Somme is a stylized interpretation of a hand-lettered alphabet discovered on a scientific school poster from Volgograd in 1974. The artwork is credited to K. V. Voskresensky.

While the subject matter required Latin characters, the artist’s Cyrillic education shines through in their execution: The central section of “N” and “S” is unusually thin (two shapes that only exist in mirrored form in Cyrillic writing), and the “K” has that stereotypical strong horizontal. Other ingredients are more idiosyncratic. There’s the “U” with its heavy right stem, the peculiar lowercase arches – ranging from strong-shouldered tension to timid symmetry, the dramatic ball-adorned “r”, and a surprisingly seriffed “l”.

These seemingly disparate features are resolved with a steady hand: Obtuse, almost diamond-like, round exteriors help absorb the worst outliers. These curves, in turn, give way to a more interesting solution for the original top-heavy “g”.An alternate single-story “g” is provided. The varying dynamic quality of the arches are distributed wisely across the character set. The ascender-clad “h” obfuscates its pronounced asymmetry, the space-saving “m” and the complex “a” benefits from it – and, certainly, “r” wouldn’t be half as interesting without.

Somme sets wide with tight spacing. The tall x-height is attuned to headlines and display typography, which also allows us to offer the design as a single-styled roman. Well … that, and the fact that we love to mix and match across family borders. The addition of Cyrillic characters, drawn by a designer educated in the Latin alphabet, echoes the dissonance of the original lettering.