Named for Pompeii'’s sister city, Herculanum was designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1990 for Linotype'’s Type before Gutenberg series. The typeface is based on first-century Roman cursive letterforms that were quickly written in clay using a stylus.

Frutiger'’s design mixes letterforms that are very narrow and very wide; combined with its simple, elemental shapes, Herculanum is one of the most expressive and individual display faces in the Adobe Type Showroom.