Yamantaka | Public Type

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HEAVY,

IRREGULAR,

ALIVE!

Family

▶

Yamantaka

Designer

Michael Cina

Yamantaka was drawn for a documentary about death. The film died but the typeface remained. The forms are heavy, irregular, drawn by hand, and gently refined.

Family Size

Five cuts. Regular anchor, growing wider and heavier across the range.

Features

11 stylistic sets, case-sensitive forms, multiple figure styles, fractions and ordinals, superior and inferior figures, symbols, arrows, ligatures, character alternates

Custom Cuts

Available for custom modification.

Licensing

Desktop/Print, Web, Content, App/Game, Logo/Wordmark, Core Media, All Media. Custom License Available.

Formats

OTF, WOFF2, Variable (based on license type)

Regular

Shuffle

Yamantaka/AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz

1234567890!@#$%

Shuffle

Yamantaka/AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz

1234567890!@#$%

A display typeface in five cuts, anchored by a regular and growing wider and heavier from there. Even short text feels weighted and considered.

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The Cuts

Yamantaka

Regular

Size

200

Leading

0.90

Tracking

0.000em

OT Features

No features available

Drawn for a film about death.

Regular

Drawn for a film about death.

Regular

Size

200

Leading

0.90

Tracking

0.000em

OT Features

No features available

Weathered on arrival

Regular

Weathered on arrival

Regular

Size

200

Leading

0.90

Tracking

0.000em

OT Features

No features available

A display font that holds its weight.

Regular

A display font that holds its weight.

▶

Yamantaka

Value

Strokes are thick, joins taper thinner than the stems. The contrast at the joins keeps a heavy display sans from reading as a slab of weight and gives short text visible structure.

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Yamantaka

Value

The five cuts move across width and weight together, getting wider as it gets heavier, anchored by the regular. The heaviest cut runs fully extended, drawn as a different extension of the same hand.

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Yamantaka

Value

Drawn in 2015 for a film that was never made. The final family system arrived in 2022, once various uses and tests had shown what Yamantaka needed to be.

Regular

Size

200

Leading

0.90

Tracking

0.000em

OT Features

No features available

Off the grid, on purpose.

Regular

Off the grid, on purpose.

Regular

Size

200

Leading

0.90

Tracking

0.000em

OT Features

No features available

A typeface that outlived its brief.

Regular

Size

Leading

1.00

Tracking

0.000em

OT Features

No features available

Yamantaka is a contemporary five-cut display sans with weight in the strokes and contrast at the joins. Regular anchors the family while each cut runs wider and heavier from there. Latin, 295 languages.

Regular

Size

Leading

1.15

Tracking

0.000em

OT Features

No features available

Yamantaka is a heavy display sans in five cuts. The strokes are thick and the joins taper thinner than the stems, which gives the family visible contrast at every weight and keeps the mass from reading as a single flat block. It carries more contrast than most heavy sans in its category. The family grows in width and weight together. The regular is the anchor, drawn narrower and each successive cut widens as it bulks. The heaviest cut runs fully extended, a different temperament than the regular but drawn from the same hand. The references are early wood type sans and the grotesques cut before the category settled its rules. Letters that were carved as much as printed lineage. The first drawing came in 2015 for a documentary about death. The film was never made. The brief was a jumping-off point. Yamantaka was drawn from the gut, without a grid and without a proportional system, and that instinct is still in the released face. For the next four years the drawing got used in pieces. Album art. Identity work. Projects that needed weight without polish kept pulling Yamantaka out. The full family system arrived in 2022, after those uses had made clear what Yamantaka wanted to be. Finished in December, released in early 2023. Yamantaka has appeared on Hassan Rahim's 2025 final Wu-Tang Clan tour poster, on album art, and on identity work. It holds where a display face needs weight without noise.

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Designer

Michael Cina

Regular

Michael Cina’s work exists at the intersection of design, typography, branding, strategy, and art. This uncommon mix allows him to see differently and direct ideas with purpose. Decades of moving fluidly between disciplines have shaped an approach that blends instinct with strategy, intuition with clarity, and expression with systems thinking. An internationally recognized Creative Director and Artist, Michael leads the multi-disciplinary studio Cina Associates. 

