JAF Cupidus Designed by: Tim Ahrens & Shoko Mugikura

Published in: 2022

Available as: OpenType, webfonts & appfonts
Family: 10 weights & italics

Dried mushrooms

Olivenöl
2 onions, finely chopped

Coqueiro
Kapusta kiszona

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JAF Cupidus: design concept

The distinct feature of JAF Cupidus is its extremely high x-height. In our earlier rounded
sans JAF Domus, we made the counter spaces as even as possible, to give the typeface
a calm and spatially generous impression. In Cupidus, we extended this concept of
“equalising the space” to vertical directions, which reduces the hierarchy between upper
and lowercase letters. Although we originally aimed for a display face, we soon realised
that despite its extreme design, Cupidus can work very well in text sizes. This lead us to
create Cupidus Text, which is adjusted for continuous reading: looser letter and word
spacing, and a somewhat reduced x-height. This makes for a surprisingly inconspicuous
text face that that can be set at tight line spacing.

Tokyo 21 Tokyo 21
JAF CUPIDUS JAF DOMUS

The Quick Brown Fox

Jumps Over The Lazy Dog.
Paris 2024 Olympics
JAF CUPIDUS

The Quick Brown Fox

Jumps Over The Lazy Dog.
Paris 2024 Olympics
JAF DOMUS

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JAF Cupidus: display styles

ULTRALIGHT ULTRALIGHT ITALIC

Blóðberg Spinach
EXTRALIGHT EXTRALIGHT ITALIC

Pambazo Laobing
LIGHT LIGHT ITALIC

Tiramisù Hornazo
REGUL AR REGUL AR ITALIC

Flatbrød Broeder
SEMIBOLD SEMIBOLD ITALIC

Racuchy Omochi
BOLD BOLD ITALIC

Crumpet Filmjörk
EXTRABOLD EXTRABOLD ITALIC

Laobing Weißbier
ULTRABOLD ULTRABOLD ITALIC

Molotof Kwetiau
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JAF Cupidus

EXTRALIGHT 36PT

El cultivo del azafrán

parece haberse extendido
del Oriente al Occidente.
LIGHT 38PT

Der Gehalt an ätherischem

Öl der Muskatnüsse liegt
zwischen 5 und 13 Prozent.
SEMIBOLD 40PT

Anise is sweet and very

aromatic, distinguished by
its characteristic flavour.
EXTRABOLD 42PT

Le romarin est parfois

utilisé en infusion pour
parfumer des desserts.
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JAF Cupidus

EXTRALIGHT ITALIC 36PT

El cultivo del azafrán

parece haberse extendido
del Oriente al Occidente.
LIGHT ITALIC 38PT

Der Gehalt an ätherischem

Öl der Muskatnüsse liegt
zwischen 5 und 13 Prozent.
SEMIBOLD ITALIC 40PT

Anise is sweet and very

aromatic, distinguished by
its characteristic flavour.
EXTRABOLD ITALIC 42PT

Le romarin est parfois

utilisé en infusion pour
parfumer des desserts.
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JAF Cupidus

EXTRALIGHT 96PT

Gnocchi di
semolino
alla romana
How to
EXTRABOLD 100PT

cook udon
noodles?
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JAF Cupidus

Olive
ULTRALIGHT 200PT

Plum
SEMIBOLD 230 PT

Milk
ULTRABOLD 230 PT

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JAF Cupidus: Text styles

Cupidus Text has a somewhat reduced x-height (see 1 below) and more generous
letter and word spacing (see 2). These are the optimisations for continuous reading
in small sizes. There are four Cupidus Text styles available: Text, Text Italic, Text
Bold and Text Bold Italic (see 3).

eeeee
1. adjusted x-height

LIGHT REGUL AR TEXT SEMIBOLD BOLD

2. adjusted letter and word spacing

Melonpan is a
bun originating
Regular weight in grey and Text in black to show the difference

3. Cupidus Text styles

TEXT 10 PT TEXT ITALIC 10 PT

De geschiedenis van het brood gaat terug tot Il pane è un prodotto alimentare ottenuto dalla
ongeveer 30.000 jaar geleden. Brood zou zijn fermentazione, dalla formatura a cui segue
ontstaan toen voor het eerst graankorrels werden una lievitazione, e successiva cottura in forno
gekneusd met een steen en gemengd met water, di un impasto a base di farina, cereali e acqua,
zodat er een soort pap ontstond. Deze pap werd confezionato con diverse modalità, arricchito e

TEXT BOLD 12 PT TEXT BOLD ITALIC 12 PT

Bread is the staple food of the Middle Pour les Romains aussi, le pain est, avec
East, Central Asia, North Africa, Europe, la bouillie de céréales, l'aliment de base.
and in European-derived cultures such Ils reprennent le mode de fabrication
as those in the Americas, Australia, and grec à base de levure provenant de moût

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JAF Cupidus: glyph set

LOWERCASE &
ACCENTED LOWERCASE
aáăâäàāąåãæbcććčçĉċdðďđeéĕěêëėèēęf
gğĝģġhħĥiıí ĭ î ï ìīįĩjĵkķlĺľ ļłmnńńňņñoóóŏôöò
őōøõœpþqrŕřŗsśśšşŝșßtťțuúŭûüùűūųůũvw
ẃŵẅẁxyýŷÿỳzźźžż
Note: The Polish kreska is automatically activated when the language of the text is set to Polish.

