• 8 Apr

    Meet Jos Buivenga: The Designer of the Museo Font

    Fonts, Interviews, Typography

    117




    museo_fontIf you frequent design and CSS galleries, you may have stumbled time and time again upon an excellent typeface released last year that took the design world by storm. I’m talking about Jos Buivenga’s font ‘Museo’.

    I’ve never seen a font being adopted so quickly and fondly by web designers across the world. It’s been listed as one of the top 10 fonts of 2008 by MyFonts.com

    Museo is being used everywhere, web and print, including our own logo here at Webdesigner Depot. Museo Sans, its sans serif companion, was recently introduced and another style is in the works.

    In this article, I’m interviewing Jos Buivenga, the author of the popular Museo font and find out more about his influential typeface, his design process and what the future holds.

    Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

    I was born in 1965. I live in Arnhem (the Netherlands) and work 4 days a week at an advertising agency as an art director.

    My love for type design started about 15 years ago. I was playing around on my first MAC with a very early version of Quark Xpress. While I was doing that I kept wondering what it would be like to set a piece of text in my very own font.

    That’s how my first font family Delicious came to see the light. Every Friday (and most weekends) I dedicate my time to type design.

    Every typeface I worked on was a great journey where I could really lose myself in the creative process and for me, that’s what counts the most.

    portrait
    Jos Buivenga

    How was Museo conceived?

    Museo was conceived out of the love for one letter form. In some kind of daydream I saw before me the letter ‘U’ with the endings bent. So it really started with my love for the letter ‘U’.

    museo
    Jos Buivenga’s Museo


    Can you tell us a bit about the design process?

    The design of Museo was fairly straight forward. I remember a few things that really determined the design…

    Museo looked a bit like some piece of bent metal wire so I thought of making the stroke contrast as low as possible and I also wanted to keep the shapes simple like for instance a nice round geometric “O”.

    Because of that stroke’s weight and because of the fact that I wanted a fairly heavy Museo weight it seemed very difficult to me to make a heavy lowercase.

    That’s the reason why Museo was first intended to be caps only. Thanks to my blog, Museo got a lot of attention early on. People liked it a lot and many started to ask for a lower case version. I still had some of the very early contours of a lowercase with a 100 weight.

    I had to research what concessions I had to make to the strokes of the heaviest weight to do this. I tried some things and I eventually decided that if stroke changes had to be made I would make them, if possible, in the middle of the character.

    studio
    My studio

    I planned 5 weights for Museo. At first, I thought of just calculating the weights in a linear way. I made a Multiple Master of the extreme weights and this is how I first generated the three medium weights in the beginning.

    Having a thorough look at it, it looked like the difference between the light weights (100 – 300) was larger than the difference between the heavy weights (700-900). So,  I then decided to determine the weights by changing them manually, and to judge them by eye.

    I measured the new stems and recalculated the values so that I could use those for generating different instances. It turned out that the weight distribution wasn’t linear, but more like a parabolic curve.

    Museo was intended from the beginning to be a display font. That is the reason why I chose to align the ascenders with the caps height and also aligned the diacritics with the caps height. That way a more harmonious look is possible when diacritics are used.


    Why do you think people love this font so much, what makes it so special?

    That’s a secret… No, I’m just kidding. I wish I knew, but I really don’t.


    Will you be extending the font or adding more weights?

    I have no plans to extend Museo, but I do have plans to make a Museo Sans Rounded.


    Why did you choose to have each style named with numbers like 100, 300, instead of calling them bold, extra bold, etc?

    When you set a font in FontLab to the appropriate weight, next to it appears a number. Some kind of weight indication that (I’m not sure) seems to me is being used by some programs.

    I liked the numbers so I used them as a style name. So that is where the 100 to 900 naming came from. I had the weird thought that if you name the different styles with numbers, people would be more willing to collect them all. What was I thinking? Who knows… maybe it worked :-)


    Why do you distribute some of the styles for free?

