# Podkova font

> A monoline slab serif with diagonally cut terminals and wide letters, variable from Regular to ExtraBold.

Podkova is a monoline slab serif from Cyreal, first designed by Ilya Yudin in 2010 and expanded by Alexei Vanyashin in 2017. Podkova is a variable font with a weight axis from 400 to 800 and five named weights, covering Latin, Cyrillic and Vietnamese. It is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 for small text and display.

## Facts

- Classification: [Slab Serif](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/slab-serif)
- Designed by: Cyreal
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 5 (Regular 400, Medium 500, SemiBold 600, Bold 700, ExtraBold 800)
- Variable font: Yes (wght 400–800)
- Glyphs: 961
- Character sets: cyrillic, cyrillic-ext, latin, latin-ext, vietnamese
- Last updated: 2025-09-08
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Podkova
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/podkova
- Tagged for: Headlines, Body text, Editorial, Bold

## About Podkova

Podkova is a slab serif whose strokes and serifs keep one thickness, with terminals sliced on a diagonal. The name is Russian for horseshoe. In the specimen the letters are wide and open, the slabs are short and square, and details such as the angled foot of a, the cut tops of d and k and the slanted tail of y give the face a voice of its own. The wide proportions are meant to help legibility at small sizes, while the unusual shapes serve display typography. Ilya Yudin designed the original in 2010. Alexei Vanyashin refined it in January 2017 and extended the weight range, making the bold a little lighter, and the family became a variable font in September 2019. One file spans weights 400 to 800 in five named steps. There is no italic. Its 961 glyphs cover Latin, Cyrillic and Vietnamese.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright 2011 The Podkova Project Authors (https://github.com/cyrealtype/Podkova)

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

- **Headlines in ExtraBold**: At 800 the square slabs and diagonal cuts turn a short title into a strong typographic shape.
- **Captions and small text**: Wide, open letters with even stroke weight were intended to stay legible when set small.
- **Sites in Russian and English**: Cyrillic and Latin are both included, with the letters for Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian.
- **Posters and labels**: The unusual letterforms give a few words of display type a recognisable character.
- **Body text with matching heads**: Regular for paragraphs and SemiBold or Bold for headings come from the same variable file.

## Things to know

- **No italic**: Podkova is upright only. Italic text will be slanted artificially by the software.
- **Weights start at Regular**: The axis runs from 400 to 800, so there is no light weight.
- **One variable file**: The package contains a single variable font; static instances are available from the official source.

## FAQs

### Is Podkova free for commercial use?

Yes, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. Podkova may be used in personal and commercial projects, modified and redistributed, but it cannot be sold by itself, and a modified version must keep the same license and may not use a Reserved Font Name without permission.

### Who designed Podkova?

Ilya Yudin designed Podkova in 2010, and Alexei Vanyashin refined and expanded it in 2017. The family is credited to the foundry Cyreal.

### How many weights does Podkova have?

Podkova has five weights: Regular 400, Medium 500, SemiBold 600, Bold 700 and ExtraBold 800. There are no italics.

### Is Podkova a variable font?

Yes. Podkova is a variable font with one axis, weight, which runs from 400 to 800.

### Which languages does Podkova support?

Podkova includes the letters needed for English and other Latin-script languages such as German, Turkish, Polish and Vietnamese, along with Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian.

### What does the name Podkova mean?

Podkova is the Russian word for horseshoe.

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