This is the first major version update since the rebrand launch, and reflects a lot of feedback gathered from real work. Most updates going forward won't affect this many core aspects of the drawings and their features. Please do not update to the latest version on a tight deadline or in a situation where the work can't be properly QA'd.
NorthEastArrow positioned inline with x-height
This glyph is in a series of arrow characters (↖↗↘↙↑↓), all vertically center aligned with the cap height. Because this character is prominently used in our buttons and primary CTAs, the brand web team made the suggestion to align it with the x-height instead.
Opentype fractions
Fractions in fonts work a couple ways: first as distinct glyphs (½), but sometimes as mutable formulas which allow for inline fractions of any kind (2/11ths). When activated, the fraction feature in WF Visual Sans searches for any figures which are divided by a slash and substitutes the characters on the left for their numerator counterpart, and characters on the right with their denominator counterpart. This feature is accessible in any font style panel, or in css as font-feature-setting: 'frac' on;
Correct default figures in static font files
In previous versions of the non variable font files (.otf, .woff, .woff2), the text figures needed to be turned on manually to activate the more legible characters and figures (a, t, k, 1, 6 etc.). Now these characters are the default. The previous characters are available in those same stylistic sets. The following css code, which was provided to support that, is no longer needed and should be removed in order to get the correct styling:
No interpolation errors in the Deck optical size
Related to the change above, some of the more awkward characters in the Deck optical size are instead defaulting to the display styles. This means Deck feels more graphic, more ready for a headline, white retaining the optical size benefits of more generous spacing, a more traditional x-height to cap height ratio, and slightly more narrow characters. It's most noticeable in characters like R. In addition to this change, the variable font now auto switches to display characters at 24px (previously this occurred at 26px).
Lighter text and deck bold
After seeing the application of the text fonts, the look of the bold style, when inline with the regular style, st0od out just a little too much. It's now about 20% closer to the Semibold style. This should look more natural in a chunk of text meant for reading (like the blog or ebooks).
Expanded character set
The character set has been expanded to include a range of special characters and all necessary diacritics for latin-based scripts. Previously, those characters would fall back to whatever was next in the font stack (like Myriad Pro, shown here from Illustrator).
Circle features moved to stylistic alternate
After some implementation in legal documentation and educational content, the default ligature which converted ( + number + ) into a circle figure has been moved to a stylistic set. This should help reduce noise in text settings, while still being accessible via the style panel or css font-feature-setting: 'ss06' on;
Smart contractions
The keyboard key you use for an apostrophe actually types out something called a prime mark (or a foot mark, if you're into measuring). They can be used just fine as quotation marks—and for most this one of the most common type setting mistake. WF Visual Sans now looks for common contractions (like n't) and makes the substitution automatically. This feature can be turned off by turning off the ligature features, which are usually turned on by default.
Italics
This is the sleeper hit of V0.3. Italics look a lot easier than they are. Previous versions, when the browser or software can't find italic drawings, would show a sheered version of the upright characters. Suffice it to say, WF Visual Sans new italics aren't just sheered versions of the upright characters. Each round has been manually adjusted for even color and more pleasant appearance.
A note for the brand conscious reader: just because we have italics, doesn't mean we should use them! These styles are to help with text and editorial settings—not for headlines or broader brand use.
Lowercase height refinement
Early versions of the fonts had a wide range of ascender heights in the lowercase letters. This is common in fonts, but the deliberate geometric design of WF Visual Sans made the lack of alignment in tight areas like fi and fl feel sloppy and thoughtless.
Emoji support
Among the more minor updates, now you can access some of the more important glyphs via slack style shortcuts. This feature can be turned off by deactivating the ligature feature, which is often turned on by default.
