Mayor Mamdani has a new official font

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's office has adopted a custom-designed version of the serif typeface Empirica for its official communications, as revealed last week when the New York Knicks received keys to the city featuring the new font. This modified Empirica was created by the type foundry Frere-Jones Type, specifically adapted from the original Empirica released in 2018. The original Empirica was designed by Tobias Frere-Jones and Nina Stössinger, with contributions from Fred Shallcrass and Devyani Mahadevan, drawing inspiration from Ancient Roman inscriptions and 19th-century French interpretations. For the Mayor's office, Frere-Jones Type collaborated with designer Aneesh Bhoopathy, who had previously designed Mamdani's campaign branding. The goal was to integrate a "painterly spirit" into the typeface, moving away from the purely authoritative and historical feel of the original Empirica towards a more personable and playful aesthetic, while maintaining formality suitable for official use. This new version aims to balance a sense of historical representation with a more contemporary and approachable tone, reflecting the "progressive leadership" mentioned by the foundry.