Currency
Sponsored by ArrowType . Typeface in use: Shantell Sans , designed by Shantell Martin and Stephen Nixon, available at Google Fonts, 2023.
Every currency symbol carries one function: to give a financial value to numbers. Each of them evolved through time. Some of them disappeared or have been modified to follow the needs of various civilisations.
For most of them, currency symbols are made of Latin letters with various levels of modifications (US dollar $, Euro €, Vietnamese dong ₫). Some of them can simply” be letters (Swiss CHF) or a character on their own (Chinese Yuan 元).
DESIGN
Currency symbols need to be designed in a good balance with figures, as they are combined with them.
In a typeface family with a wide range of weights, currency symbols of the lightest styles can easily carry every stroke and conventional details. But as the style gets bolder, these can be tricky to keep, especially when too many details darken the symbol to a point where it is hardly recognizable. The most common solution is to simplify the symbol by removing some “less” important parts while keeping the symbol’s legibility.