Flint and Feather · How to use it · The licence

Mohawk’s Printer for Grand River

The catalogue

What the marks look like at work: on a website, in an app, on paper, on a door. Each example says how it was made. Every mark here is in the open sets, free to use with credit.

The catalogue as a book (PDF) · Nine whole pieces · The fonts · The open sets

The catalogue as a book

The specimen

This is the catalogue in full: the library set out as a printed book would set out a typeface. What it is, the two styles side by side, every set mark by mark with its name, the options, and the nine pieces at work. One PDF, 26 sheets, 563 kB. Press a sheet to open the book there.

Open the catalogue (PDF)

The specimen book, sheet 1 of 26: the cover

The specimen book, sheet 2 of 26: what it is

The specimen book, sheet 3 of 26: the two styles

Choose from it. Print it, mark what you want, and build from the names beside the marks.Show it. Send it to a client, a printer or a committee who will never open a web page of code.Keep it. It is the record of the library as it stood on the day it was made.

At work

Nine whole pieces

Each is a thing a person would really make, start to finish, from the open sets alone: signs for a park, a website, an app, a café, a market stall, an event, a map, a report, a firm’s paper. The same nine are in the specimen book.

1 of 9Signs for a park A whole set of signs from one library: the board at the gate, the birds and animals a walker may meet, the rules, the trail posts. One weight throughout, so they read as one family from across the lot.

Heron Landing Park

WashroomsStep-free routeHeron marsh

The landingFishing dockCamp sites

River loopParkingWay out

Who lives here: plates along the trail

Great blue heron

Painted turtle

Beaver

Loon

Kingfisher

Barred owl

The rules, at the trailhead

Fires in the rings onlyBears about: store your foodCheck for ticksDogs on a leadQuiet after tenVests on the water

Trail posts

Heron marsh1.2 km25 min

Deer run4 kmStep-free

Beaver pond300 m

2 of 9A website Every mark on this page comes from one line in the page’s head. Each takes the size and colour of the words beside it, so the page needs no pictures of icons at all.

tallpines.example

Tall Pines Canoe HireHomeBookThe riverFind usSign in

Open daily, May to October

Paddle the Grand.

Canoes by the hour or the day, with paddles, vests and a lift back from the take-out.

Book a canoeCall us

Canoe hireTwo hours, half a day or the whole day.

Camp sitesTwelve sites on the river bank.

Guided fishingHalf days with someone who knows the water.

BicyclesRide the river loop, four kilometres.

21° Clear by noonRiver: steadyHerons at the marsh this weekThe landing is open

The one line in the page’s head, and a mark in the page

<link rel="stylesheet" href="flint-and-feather/ff.css">
<a href="/book/"><i class="ff ff-calendar" aria-hidden="true"></i> Book a canoe</a>

Notices, each kind known by its mark before a word is read

Your booking is confirmed.

The landing is closed on Mondays.

High water: check before you travel.

3 of 9An app Three screens of one small app. The chosen tab and the chosen items are in flint; what is not chosen is in feather. The two styles do the work a second colour would do.

Good morning

21°Clear by noon

HireCampFishRide

The landing is open

Seen today

HomeBookMapNewsMe

Camp site 4

Sleeps six

Fire ringTap near by

Book this site

HomeBookMapNewsMe

Your booking

CanoeTwo paddles, two vests

Extra vestFor a child

Dry bagKeeps a lunch dry

Lift backFrom the take-out

Saturday 16 May9:00

Confirm

HomeBookMapNewsMe

Notices on the lock screen

Booking confirmedSaturday 16 May, nine o’clocknow

Rain after threeCome in by half past two1 h

Your lift is at the take-outA white van, by the bridge2 h

A widget

21°

River steady

Light wind

Dark at 8:40

The app’s own sign

4 of 9A café A menu board, a card for the regulars and a notice for the table, all set with the same few marks. On the card, flint counts the cups had and feather the cups to come.

Every tenth cup is ours

Six so far. Four to go.

Order at the counter

Wi-Fi: ask for the word

Cards and cash

Step-free, and a low counter

Dogs on the porch

Cedar Kettle

A cup sleeve: one mark, one name.

5 of 9A market stall A maker’s label is the maker’s own: their name large, their colour, and the mark a part of their design. The same library gives the price tags and the banner over the table.

