The typeface is named after legibility researcher Richard Lionel Pyke, the author of 'Report on the Legibility of Print', published by the British Medical Research Council in 1926.

The typeface PykeDisplay is inspired by Giambattista Bodoni’s later work of high stroke contrast and vertical emphasis.

PykeDisplay is a headline typeface for printed matter. Compared to the two text versions of Pyke, the display version has a smaller x-height, larger contrast and narrower letters. Since headlines and titles often appear in large sizes at a close reading distance, readability may in these situations be less significant than in versions for running text. Furthermore, headings rarely consist of longer paragraphs, and are often perceived in few fixations. A horizontal emphasis is consequently not as vital, and so the Didone style tradition, such as: narrow letters ‘j’, ‘f’ and ‘t’, the heavy teardrops, and the high stroke contrast, can be applied. By emphasising these somewhat legibility troubling Didone features in the larger sizes alone, the typeface PykeDisplay will in combination with PykeText and PykeMicro, add an element of elegance and sophistication to the layout without causing the reader strain.

The typeface PykeDisplay
Available from the type foundry T26 >