Exo

9 weights was the most a web browser would handle when Natanael Gama drew Exo, so he gave it all 9, from Thin to Black, and put a true italic beside each one. 18 styles, then, and Google credits Robin Mientjes alongside him.

The brief Gama set himself was a geometric sans with a technological, slightly futuristic air that still kept some elegance. It looks at home on a game menu or a hardware launch page. He also wanted it to work at small to middle text sizes, and it does, within limits. The italics keep almost the same width as the romans, so switching a word to italic leaves the line length where it was.

Then, in December 2013, he redrew the whole thing as Exo 2, with a more organic shape meant for small sizes and long text. The first Exo stayed in circulation for anyone who prefers the harder, more mechanical version, and since April 2020 it has been a variable family too.

Small caps, a slashed zero, fractions and discretionary ligatures are in each style.