Three labels, three makers’ colours

Hand made · small batchStrawberry MoonPreserves250 ml

Hand made · small batchBlue HeronBlueberry jam250 ml

Hand made · small batchFirst RunMaple syrup250 ml

Price tags

Greens3 a bunch

Honey8 a jar

Eggs5 a dozen

Bread4 a loaf

At the till

CashCardsBring a bagJars back, 50 offStep-free

6 of 9An event A poster with one mark set very large, then the games of the day each with a mark of its own. The ticket and the programme follow from it without another drawing being made.

Riverbend · the first Saturday of June

Field Day

Saturday 6 June

Two until dark

The landing, below the bridge

The day

2:00Sack race

2:30Egg and spoon

3:00Three-legged race

4:00Lacrosse, all ages

5:30Strawberry supper

9:30Fireworks over the river

Admit oneSupper

Saturday 6 June, five o’clock

No. 0142

Signs on the day

StartSupperLacrosseFirst aid

7 of 9A map The marks are the pins and the key. Because each one is a letter in a font, a map maker types them, and they stay sharp on a phone and on a board two metres wide.

Heron LakeGrand RiverN250 m

Key

ParkingWashroomsOwl woodsDeer runCamp sitesFire ringsThe landingFishing dockRiver loopHeron marshBeaver pondTurtle logsWalking trailPath to the lookout

8 of 9A report Numbers told in pictures: a year’s count of the birds and animals of a park. A row of marks is read faster than a table, and a mark at the head of a figure says what is being counted.

Heron Landing Park · the count for the year

4,080walkers on the trails

31kinds of butterfly

58kinds of wild flower

40trees planted

Each mark is four. Flint is this year’s count; feather is what last year had over it.

Herons at the marsh

Turtles on the logs

Deer at dusk

Loons on the lake

Walkers, the busiest week

31Mon27Tue9Wed24Thu42Fri66Sat55Sun

4 March: the geese came back

9 June: the first fireflies

Fourteen kinds of spider, counted at dawn

Two new lodges on the pond

9 of 9A firm’s paper A letterhead, a card, an envelope and a slip, with one mark standing for the firm and a few small ones doing a single job each. Installed as a font, the marks type straight into a word processor.

Tall Pines Canoe HireThe landing, River Road

14 November 2026

Dear Ms WHITE,

Thank you for booking the spring paddle for your class. Twelve canoes are held for Saturday 16 May, with vests for every child.

We meet at the landing at nine. The river loop takes two hours, and there is a lift back from the take-out.

Yours truly,

A. Rivers

519 555 0142paddle@tallpines.exampletallpines.example

Tall Pines
Canoe Hire

A. Rivers

519 555 0142

paddle@tallpines.example

The landing, River Road

Tall Pines Canoe Hire
The landing, River Road

Ms J. WHITE
Riverbend School
12 Mill Street

With thanksBooked: Saturday 16 MayPaid in full

Canoe 07Tall Pines · if found, call 519 555 0142

On a website

On a page

A mark sits in the line beside its word and takes that word’s size and colour. Nothing else is needed.

Tall Pines Canoe HireHomeBookFind usSign in

A top bar One mark before each link, the same size as the words.

<a href="/book/"><i class="ff ff-calendar" aria-hidden="true"></i> Book</a>

Canoe hireBy the hour or the day, paddles and vests with it.

Camp sitesTwelve sites on the river, open May to October.

Guided fishingHalf days with someone who knows the water.

What we do A larger mark heads each item. ff-2x doubles it.

<i class="ff ff-canoe ff-2x" aria-hidden="true"></i>

DownloadCall usDirectionsShare

Buttons The mark goes inside the button, before the word.

<button><i class="ff ff-download" aria-hidden="true"></i> Download</button>

Your booking is confirmed for Saturday.

The landing is closed on Mondays.

High water: check before you travel.

Notices One mark says what kind of notice it is before a word is read.

<p><i class="ff ff-circle-info" aria-hidden="true"></i> The landing is closed on Mondays.</p>

Life vests in every size
Dry bags and a map of the river
A lift back from the take-out

A list ff-ul on the list and ff-li on each mark lines them up down the left.

<ul class="ff-ul">
  <li><span class="ff-li"><i class="ff ff-check"></i></span>Life vests in every size</li>
</ul>

Spring paddle on the Grand

Saturday 16 May

9 in the morning

The landing, below the bridge

Free, bring a lunch

What happens when Marks for the day, the hour and the place.

First nameLAST NAMEEmailThe day you want

A form A mark at the head of each box tells what goes in it.

In an app

On a phone

Small, plain shapes are what a thumb looks for. The feather style suits a tab that is not chosen; flint, the one that is.