    When Museo was in the making I also had the plan to sell some of the weights. At that time I was already working 4 days a week and my goal was that I could financially compensate myself for that loss of income by selling fonts.

    I tried to do that for a while with donations but that didn’t work well enough. Because everything I had done until then was for free, I decided that I wanted to offer more free weights than paid ones.

    When I was about to release Museo, my website attracted many unique visitors each month and I didn’t want to put all those people off that knew me only because of my free fonts. It was kind of a gamble to do this and almost everyone I knew told me that I was crazy. Especially because I offered the most usable and probably also the most wanted weights (300 – 500 – 700) for free.

    example1


    What are you working on now?

    I’m working very hard on Calluna and Calluna Sans. Also, I’m working on Questa which is a square typeface like Didot and something I always wanted to do. And the one I mentioned earlier: Museo Sans Rounded.

    museo_sans1
    Museo Sans Rounded – in development


    A look at ‘Museo’ around the web

    41

    110

    21

    31

    51

    wdd

    62

    71

    gonzalog

    81

    91

    101

    121

    untitled-1

    Jos Buivenga runs his own Font Foundry called Exljbris and he also runs a font blog. All fonts are available for purchase at MyFonts.com

    There are 5 versions to Museo, 3 of which are free and can be downloaded from MyFonts.com as well. Museo Sans is available in 10 weights, 2 of which are free. Here’s more information on how to order or download these fonts: Museo | Museo Sans

    Have you used Museo in your designs? Please share your examples with us and let us know where else you spotted ‘Museo’…

    Related Posts

    5 Simple Ways to Improve Web Typography5 Simple Ways to Improve Web Typography40 Excellent Logos Created with Helvetica40 Excellent Logos Created with Helvetica7 Free Tools to Identify A Font7 Free Tools to Identify A Font

  • 117 Comments

     
    #1
    Sneh
    April 8th, 2009 at 05:52

    Awesome! Museo is set to become the official font for the Starswelove.com relaunch .. see logo http://www.littleboxofideas.com/images/logos/starswelove325×260.png

    It is also the main font in all of the pages of BBC’s The Australia Good Food Magazine! Thought you’d like to know :-)

     
     
    #2
    Walter
    April 8th, 2009 at 06:01

    Yes, that’s exactly the type of comment that I was waiting for. Have a link to the BBC Food Mag?

     
     
    #3
    om ipit
    April 8th, 2009 at 08:41

    Museo font needed by designer like me..
    perfect..

     
     
    #4
    zam.web.id
    January 21st, 2010 at 23:54

    in MUSEO we trust

     
     
    #5
    tobi
    April 8th, 2009 at 09:23

    i also love museo! Great Font – thanks!

     
     
    #6
    jisoo
    April 8th, 2009 at 09:47

    great post and i love Museo Font ..

     
     
    #7
    Sebastiano
    April 8th, 2009 at 09:54

    I used museo for my logo too

     
     
    #8
    Matt
    April 8th, 2009 at 10:00

    It’s great to read an interview with Jos. I’ve been a fan of his fonts for a while now.

     
     
    #9
    Mr Kuzio
    April 8th, 2009 at 14:28

    Thanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too.

     
     
    #10
    Lieve
    April 8th, 2009 at 15:50

    Museo for life!

     
     
    #11
    xea
    April 8th, 2009 at 15:57

    Thanks cool!

     
     
    #12
    gummisig
    April 8th, 2009 at 16:42

    Beautiful font. I´ve never used it myself.
    Some very gorgeous web sites as well.

     
     
    #13
    Jos Buivenga
    April 9th, 2009 at 02:09

    Thank you all(!) for the kind comments.

    @ Sneh: Thanks for spotting! I hope I can have a look at one of those BBC magazines soon.

     
     
    #14
    Ryan Toyota
    April 9th, 2009 at 05:47

    Beautiful font. I’m using it on my site as well. Although it was initially intended to be a temporary font choice, I’m growing so used to it and like it so much that I don’t know if I’ll be able to change it.

    Congrats, Jos on the attention that this font has received. It’s very well deserved.

