Material is a contemporary slab-serif typeface designed by Nicolas Eigenheer. Originally inspired by Breite fette Egyptienne from the Bauer Foundry, its shapes have been acutely redefined with a modern attitude.

Breite fette Egyptienne is actually a replica of Vincent Figgins’s Antique, which is considered by some to be one of the first examples of a slab-serif type. An apt reflection of the Industrial Revolution, these early heavy slab-serif types (also called Egyptian types) were used primarily on advertisements and hoardings. Much like its inspiration, Material is an attention-grabbing typeface and will serve outstandingly well for any headline or display tasks.

The design of Material’s glyphs is characterized by its combination of precise curves and geometric brutality with a moderate stroke contrast, which is, however, pushed to extremes around junctions. It features distinctive heavy and unbracketed slab serifs, typical of Egyptian types. While offering a sharp contrast to the massive letters, the unconventional light design of the punctuation strengthens the legibility of this typeface.