My display typeface does not speak my language
Bw Gradual has no Cyrillic, so I split the roles instead of hunting for a lookalike, and the limitation ended up setting the rhythm of the site.
The display typeface on this site is Bw Gradual. Wide, calm, with the character of an airport sign. It has one problem. My name is Alexander Chernov, in Russian it is written Александр Чернов, and Bw Gradual has no Cyrillic in it at all.
The usual move is to find a lookalike that does have Cyrillic and live with the compromise. I looked at the lookalikes, and every one of them was a compromise. So I split the roles instead: everything large and display is set in Latin (Selected work, Journal, AI Lab), the actual Russian headings are set in Craftwork Grotesk, which has excellent Cyrillic, and the body text is Manrope.
The side effect surprised me. Latin display words behave like signage. Russian headings behave like speech. Two registers, two tones, and the site got a rhythm I would never have chosen on purpose.
Technical bonus: all three faces are subsetted to WOFF2 with exactly the glyphs in use, so all the type on this site weighs less than one photograph.
A limitation you cannot remove deserves a promotion. Make it a device.
Next in the journal
What eight fintech systems taught me about simplicity