“Rather than bringing a particular typeface back to life, Focal captures the particular quality of a lost era of print production: the 1970s, when the hot-metal era gave way to phototypesetting, and type as a whole lost some of its sharpness. Its relatively small x-height bucks recent trends and the overall impression is of a familiar but forgotten typeface from the second half of the twentieth century, xeroxed and copied over until it becomes organic and warm.” — Commercial Type

A display version, Focal Maxi, was added in June 2025.