His work spans global brands including Disney, Apple, American Express, ESPN, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft. Across his career, he has synthesized typography, branding, illustration, motion, web, music, photography, and type design into cohesive systems that perform across platforms and cultures. His work has been widely published, recognized with Emmy and Grammy honors, and he is a frequent speaker at global design conferences, sharing a point of view rooted in authorship, clarity, and long-term brand thinking.

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Designer Notes

I drew Yamantaka in 2015 for a documentary about death. The film never got made. The brief was a jumping-off point. I drew the letters from the gut. No grid. No proportional system. I wanted the weight of early wood type sans, the ones cut before the category figured out what it wanted to be, without doing a revival.

That drawing sat for a while, but I kept using it on Album art, Identity work, etc. When something needed weight without polish, Yamantaka came out. Fonts often need time to find their way. I draw them, use them here and there, and the more I use them the more I expand what they can do. The final family system arrived in 2022, after many years of using the original drawing. Finished in December, released in early 2023.

The tapered joins are the part I want to point to. That contrast is what makes Yamantaka look like Yamantaka and not like every other heavy display sans. The stems are thick while the joins are thinner. It keeps the family from reading as a wall of weight, and it gets more pronounced as the cuts get heavier.

The name is honest about its depth. Yamantaka is the Buddhist deity who conquers death. The documentary chose the reference. I kept it because the name fit the drawing. 
Yamantaka has ended up on amazing projects from Braulio Amado, Hassan Rahim used it on the final  Wu-Tang Clan tour poster in 2025. It has been used on a variety of projects including the Camelbak rebrand. Some drawings sit for years before they find where they belong.

I drew Yamantaka in 2015 for a documentary about death. The film never got made. The brief was a jumping-off point. I drew the letters from the gut. No grid. No proportional system. I wanted the weight of early wood type sans, the ones cut before the category figured out what it wanted to be, without doing a revival.

That drawing sat for a while, but I kept using it on Album art, Identity work, etc. When something needed weight without polish, Yamantaka came out. Fonts often need time to find their way. I draw them, use them here and there, and the more I use them the more I expand what they can do. The final family system arrived in 2022, after many years of using the original drawing. Finished in December, released in early 2023.

The tapered joins are the part I want to point to. That contrast is what makes Yamantaka look like Yamantaka and not like every other heavy display sans. The stems are thick while the joins are thinner. It keeps the family from reading as a wall of weight, and it gets more pronounced as the cuts get heavier.

The name is honest about its depth. Yamantaka is the Buddhist deity who conquers death. The documentary chose the reference. I kept it because the name fit the drawing. 
Yamantaka has ended up on amazing projects from Braulio Amado, Hassan Rahim used it on the final  Wu-Tang Clan tour poster in 2025. It has been used on a variety of projects including the Camelbak rebrand. Some drawings sit for years before they find where they belong.

Michael Cina

Family

Yamantaka

Designers

Michael Cina

Release

2022

Family Size

Five cuts. Regular anchor, growing wider and heavier across the range.

Features

11 stylistic sets, case-sensitive forms, multiple figure styles, fractions and ordinals, superior and inferior figures, symbols, arrows, ligatures, character alternates

Character Set

Formats

OTF, WOFF2, Variable (based on license type)

Licensing

Desktop/Print, Web, Content, App/Game, Logo/Wordmark, Core Media, All Media. Custom License Available.