     
     
    #15
    Dian
    April 9th, 2009 at 08:26

    i use it for my site logo :) Awesome interview
    thanks for the interview and the museo sans link

     
     
    #16
    Paulo Pereira
    April 9th, 2009 at 17:27

    Congratulations Jos, Museo is really great. The fact that you share some of your typefaces freely makes you are a role model for type designers. Sometimes, giving things for free really gets something in return., and I think this an example of it.

    I use it on my site, the last on the article’s list, in a *big* size :D
    Thanks to WDD for including me on that list among with wonderful and inspiring designs.

     
     
    #17
    Hugo
    April 9th, 2009 at 22:25

    Great font, love it.

    Ik kom zelf ook uit Arnhem, grappig om dat zo terug te lezen op een internationaal blog!

     
     
    #18
    Snoebeliebatski
    April 10th, 2009 at 15:20

    Great font, very fresh

     
     
    #19
    Dileep K Sharma
    April 10th, 2009 at 17:12

    What a beautiful font. I always wondered which is the font you had used for WDD logo. In fact I also thought of dropping a mail to you and ask about it. I never knew I would get to know about this through such a brilliant article portraying the talent of font creator himself. Thanks Walter for this great piece of information. It certainly has made this Easter so Happy :)

     
     
    #20
    Walter
    April 10th, 2009 at 17:20

    Thanks Dileep – I particularly love the 100 version – it’s super sexy. The bold look is great, too.

     
     
    #21
    Joseph Lancaster
    April 10th, 2009 at 18:42

    What a great a fun to use font.

     
     
    #22
    Jos Buivenga
    April 11th, 2009 at 19:33

    Ryan >
    Thanks. Let me know when you change the font ;)

    Dian >
    Looks great. Hope you like Museo Sans also.

    Paulo >
    The washed colors give Museo a wonderful look on your site. I like the implementation of the stool metaphore. Glad that you like Museo so much!

    Hugo >
    Thank you. Wonderful to meet people from Arnhem here ;)

    Snoebeliebatski & Joseph >
    Thanks for commenting!

    Dileep >
    Thank you for the generous compliments. I’m also fond of the 100 weight, but Walter used the 900 in a great way for the WWD logo.

     
     
    #23
    Lana
    April 14th, 2009 at 17:12

    Completely agree. Museo & Museo Sans are really great fonts for a clean webdesign. Some time ago we got a new “huisstijl” for Alex website (dutch website for inverstors) and now we use Museo (for headers) and Museo Sans (for body text). I must say website looks much better with this font (even so we have old website design at this point).

     
     
    #24
    Hinch
    April 22nd, 2009 at 00:18

    I use Museo on my site too, it is a lightweight Opentype file so it’s useful for @font-face embedding.

     
     
    #25
    bebe
    May 4th, 2009 at 16:02

    mr. jos, you are a FONT GENIUS!!!! those websites looks marvelous just by using museo! I’m a real fan! x)

     
     
    #26
    Jos Buivenga
    May 9th, 2009 at 12:36

    Lana >
    The site looks cool. I guess you also did folders and brochures with Museo (Sans). If so would you send me some for my portfolio?

    Hinch >
    Nice & clean!

    bebe >
    :) Thanks!

     
     
    #27
    Lana
    June 4th, 2009 at 10:57

    Hey Jos,

    I found no contact information on your website. Let me know how I can contact you and I will send you brochures (they are in full color), cadeaubon etc. Alle drukwerk.

    Groetjes,
    Lana

     
     
    #28
    Jos Buivenga
    June 4th, 2009 at 19:14

    That’s really great! You can contact me at:
    jos {the at-sign here} exljbris {and a dot} com
    Thanks!

