Prima

Prima is a typeface that has been designed to help in learning to read and write. Its development was commissioned by the Wiener Bildungsserver and the first two styles, regular and cursive, were designed from 2021 to 2023 by Titus Nemeth (Wiener Schriften) and Martin Tiefenthaler. In Prima, unconnected and cursive letterforms are closely related so that learners already know strokes and proportions when they advance from one style to the other. A central principle of Prima is to allow for variation. It offers multiple proven solutions, rather than a single prescriptive design, to guide pupils in the development of their own hand. In Prima, connections were designed to allow a maximum of fluidity and evenness. The treatment of joints as separate elements allows for ergonomically sound connections between letters. In Prima cursive not all connections are compulsory, for nobody who writes swiftly joins every letter. Yet, it offers exemplary connections as a model. The choice whether to use them or not remains with the writer.