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ABC Camera is a reinterpretation of light traps, which were originally used in the 60s and 70s to make text more readable on TV screens. Similar in logic to ink traps, light traps compensated for low resolution: When the font appeared, the screen’s blur filled in its holes so that each letter looked complete. The design has been orbiting around our cosmos for a long time, and it might be one of the most requested typefaces in our inbox to date. Like many of our fonts, it can be considered an “early work” of our co-founder Fabian Harb, conceptualized around Dinamo’s inception days.

Light traps were such an unintentionally bold visual feature, and so we’ve scaled them up for ABC Camera, referring to them as “holes” (as in Swiss Emmental). The font is available without the holes, bringing it back to full functionality and forming an interesting typeface in its own right. Overall, ABC Camera is a neutral, toned-down grotesque similar in style to Helvetia but with freer, less strictly defined proportions and a narrower body. Both the hole and Plain versions are available as a full family of five weights, including italics.