The family's own lettering

VDW

For names, headings and invitations. Every letter is written the same way: with one flat pen, like the hand lettering on the family's 1978 certificate.

Where it comes from

When the Bureau of Heraldry registered the family arms in 1978, the certificate was lettered by hand with a broad, flat pen. The strokes go thick and thin on their own: that is what a flat pen does when you hold it at one angle.

The 1978 certificate for the arms.

The VDW font follows the same rule. Every letter is one line, written by one pen held at 30 degrees. Down strokes come out thick, strokes across come out thin, and every stroke ends with the same slanted cut.

How one letter is made

Every character in the font is made in these three steps, so they all share one hand.

The W of Walt

W began as a double V. On the 1978 certificate the W of WALT is still written that way: two V's, overlapping. The VDW font keeps it. It is the one letter that stands out on purpose, because it is the letter of the name.

Plain on purpose

No flourishes, no slope, no script. It reads like a name. The capitals are wide and open, like the lettering on the family pin. The figures stand level, so 1727 sits evenly beside a name. And Afrikaans is built in: ê, ë, ô, ï, û and ’n.

Where you see it

Names on the family stationery, the main words on invitations, and the holder's name on the certificate of each First Fifty pin. Letters and longer text stay in Cormorant, which is easier to read in paragraphs.