# Fondamento font

> A broad-nib calligraphic face after Edward Johnston's Foundational Hand, in a Regular and an Italic.

Fondamento is a calligraphic typeface by Astigmatic based on the Foundational Hand, the teaching style that Edward Johnston created in the early twentieth century. Its upright, unjoined letters show the thick and thin of a broad-nib pen. Fondamento has two styles with 372 glyphs, is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits certificates and invitations.

## Facts

- Classification: [Handwriting](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/handwriting)
- Designed by: Astigmatic
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 2 (Regular 400; with italics)
- Variable font: No
- Glyphs: 372
- Character sets: latin, latin-ext
- Last updated: 2025-09-05
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Fondamento
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/fondamento
- Tagged for: Headlines, Invitations, Elegant

## About Fondamento

Fondamento is a calligraphic typeface that follows the Foundational Hand, a basic formal style devised by Edward Johnston in the early twentieth century for teaching penmanship. The specimen shows the marks of a broad-nib pen held at a constant angle: round letters with diagonal stress, wedge-shaped entry strokes on stems, and endings that flick to the right. Letters stand upright and separate, which keeps words clear, and the capitals are wide with a few small flourishes on A, Q and R. The numerals vary in height like old-style figures. The family has one weight in two styles, Regular and Italic, and 372 glyphs for Latin and Latin Extended. It was made by Astigmatic; the copyright notice names Brian J. Bonislawsky DBA Astigmatic and reserves the names Fondamento and Fondamento Italic. The license is the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright (c) 2011 by Brian J. Bonislawsky DBA Astigmatic (AOETI) (astigma@astigmatic.com), with Reserved Font Names "Fondamento" and "Fondamento Italic"

Allowed:
- Use the fonts in personal and commercial work, in print, on the web and in apps.
- Modify the fonts and build new versions from them.
- Redistribute the fonts, on their own or bundled with software, as long as the license text and copyright notice go with them.

Conditions:
- The fonts cannot be sold by themselves.
- A modified version must stay under the same license and cannot use a Reserved Font Name without the copyright holder's permission.
- The authors' names cannot be used to promote a modified version without permission.

Summary only, not legal advice. Full text: https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/

## Where it works

- **Certificates and diplomas**: A formal pen hand suits the name and award lines of a certificate, with the Italic for secondary text.
- **Invitations and menus**: Upright, separate letters keep a calligraphic invitation easy to read at a glance.
- **Historical and fantasy titles**: Broad-nib thick and thin strokes evoke manuscript writing on book covers, game titles and maps.
- **Quotations and blessings**: A few lines of verse set in Regular look hand-lettered without the tangles of a joined script.

## Things to know

- **One weight, with an italic**: Regular 400 and its Italic are the only styles. There is no bold.
- **Unjoined letters**: This is a formal hand written letter by letter. It does not connect like a cursive script.
- **Figures are old-style**: In the specimen the numerals rise and descend like lowercase letters, which suits text lines more than tables.

## FAQs

### Is Fondamento free for commercial use?

Yes. Fondamento is published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, which allows personal and commercial use, modification and redistribution. The font cannot be sold on its own, and modified versions stay under the same license and may not use the reserved names without permission.

### Who designed Fondamento?

Fondamento is credited to Astigmatic. The copyright notice names Brian J. Bonislawsky doing business as Astigmatic.

### What style of calligraphy is Fondamento based on?

Fondamento is based on the Foundational Hand, a teaching style of broad-pen writing created by Edward Johnston in the early twentieth century.

### Does Fondamento have an italic?

Yes. Fondamento has two styles, Regular and Italic, both at weight 400.

### Which languages does Fondamento support?

Fondamento includes the letters needed for English and other Latin-script languages such as French, German, Spanish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Turkish.

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Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/fondamento (trendhub)