Today on the river

Clear, light wind

Water level: steady

HomeBookMapNewsMe

A tab bar The chosen tab in flint, the rest in feather.

<i class="ff ff-home"></i>                     <!-- chosen -->
<i class="ff ff-in-feather ff-calendar"></i>   <!-- not chosen -->

NoticesOn

LanguageEnglish

Privacy

Help

Settings A mark at the left of each row, all one size: ff-fw gives every mark the same width.

<i class="ff ff-bell ff-fw" aria-hidden="true"></i> Notices

Sat21°

Sun18°

Mon14°

Tue16°

The weather Large marks with a number beneath read at a glance.

On paper and on the wall

In print

The fonts install on a computer like any other, so the marks type into a document or a design. On paper they print as sharp as letters at any size.

Washrooms

Step-free

Stairs

Way out

Parking

No smoking

Door and wall signs One mark, large, with its word beneath.

Tall Pines
Canoe Hire

519 555 0142

paddle@tallpines.example

The landing, River Road

A business card The business’s own name first. The marks are small and do one job each.

A menu board A mark beside each heading on the board.

Hand made · small batchStrawberry MoonPreserves250 ml

A label A maker’s label is the maker’s own: their name large, the mark a part of their design.

Parking Lookout Bridge Camp Fire ring Landing

A trail map Marks stand as the pins and the key.

One drawing, two ways

Flint and feather

Every mark is drawn twice. Flint is solid and reads at small sizes. Feather is line and sits quietly in a long page. Use one through a piece of work; mix them only to show a difference, as the tab bar does.

The same row, both ways Flint above, feather below. Add ff-in-feather for the feather.

<i class="ff ff-turtle"></i>
<i class="ff ff-in-feather ff-turtle"></i>

Ink

Plum

Green

Reversed

Colour comes from the words A mark has no colour of its own. Colour the words and the mark follows.

<p style="color:#624152"><i class="ff ff-leaf"></i> Plum</p>

Sizes From the size of the words up to four times.

<i class="ff ff-heron ff-3x"></i>

The fonts

Two fonts, one for each way of drawing

Flint and Feather is a pair of fonts. Flint holds every mark drawn solid; Feather holds the same marks drawn in line, at the same places, so a page changes style by changing one word. A mark is a letter: it takes the size and colour of the words beside it and prints sharp at any size.

Vehicles and travel6 kB

Interface7 kB

All the open sets together290 kB

On a website, a set at a time The style sheet knows every open set. A browser fetches only the sets a page uses: a page with a canoe and a calendar fetches two small files, not the library.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="flint-and-feather/ff.css">

Flint and Feather Flint24 pt

canoe

calendar

Flint and Feather Feather24 pt

canoe

In a document or a design Install the two font files. Choose the font, type a mark’s name, and the word becomes the mark. It works wherever a font can be chosen.

ff.cssthe style sheet
sets/70 web fonts, a pair for each open set
fonts/Flint and Feather whole, for the web (.woff2) and for a computer (.ttf)
names.jsonevery name a mark answers to
LICENCE.txtthe licence, and a read-me

Download the open sets

What is in the download One file, 2.3 MB. Everything above works from it, on a website or on a computer, with no account and nothing fetched from elsewhere.

What is in it

The open sets

34 sets, 1,423 marks, each in flint and in feather, free to use with a line of credit. The Nation’s own sets and what is held back are set out in the licence.

Access27
Animals41
Animals in action37
Arrows36
Buildings and rooms47
Faces37
Files and office48
Food and drink67
Gaming7
Hands62
Health30
Insects33
Interface66
Leaves and branches26
Machinery12
Media and devices53
Modern clothing51
Money21
Nature40
People125
Picnic games13
Science22
Shapes and status43
Sport46
Talk and messages17
The fair12
The farm65
The Register and government87
Tools21
Trees19
Vehicles and travel45
Weather47
Wild flowers23
With a badge97

Saying where they came from

The credit

The open sets are free to use with a line of credit. That one line is the whole of what the free licence asks.

Icons: Flint and Feather, Mohawk Nation of Grand River

The credit line At the foot of the site or the page, in your own words’ size and colour. A contributor need not carry it.

Icons: <a href="/">Flint and Feather</a>, Mohawk Nation of Grand River

The businesses named here are made up for the page. To use the marks without the credit line, or to have the whole library, see the Contributor’s Grant. The steps for each option are on How to use it. The catalogue as a book is the specimen (PDF).