Antarctican hybridizes ruler and compass geometry and American wood type. Asymmetric contrast, deep notches, and a tall x-height aid legibility at small sizes and demand attention when set large. Text styles are monospaced and headlines styles are proportionally spaced. This allows text to challenge convention while the headlines can be set in weights ranging from thin to ultrablack.

Support for over 200 languages allows Antarctican to set type for international readerships. OpenType niceties include small caps, lining, superior and inferior numbers, prebuilt fractions in monospaced fonts and arbitrary fractions in headline fonts, and f ligatures.