Latvian-born Aleksandra Samuļenkova started the design in 2012 during her studies in the Type & Media program at the KABK in The Hague. The result is a family of 10 styles – five weights with corresponding italics, all with a ‘slim fit’. Contextual alternates for ‘j’, ‘t’ or ‘f’ enable even tighter settings of tricky letter combinations. Naturally, Pilot’s character set covers all Eastern and Western European languages based on the Latin script. Small Caps are available in two variants: standard as well as raised and underlined, resembling traditional catchwords and logotypes in analog type.

Bringing Pilot full circle, it is one of the very few contemporary typefaces that are also available as metal type (Black Italic capitals, figures and punctuation in 24 pt, available from Swamp Press) after winning first prize at the Fine Press Book Association’s inaugural Student Type Design Competition in 2013.