Igino Marini.

In addition to these widely used variants, the family includes two complementary stylistic versions:

•  Sofia Pro Soft (2014): a softened version characterized by rounded contours and a gentler, more naive aesthetic. It includes 8 fonts across 4 weights (Light, Regular, Medium, Bold), each with a corresponding italic.

• Sofia Rough (2015): a textured reinterpretation of Sofia Pro, divided into two eroded subfamilies. It consists of 16 fonts designed for expressive or decorative use. This variant, however, remains less commonly used than the core styles.

Sofia Pro is widely adopted in editorial, institutional, and commercial contexts around the world, valued for its legibility, elegant neutrality, and strong adaptability across both print and digital media.{{Cite web |last=Tidwell |first=Kim |date=27 May 2025 |title=Sofia Pro, Beloved by Designers, Brands, and the Internet, Gets a Major Expansion |url=https://www.printmag.com/type-tuesday/sofia-pro-expansion-olivier-gourvat/ |url-status=live |access-date=25 June 2025 |website=Print Magazine}}

Sofia Pro covers 223 languages including Extended Latin, Cyrillic, Greek and Vietnamese. It contains 1425 glyphs with Mac OS Roman, Windows 1252 encoding characters.

{{reflist|30em}}

• Typology - A typograpic palette by Studio Recto Verso {{ISBN|978-2-9574956-0-3}}
• Sofia Pro Specimen {{ISBN|978-2-9597314-0-2}}

• [https://www.motyfo.com/fonts-library/sofia-pro/ Sofia Pro official page] at Mostardesign Type Foundry
• [https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/5152/sofia Sofia Pro] at Fonts in use
• [https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-record/35056362 Sofia Pro Copyright registration]
• [https://cms-enterprise.monotype.com/resources/collections/mostardesign Mostardesign Type Foundry] at Monotype
• [http://www.oliviergourvat.com Olivier Gourvat]

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