Supported Languages

Acheron, Achinese, Acholi, Afar, Afrikaans, Alekano, Algonquin, Amahuaca, Amarakaeri, Amis, Anaang, Andaandi, Anuta, Ao Naga, Aragonese, Arbëreshë Albanian, Arvanitika Albanian, Asháninka, Ashéninka Perené, Asu (Tanzania), Balinese, Banjar, Bari, Basque, Batak Dairi, Batak Karo, Batak Mandailing, Batak Simalungun, Batak Toba, Bemba (Zambia), Bena (Tanzania), Bikol, Bislama, Borana-Arsi-Guji Oromo, Bosnian, Breton, Buginese, Candoshi-Shapra, Caquinte, Caribbean Hindustani, Cashibo-Cacataibo, Catalan, Cebuano, Central Aymara, Central Kurdish, Chachi, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chiga, Chiltepec Chinantec, Chokwe, Chuukese, Cimbrian, Cofán, Congo Swahili, Cook Islands Māori, Cornish, Corsican, Creek, Crimean Tatar, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dehu, Eastern Arrernte, Eastern Oromo, English, Ese Ejja, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Gagauz, Galician, Ganda, Garifuna, Ga'anda, German, Gheg Albanian, Gilbertese, Gooniyandi, Gourmanchéma, Guadeloupean Creole French, Gusii, Haitian, Hani, Hiligaynon, Ho-Chunk, Hopi, Huastec, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ido, Iloko, Inari Sami, Indonesian, Interglossa, Interlingua, Interlingue, Irish, Istro Romanian, Italian, Ixcatlán Mazatec, Jamaican Creole English, Javanese, Jola-Fonyi, K'iche', Kabuverdianu, Kalaallisut, Kalenjin, Kaonde, Karelian, Kashubian, Kekchí, Kenzi/Mattokki, Khasi, Kimbundu, Kinyarwanda, Kituba (DRC), Klingon, Kongo, Konzo, Kuanyama, Kven Finnish, Kölsch, Ladin, Ladino, Latgalian, Ligurian, Lithuanian, Lojban, Lombard, Low German, Lower Sorbian, Luba-Lulua, Lule Sami, Luo (Kenya and Tanzania), Luxembourgish, Macedo-Romanian, Makhuwa, Makhuwa-Meetto, Makonde, Makwe, Malagasy, Malaysian, Maltese, Mandinka, Mankanya, Manx, Maore Comorian, Maori, Mapudungun, Marshallese, Matsés, Mauritian Creole, Meriam Mir, Meru, Minangkabau, Mohawk, Montenegrin, Murrinh-Patha, Mwani, Mískito, Naga Pidgin, Ndonga, Neapolitan, Ngazidja Comorian, Niuean, Nobiin, Nomatsiguenga, North Ndebele, Northern Kurdish, Northern Qiandong Miao, Northern Sami, Northern Uzbek, Northwestern Ojibwa, Norwegian, Novial, Nyanja, Nyankole, Occitan, Ojitlán Chinantec, Orma, Oroqen, Palauan, Paluan, Pampanga, Papantla Totonac, Papiamento, Pedi, Picard, Pichis Ashéninka, Piemontese, Pijin, Pintupi-Luritja, Pipil, Pohnpeian, Polish, Portuguese, Potawatomi, Purepecha, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Rotokas, Rundi, Rwa, Samburu, Samoan, Sango, Sangu (Tanzania), Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Sena, Seri, Seselwa Creole French, Shambala, Shawnee, Shipibo-Conibo, Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Soga, Somali, Soninke, South Ndebele, Southern Aymara, Southern Qiandong Miao, Southern Sami, Southern Sotho, Spanish, Sranan Tongo, Standard Estonian, Standard Latvian, Standard Malay, Sundanese, Swahili, Swati, Swedish, Swiss German, Tagalog, Tahitian, Taita, Tedim Chin, Tetum, Tetun Dili, Tiv, Tok Pisin, Tokelau, Toki Pona, Tonga (Tonga Islands), Tonga (Zambia), Tosk Albanian, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Uab Meto, Ume Sami, Upper Guinea Crioulo, Upper Sorbian, Venetian, Veps, Volapük, Võro, Walloon, Wangaaybuwan-Ngiyambaa, Waray (Philippines), Warlpiri, Wayuu, Welsh, West Central Oromo, Western Abnaki, Western Frisian, Wik-Mungkan, Wiradjuri, Wolof, Xhosa, Yanesha', Yao, Yapese, Yindjibarndi, Yucateco, Zapotec, Zulu, Záparo.

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