Berling™ Nova

What is the Berling™ Nova font?

Swedish designer Karl-Erik Forsberg created the original Berling typeface in 1951. Owned by Verbum in Sweden, Berling was completely redesigned and released in 2004, under the name Berling Nova.
Forsberg (1914–1995) is considered one of Sweden’s most masterful graphic designers, and his original Berling has come to be seen as possibly the most definitive Swedish typeface. But a redesign was necessary in order to secure that the spirit of Berling would survive in the digital age. More…
Linotype, the distributor of the original Berling™ , provided its collection of source materials to the designers working on Berling Nova. Additionally, Akira Kobayashi — Linotype’s Type Director — lent them his advice as their project advanced.
Berling Nova is available in two optical sizes: Text and Display. The original Berling was a classic Renaissance roman face, with fine terminals and sharp, beak-like serifs. If one looks at Berling’s old lead type proofs in the smaller type sizes, it is clear that these had a fuller and more readable form than in later digital versions. So, in order to help return the new Berling Nova to its original splendor, both the base forms and the serifs were softened and inflated. In the text version, the x-height has been increased a bit (by 4%), the diagonal axis is less apparent, and special glyph ranges, such as those for small caps and old style figures, have been included in the font’s character sets. The display version still has the unmistakable “Berling” character that displays Forsberg’s mastery.
Berling Nova is well suited for longer text passages in books, publications, and magazines. This typeface fulfils all the demands that one can make on a legible newspaper typeface. Access to both text and display versions are important to the demanding typographer. This is the first time since the typeface was digitalized that it is possible to use it in order to create truly beautiful and functional typography in all type sizes.

Berling™ Nova Font families

The Berling™ Nova includes the following font families:

  • Berling Nova Pro Text Regular
  • Berling Nova Pro Text Regular Italic
  • Berling Nova Pro Text Bold
  • Berling Nova Pro Text Bold Italic
  • Berling Nova Pro Display Regular
  • Berling Nova Pro Display Regular Italic

Berling™ Nova Preview

Here is a preview of how Berling™ Nova will look. For more previews using your own text as an example, click here.


Is A free font? Is Free to Download?

No, is not free to download. You will need to pay for it I'm afraid. Almost every font that we list on HighFonts.com is a paid-for, premium font. We do have a Free Fonts section where we list free fonts that you can download. There is no point trying to find a free download of so please don't waste your time looking.

It is highly unlikely that you'll be able to find for free. There's a lot of websites that will say "Free Download" but these are just attempts to get you to click on a link which will either take you to an ad landing page or you risk getting viruses on your computer. In the rare occasion that you do find a free download for remember that it's illegal to use a font if you didn't pay for it!

If you really want and you want to truly own it the legal and safe way, then click here to visit the download and purchase page on MyFonts.com. Here you will be able to obtain the proper license. The designer and publisher deserves to be paid for their work, as they have put in the hours and the creativity to produce such an amazing font. Good luck with your purchase and future use of this font. :)