What it does
General Type Studio publishes Pilat, Cambon, Mier, General Grotesque and other original font families. It offers separate desktop, web and app licences and a catalog of test fonts.
Pilat’s defining construction is a squared circular form, expanded into a range of weights and widths. For a brand with short labels and long headlines, compare those widths using the actual text rather than horizontally compressing one chosen cut. The catalog also shows the size of each family before you open its page.
The Test Fonts page asks for contact information and supplies a ZIP of OTF files from the whole catalog. These have very small character sets and are for evaluation only. Their licence also excludes embedding, including in PDFs, so they are not a substitute for the production files.
For finished work, choose Desktop for printed and static artwork, Web for live website text, or App for embedding in an application, game or ebook. The basic desktop licence covers one user at one location; more users and additional locations need suitable coverage. Clients who need their own copies must also be licensed. The desktop agreement includes plain-language explanations alongside its detailed clauses.
Strengths
- Offers broad weight and width systems, including Pilat.
- Makes test versions of the whole catalog available together.
- Explains desktop licence clauses in plainer language.
Watch out for
- Test files contain very small character sets and prohibit embedding.
- Desktop licensing counts both users and geographic locations.
Best for
- Brand designers comparing narrow and wide type
- Studios evaluating several related font families
Sources
- General Type Studio (Oct 27, 2026)
- General Type Studio: Pilat (Oct 27, 2026)
- General Type Studio: Test fonts (Oct 27, 2026)
- General Type Studio: Licenses (Oct 27, 2026)
- General Type Studio: Desktop (Oct 27, 2026)
- General Type Studio: Test fonts licence (Oct 27, 2026)