The idea for Terra Ignota came years before I actually designed it, as I was admiring a reproduction of “Amerique Septentrionale,” a 1650 map by French cartographer Nicolas Sanson, given me by my parents. The hand-lettering has a sort of rakish character, evocative of pirates or adventurers at a time of unbridled world exploration.
I ended up putting the project aside, but the idea kept tugging gently at my mind until I simply couldn’t ignore it any longer. I’d originally intended to call the font “Terra Incognita,” but during my dilly-dalliance another font turned up with that name, so Terra Ignota it is. It’s got an italic slant and a deliberate feel, in keeping with its roots in the Age of Discovery.
Useful for simulating old hand-lettered documents. OpenType features include true small cap, numerous ligatures, old-style and lining figures, antique map symbols, and Central/Eastern European alphabets.