UPPERCASE &
ACCENTED UPPERCASE
A Á Ă Â Ä À Ā Ą Å Ã ÆBCĆĆČÇĈĊD ÐĎ ĐEÉĔĚÊËĖ
ÈĒĘFGĞĜĢĠH Ħ ĤIÍ Ĭ Î Ï İÌ ĪĮĨJĴKĶLĹĽĻŁMNŃŃŇ
ŅÑOÓÓŎÔÖÒŐŌØÕŒPÞQRŔŘŖSŚŚŠŞŜȘẞ
T Ť ȚUÚŬÛÜÙŰŪŲŮŨV WẂŴẄẀX Y Ý Ŷ Ÿ Ỳ
ZŹŹŽŻ

NUMBERS, FRACTIONS,
SUPERIORS & INFERIORS
0123456789½⅓⅔¼¾⅛⅜⅝⅞
0123456789
¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹⁰₁₂₃₄₅₆₇₈₉₀abcdeèfghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Note: Cupidus contains the figure space (Unicode 0x2007), which has the same width as the tabular figures.

PUNCTUATION & SYMBOLS

{}[]()—–-«»‹›„“”‘’‚*\/·•:,…!¡#.?¿"';_
+−×÷=<>±~↑↗→↘↓↙←↖
@&¶§№©®™°′″|†^ªº%€$¢£¥₺₽₹

LIGATURES ff ft fft
ff fi ffi ft fft

ST YLISTIC ALTERNATES JĴ1

CASE-SENSITIVE FORMS
:¡¿·•-–—(){ }[ ]‚„«»‹›

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JAF Cupidus: how to use the OpenType features

CASE-SENSITIVE FORMS STANDARD LIGATURES

InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator

Character palette menu → All Caps Character palette menu → Ligatures
Note: Changing the text to uppercase does not have the same
effect. This feature is only activated by "All Caps". TextEdit, Pages, Numbers, Keynote
Text palette → Advanced options → Ligatures
TextEdit, Pages, Numbers, Keynote
Fonts palette → Typography palette → Case-Sensitive Layout Word
→ Capital Forms Font → Advanced → Ligatures

Word
Not supported by MS Word as of writing
ff → ff
(H-B:C) → (H-B:C) ft → ft
Applies to: :¡¿·•-–—(){}[]‚„«»‹›
fft → fft
CONTEXTUAL ALTERNATES
ff → ff
InDesign
Character palette menu → OpenType → Contextual alternates
ft → ft
Note: Activating ligatures automatically activates contextual
alternates. fft → fft
Illustrator Applies to: ff, ft, fft
OpenType palette → Contextual alternates

TextEdit, Pages, Numbers, Keynote

Fonts palette → Typography palette → Contextual alternates DISCRETIONARY LIGATURES
Word InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator
Font → Advanced → Use contextual alternates Character palette menu → OpenType
→ Discretionary Ligatures

f → fi fk f’ f] f* f! ... TextEdit, Pages, Numbers, Keynote

Text palette → Advanced options → Ligatures → Use all

rf → rf Word
Font → Advanced → Ligatures

tf → tf ttf ...
tt → tt fi → fi
Applies to: f r t
ffi → ffi
Applies to: fi, ffi (italics)

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JAF Cupidus: how to use the OpenType features

ST YLISTIC ALTERNATES SUPERIOR

InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator InDesign

Character palette menu → OpenType → Stylistic Sets Character palette menu → OpenType → Superscript/Superior

TextEdit, Pages, Numbers, Keynote Illustrator

Fonts palette → Typography palette → Alternative Stylistic Sets OpenType palette → Position: Superscript/Superior
Note: In InDesign and Illustrator, applying “Superscript/Subscript”
Word from the Character palette menu does not create true superscript/
Font → Advanced → Stylistic Sets subscript characters.

STYLISTIC SET 1 TextEdit, Pages, Numbers, Keynote

Fonts palette → Typography palette → Vertical Position

JĴ → JĴ → Superiors/Superscripts
Note: In Pages, Numbers and Keynote, applying “Superscript/
Subscript” from the Text palette does not create true superscript/
subscript characters.
STYLISTIC SET 2

1→1 123abc → 123abc

Applies to: abcdeèfghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

1→1 1234567890 (uprights); ao1234 (italics)

INFERIOR
TABUL AR FIGURES
InDesign
InDesign Character palette menu → OpenType → Subscript/Inferior
Character palette menu → OpenType → Tabular Lining
or Tabular Oldstyle Illustrator
OpenType palette → Position: Subscript/Inferior
Illustrator
OpenType palette → Figure: Tabular Lining or Tabular Oldstyle TextEdit, Pages, Numbers, Keynote
Fonts palette → Typography palette → Vertical Position
Word → Subscript/Inferior
Font palette → Advanced → Number spacing: Tabular

TextEdit, Pages, Numbers, Keynote

Fonts palette → Typography palette → Number Spacing
123 → 123
→ Monospaced Numbers Applies to: 1234567890 (uprights); 12348 (italics)

128 → 128 FRACTIONS

Applies to: 0123456789
Note: The figure space can be entered as Unicode U+2007 or via InDesign
“Insert White Space → Figure Space” in InDesign. Character palette menu → OpenType → Fractions

Illustrator
OpenType palette → Fractions

TextEdit, Pages, Numbers, Keynote

Fonts palette → Typography palette → Contextual Fractional
Forms

Word creates real fractions as you type them, not on an

OpenType basis

1/2 → 1/2
Applies to: 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8, 1/3, 2/3 (uprights)
1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1/3, 2/3 (italics)

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