[FoundersGrotesk]

I take your points about bitmap fonts for early pixel displays. They were determined by the coarse raster of the screen. But screens have evolved, and manually bitmapping every px size for every physical screen resolution would be a fool's errand.

The early bitmap fonts embraced the the raw material of the pixel, but their underlying form and structure were determined by (at least) 500 years of typographic history and evolution. These days, the “raw material” of digital fonts is not bitmaps but curves. Of course, they're all rasterized one way or another for print or screens!

I am comfortable that I’ve brought a Brutalist ethic to Signifier. I think you’re conflating geometric primitivism with a material sensibility. The designers of Futura (and other geometric typefaces) were not concerned with the material of their production, rather the aesthetic sensibilities of the era. The history of vectors and splines for drawing shapes is not predicated on making primitives per se, (rects, circles, triangles etc,) but articulating complex, subtle curves. The broader history of letterforms is skewed heavily towards articulating subtle curves rather than primitive shapes, so the actual style of Signifier’s letterforms are aligned towards the shapes, proportions and rhythm of early typefaces rather than 20th century models.

And yes — Signiifer is largely indistinguishable from “Garamond” at small sizes is largely the point! There’s even a bit in the design info about it. Thank you for making that observation.