     
    (Comments won't nest below this level)
     
    #29
    mobilya
    June 3rd, 2009 at 12:50

    Wery nice site thanks all and mr. Jos

     
     
    #30
    sohbet
    June 24th, 2009 at 13:25

    Thanks wey nice page

     
     
    #31
    dinda27
    July 2nd, 2009 at 01:57

    Nice to know you. I love this blog
    Thank you for sharing.
    Regards

     
     
    #32
    samsun
    July 3rd, 2009 at 03:45

    Thankss

     
     
    #33
    netlog
    July 4th, 2009 at 14:18

    very nice blogs

     
     
    #34
    Sohbet
    July 28th, 2009 at 16:01

    Thanks Turkish version i m download good temp

     
     
    #35
    kameralı sohbet
    July 31st, 2009 at 02:24

    Nice to know you. I love this blog
    Thank you for sharing.
    Regards

     
     
    #36
    Sohbet
    August 3rd, 2009 at 12:45

    Thank you for this wonderful work professionalization

     
     
    #37
    muhabbet
    August 13th, 2009 at 20:50

    thank you very beatifull.

     
     
    #38
    sohbet odaları
    August 17th, 2009 at 23:54

    thanks you very much

     
     
    #39
    uşak haber
    August 21st, 2009 at 20:51

    Wery nice document thanks all weey well

     
     
    #40
    travesti
    August 24th, 2009 at 02:57

    I’ve been a fan of his fonts for a while now.

     
     
    #41
    chat
    August 28th, 2009 at 03:49

    Thanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too.

     
     
    #42
    Jos Buivenga
    August 28th, 2009 at 13:24

    Thanks all!

     
     
    #43
    sesli chat
    August 29th, 2009 at 22:29

    thanks admin
    Your articles is very good…

     
     
    #44
    mirc
    September 11th, 2009 at 19:44

    Thank you, you answered the question I have been searching for which was whether or not to place keywords when blog commenting.

     
     
    #45
    sohbet odaları
    September 20th, 2009 at 17:04

    Thanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too.

     
     
    #46
    sohbet
    September 21st, 2009 at 10:44

    I’ve been a fan of his fonts for a while now

     
     
    #47
    film izle
    September 22nd, 2009 at 01:03

    I had a nice thank you for sharing designer..

     
     
    #48
    chat
    September 22nd, 2009 at 16:39

    I’ve been a fan of his fonts for a while now

     
     
    #49
    Lida
    September 23rd, 2009 at 16:52

    Well done mate. this excellent works. Please Keep alive Your blog and your works….

     
     
    #50
    sohbet
    September 24th, 2009 at 19:25

    Thank you, you answered the question I have been searching for which was whether or not to place keywords when blog commenting.

     
     
    #51
    Seo
    September 26th, 2009 at 02:44

    Wery nice site thanks all and mr. Jos

     
     
    #52
    Diyarbakir
    September 26th, 2009 at 02:45

    Thanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too.

     
     
    #53
    sohbet
    September 26th, 2009 at 14:26

    Subject to very good, but thank you very much for help

     
     
    #54
    video izle
    September 26th, 2009 at 14:49

    Thank you, you answered the question I have been searching for which was whether or not to place keywords when blog commenting.

     
     
    #55
    kral oyun
    September 26th, 2009 at 14:50

    I had a nice thank you for sharing designer.

     
     
    #56
    sohbet
    September 26th, 2009 at 15:51

    thank you designer nice work..

     
     
    #57
    Sohbet
    October 3rd, 2009 at 17:52

    What a great a fun to use font

     
     
    #58
    sports flooring
    October 6th, 2009 at 02:31

    Great.
    I have used this font before and love it. It is the perfect solution for most marketing material that we need designed.
    Good to see the face behind it.
    thanks for sharing.

     
     
    #59
    travesti
    October 9th, 2009 at 22:55

    Thanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too…

     
     
    #60
    özel ders
    October 10th, 2009 at 00:29

    Thanks all!

     
     
    #61
    sohbet odalari
    October 11th, 2009 at 15:32

    thanks cool !!!!

     
     
    #62
    Jos Buivenga
    October 12th, 2009 at 15:27

    Good to notice that this post is still read by all you guys. Thanks for the kind comments!

     
     
    #63
    sohbet odalari
    October 17th, 2009 at 12:41

    thanks for this article

     
     
    #64
    gay
    October 23rd, 2009 at 14:24

    great site thanks a lot.

