Bona Nova by Mateusz Machalski

The Bona Nova project was created for the purpose of digitizing Bona — a typeface created in 1971 by the designer of Polish banknotes, Andrzej Heidrich.
The original Bona only comprised of only one style — italic, but Bona Nova currently includes no less than 9 styles, a very extensive character set, small caps, alternates, and OpenType features.
The fonts
- FREE: 3 Bona Nova styles — Regular, Italic, Bold
- The full Bona family also includes 6 additional display styles:
- Bona Sforza (ornamental) — Light, Regular, Bold
- Bona Title (display) — Regular, Italic, Bold
The OpenType features
- Standard & Discretionary Ligatures
- Contextual & Stylistic Alternates
- Swashes
- Ordinals, Fractions, Slashed zero, Superiors, Numerator, Denominator, Inferiors
- Figures Styles: Default, Lining, Oldstyle, Proportional, Tabular, Default Figures Width
- Smallcaps
- Capitals to Smallcaps
- Case Sensitive Forms
- … and more.
Typeface characteristics
- Classical proportions
- Limited details and subtle contrast
- Inspired by the Italian renaissance Antiqua
- Ordinals, Fractions, Slashed zero, Superiors, Numerator, Denominator, Inferiors
- Figures Styles: Default, Lining, Oldstyle, Proportional, Tabular, Default Figures Width
- Smallcaps
- Capitals to Smallcaps
- Case Sensitive Forms
- … and more.
The team behind the Bona Nova project
All the team members graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
- Andrzej Heidrich — author of original Bona typeface. Well known in Poland for his 50+ years of work (banknotes, documents and postal stamps designed by Heidrich are in common use). He also created military decoration medals and ex libris graphics.
- Mateusz Machalski — The author of Bona Nova Project. Graduated the Graphic Design Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw with honors.
- Leszek Bielski — Design collaborator
- Ania Wieluńska — Design collaborator
- Michał Jarociński — Design collaborator