Snaga is a neo-grotesque typeface by Lettersoup. Its design concept is rooted in a comprehensive study of the Swiss typographic style, coupled with a pragmatic approach to tradition. The foundry explored how this style was interpreted internationally, with particular attention to the work of Dutch designers in the 1950s and 1960s. One key insight from this research was the realization that there was a need for a contemporary, rational neo-grotesque tailored specifically for body text, providing a fresh alternative to the tightly spaced designs that dominated existing material. The concept of the typeface focuses on creating as much dynamics as possible, while simultaneously getting the characters’ spacing as close as possible to the counters in order to improve Snaga’s readability in small sizes. 

During Snaga’s development, the foundry worked closely with design studios, resulting in the creation of an optical size axis for banner and title use, where the spacing and kerning are fine-tuned for each size. Ultimately, the typeface evolved into a typographic system that balances two seemingly contradictory approaches — enhanced legibility and the tight, display-oriented rhythm typical of the genre — creating a harmonious and flexible typographic system. This allows users to adjust the typeface to maintain an even grey value while compensating for the differing visual characteristics of scripts in a multiscript environment. Snaga is available in three predefined subfamilies: Text, Display, and Banner.

Besides the Latin character set, Snaga supports Cyrillic and Greek, developed in collaboration with native-speaking designers. A lot of attention was given to designing distinctive Bulgarian Cyrillic alternates, which are included in the typeface as “Round Cyrillic” stylistic set, as opposed to the sometimes impractical OpenType localization approach in certain digital environments.

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