     
     
    #65
    okey
    October 27th, 2009 at 01:09

    Your web site is really nice if we think the others
    I think you had worked about that web site, hardly.
    Like I see. Thank you for information tht i get.

     
     
    #66
    YouTube
    November 4th, 2009 at 01:23

    your web site is really nice..

     
     
    #67
    sohbet odaları
    November 4th, 2009 at 01:24

    thanks nice post.

     
     
    #68
    YouTube
    November 4th, 2009 at 01:25

    thanks nice!

     
     
    #69
    travesti
    November 10th, 2009 at 22:14

    was interesting to read…you have some great information on your blog. Your insight and expertise would be a welcome addition to our new community, i hope you will consider joining

     
     
    #70
    sohbet
    November 12th, 2009 at 13:47

    thanks nice!

     
     
    #71
    sohbet
    November 12th, 2009 at 16:09

    hanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too.

     
     
    #72
    haber
    November 20th, 2009 at 16:35

    hanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too.

     
     
    #73
    çet
    November 22nd, 2009 at 00:23

    your web site is really nice..

     
     
    #74
    ikinci el eşya
    November 22nd, 2009 at 02:49

    Thanks Nice Post

     
     
    #75
    oyun
    November 23rd, 2009 at 20:32

    Thanks Nice Post

     
     
    #76
    Henning Nilsen
    December 2nd, 2009 at 13:48

    I’m gonna redesign my logo soon, and for that I’ll use Museo.

    Thanks for this great free font.

    I love it :)

     
     
    #77
    gay sohbet
    December 5th, 2009 at 18:59

    thanks for bro

     
     
    #78
    seslishe
    December 23rd, 2009 at 20:04

    thenk you very much

     
     
    #79
    toplum
    December 25th, 2009 at 15:30

    Very good blog and post. thanks Great information thanks for sharing with us.In fact in all posts of this blog their is something to learn. Your work is very good and I appreciate your work and hopping for some more informative posts.

     
     
    #80
    almanya sohbet
    January 4th, 2010 at 03:02

    hanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too.

     
     
    #81
    travestiajans
    January 9th, 2010 at 10:58

    very artfull and nice fonts thanks for sharing to us…

     
     
    #82
    sohbet et
    January 21st, 2010 at 00:12

    Thank you, nice posting..

     
     
    #83
    achmadbiz
    January 22nd, 2010 at 05:42

    I’m fans of Museo :) . Its a perfect combination of techno, stylish, and also a bit of sexy , really great fonts. Thanksssss to Jos ….

     
     
    #84
    Jos Buivenga
    January 22nd, 2010 at 13:03

    Thanks (again) all!

     
     
    #85
    gay
    January 26th, 2010 at 03:00

    Thanks nice.

     
     
    #86
    Thiago
    January 26th, 2010 at 19:35

    I used the font on my resume: http://www.thgmartins.com.br/curriculo_thiago.pdf

     
     
    #87
    chat
    January 31st, 2010 at 00:38

    thanks..

     
     
    #88
    Sohbet
    January 31st, 2010 at 12:35

    thanks

     
     
    #89
    Sohbet odaları
    January 31st, 2010 at 19:04

    Thanks (again) all!

     
     
    #90
    telefon dinleme
    February 2nd, 2010 at 22:17

    Thankjsss

     
     
    #91
    Almanya sohbet
    February 6th, 2010 at 23:33

    thanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too.

     
     
    #92
    sohbet
    February 12th, 2010 at 13:06

    thanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too.

     
     
    #93
    chat
    February 13th, 2010 at 15:38

    I’ve been a fan of his fonts for a while now

     
     
    #94
    wez
    February 15th, 2010 at 06:58

    OMG he has a mac FAIL

     
     
    #95
    sarki dinle
    February 18th, 2010 at 02:14

    Query: why, when the Update was declined, did it still install, continues to install after an uninstall until I turned of WSUS. thnx

     
     
    #96
    sohbet odaları
    February 21st, 2010 at 00:57

    OMG he has a mac FAIL Sohbetozel

     
     
    #97
    Jos Buivenga
    February 21st, 2010 at 23:08

    To all – Thanks!

