Ohio University (2021)

Ohio University (OHIO), a 217-year old institution with multiple campuses, made P22 Mackinac the primary font family of its corporate identity early in 2021. University Communications and Marketing, rejecting an easy slide toward sameness, cited reasons that echo the type foundry’s own rationale: that the classic design with contemporary attributes serves as a bridge between the best of the old and the best of the new.

P22 Mackinac is supported by Termina Black, “best used for big and bold headlines”, and Proxima Nova, which serves as the text typeface on most pages. The palette is completed by Industry, “a sans serif font that is the Midwest in typeform”, according to the OHIO brand guidelines. It’s intended for icon illustrations, pull quotes, and CTAs. This set is to replace the previously used open-source OHIO fonts of EB Garamond, Barlow and Zilla Slab.

Owing to the volume of information contained on its website, the rollout continued at a steady pace throughout 2021. Campus faculty and staff make use of a University-wide license managed by the Office of Information Technology. Outside vendors are able to use Adobe Creative Cloud.

OHIO University successfully discerned that the pervading bias against onscreen use of serifed fonts doesn’t apply here. The smallest size display of P22 Mackinac on their mobile version shows itself to be both sturdy and distinctive. Long text passages in the book weight are engaging.