Ernie is a new animated typeface by Jim Ford, intended as a complimentary serif design to Freeman Craw’s fun retro hit, Ad Lib. The serif drawings mimic the behaviors of Ad Lib, on a Clarendon-esque structure. The application of Ad Lib’s behaviors to a serif design highlights it’s quirky characteristics; notably in the added contrast, the bending of serifs and the translation to Ernie’s ball terminals. The lowercase g is probably the most extreme example of this “translation.”

Ernie has a savvy system of text animation built in; with dualing lowercase alphabets, 34 ligatures, and an extensive glossary of custom words, all programmed to automatically make intelligent pseudorandom wordshapes. It’s called RMS, aka the Randomagic System. The glossary of “buzz” words is based on the most common and powerful words in marketing and advertising, as well as words that are specific to Ernie’s intended uses..

Additionally, Ernie Alt provides the opposite randomization effects in lowercase text, thus reversing the rhythm of the bounce. Ernie Sorts is a bonus font which includes fun printers fists, expandable banners and other graphic elements.

The Ernie character and cartoons were created by Johnny Sampson, as a visualization of the typeface, it’s character and it’s unique features.