    —

    BTW What’s this pathetic omg-he-has-mac-fail thing?
    Do grow up and be happy that my fonts also work a PC.

     
     
    #98
    used transformer
    March 1st, 2010 at 10:36

    It’s great to read an interview with Jos. I’ve been a fan of his fonts for a while now.

     
     
    #99
    etiler pilates
    March 3rd, 2010 at 06:53

    thanks for your work, I like your font Diavlo too

     
     
    #100
    sohbet odalari
    March 3rd, 2010 at 16:50

    It’s great to read an interview with Jos. I’ve been a fan of his fonts for a while now.

     
     
    #101
    sohbet odaları
    March 3rd, 2010 at 16:51

    Very good blog and post. thanks Great information thanks for sharing with us.In fact in all posts of this blog their is something to learn. Your work is very good and I appreciate your work and hopping for some more informative posts.

     
     
    #102
    Mahmut
    March 6th, 2010 at 13:27

    Very good blog and post. thanks Great information thanks for sharing with us.In fact in all posts of this blog their is something to learn. Your work is very good and I appreciate your work and hopping for some more informative posts.

     
     
    #103
    Bastian
    March 8th, 2010 at 23:26

    I guess the numbers in the names of this font refer to the different weights:

    1. Ultraleicht (Ultra Light; Ultra Thin)
    2. Extraleicht (Extra Light; Fein, Thin)
    3. Leicht (Light; Light Plain)
    4. Halbleicht (Semi Light; Mager, Semi Light Plain)
    5. Normal (Regular; Buch, Werk, Book, Medium, Plain, Roman)
    6. Halbfett (Semi Bold; Kräftig)
    7. Fett (Bold; Dreiviertelfett, Demi, Heavy)
    8. Extrafett (Extra Bold; Black)
    9. Ultrafett (Ultra Bold; Extra Black, Ultra)

    Adrian Frutiger developed a numeric system to categorize the different font weights. I think he used it for Univers and Frutiger.

     
     
    #104
    Şiir
    March 13th, 2010 at 21:36

    Fluxbox is not a Desktop Environment. It’s a Window Manager ;)

     
     
    #105
    Travesti Yeliz
    March 18th, 2010 at 04:45

    The first priority of the site administrator for your comments right know, thank you. Really very good information-sharing gives you. Thanks in knowledge…

     
     
    #106
    mirc
    March 25th, 2010 at 13:37

    Thanks for ur work.

     
     
    #107
    los angeles seo
    March 26th, 2010 at 19:20

    Great font and great site. Thanks so much!

     
     
    #108
    Chat
    April 7th, 2010 at 02:13

    I used museo for my logo too

     
     
    #109
    seslicafe
    April 11th, 2010 at 16:22

    great thanks a lot

     
     
    #110
    evden eve nakliyat
    April 22nd, 2010 at 11:02

    I used museo for my logo too

     
     
    #111
    destan
    April 24th, 2010 at 20:55

    To all – Thanks!

     
     
    #112
    cilt bakımı
    May 19th, 2010 at 04:12

    It’s great to read an interview with Jos. I’ve been a fan of his fonts for a while now.

     
     
    #113
    sohbet
    May 19th, 2010 at 19:19

    very artfull and nice fonts thanks for sharing to us…

     
     
    #114
    web
    May 25th, 2010 at 03:48

    It’s great to read an interview with Jos. I’ve been a fan of his fonts for a while now.

     
     
    #115
    firma rehberi
    May 30th, 2010 at 18:25

    I’ve been a fan of his fonts for a while now

     
     
    #116
    sohbet
    July 8th, 2010 at 09:26

    thanks niCe poSt ;)

     
     
    #117
    notebook tamir
    July 10th, 2010 at 10:44

    Great collection ! Thanks for sharing.

     

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