View the web font specimen sheet.
A humanist sans serif font by psType.
Ratio has some quirky elements, such as the relationship between the dots and the strokes on the letters i and j. But the quirks don’t undermine the overall texture, rhythm, or readability of the font. This makes it stand out from others that try and fail to incorporate unique elements into a text font.
PsType says that Ratio shows “the best of both humanist and geometric sans serifs.” I categorize it as a humanist sans because it has generous apertures, a double-decker g, bowls with implied stress (on the b, d, q, p), and a lovely, humanist italic.
Ratio’s x-height is smaller than Verdana, and needs to be set a bit larger to retain readability. At the same time, the bowl is almost circular, making the font feel wider. Thus, I wouldn’t recommend Ratio for use in a narrow column. The bold weight is a bit heavy for my taste (the closed counterforms on the a and e start to “fill in” at text sizes). But the semi-bold is heavy enough to create a good contrast to the regular weight. I’ve used regular and semi-bold in the specimen sheet.
Ratio comes in 12 styles. I’ve tested the usual 4 plus the semi-bold, and they hold up beautifully cross browser. The whole family is available on Typekit.
