Recursive Sans & Mono is a variable type family built for better code & UI. It is inspired by casual script signpainting, but designed primarily to meet the needs of programming environments and application interfaces.
In programming, “recursion” is when a function calls itself, using its own output as an input to yield powerful results. Recursive Mono was used as a tool to help build itself: it was used to write Python scripts to automate type production work and to generate specimen images, and it was used in HTML, CSS, and JS to create web-based proofs & prototypes. Through this active usage, Recursive Mono was crafted to be both fun to look at as well as deeply useful for all-day work.
Recursive Sans borrows glyphs from its parent mono but adjusts the widths of many key glyphs for comfortable readability. Its metrics are superplexed – every style takes up the exact same horizontal space, across all styles. In this 3-axis variable font, this allows for fluid transitions between weight, slant, and “expression” (casual to strict letterforms), all without text shifts or layout reflow. Not only does this allow for new interactive possibilities in UI, but it also makes for a uniquely fun typesetting experience.
Learn more about Recursive here.
ArrowType is a type foundry and studio practice based in Brooklyn, NY. It specializes in custom type, type design, and font development. ArrowType is the one-person studio of Stephen Nixon, but it occasionally pulls in collaborators to make bigger projects happen.
ArrowType crafts fonts that are useful, beautiful, and deeply personal expressions of timeless ideas. With each project, they seek to push the technical and æsthetic boundaries of typography while also delivering fonts that are fun and productive to use.
ArrowType has made two major open-source font releases: Recursive, commissioned by Google Fonts, and Shantell Sans, commissioned by Shantell Martin. ArrowType has also made several type families for commercial licensing, largely inspired by historical lettering found around NYC. Each of these projects is a variable-first font family, created not as revivals but as brand-new type families, built for the visual and technical landscape of today and tomorrow.
Open source details
Recursive Mono Linear Static is available via an open source license. You're free to use it with your Adobe Fonts account just as you would any other font in the Adobe Fonts library. For information regarding other uses of Recursive Mono Linear Static, see copyright and license details for Recursive Mono Linear Static Light, Recursive Mono Linear Static Light Italic, Recursive Mono Linear Static Regular, Recursive Mono Linear Static Italic, Recursive Mono Linear Static Medium, Recursive Mono Linear Static Medium Italic, Recursive Mono Linear Static SemiBold, Recursive Mono Linear Static SemiBold Italic, Recursive Mono Linear Static Bold, Recursive Mono Linear Static Bold Italic, Recursive Mono Linear Static ExtraBold, Recursive Mono Linear Static ExtraBold Italic, Recursive Mono Linear Static Black, Recursive Mono Linear Static Black Italic, Recursive Mono Linear Static ExtraBlack, and Recursive Mono Linear Static ExtraBlack Italic.
As with everything from Adobe Fonts, you can use these fonts for:
Design Projects
Create images or vector artwork, including logos
Website Publishing
Create a Web Project to add any font from our service to your website
PDFs
Embed fonts in PDFs for viewing and printing
Video and Broadcast
Use fonts to create in-house or commercial video content
How to Use
You may encounter slight variations in the name of this font, depending on where you use it. Here’s what to look for.
Desktop
In application font menus, this font will display:
{{familyCtrl.selectedVariation.preferred_family_name}} {{familyCtrl.selectedVariation.preferred_subfamily_name}}Web
To use this font on your website, use the following CSS:
font-family: {{familyCtrl.selectedVariation.family.css_font_stack.replace('"', '').replace('",', ', ')}};
font-style: italicnormal;
font-weight: {{familyCtrl.selectedVariation.font.web.weight}};
Glyph Support & Stylistic Filters
Fonts in the Adobe Fonts library include support for many different languages, OpenType features, and typographic styles.