TASA Explorer & Orbiter: Two Free Typefaces Born from Space Exploration

TASA Explorer and TASA Orbiter are two Latin typefaces designed by creative studio Local Remote for TASA, available in 5 weights with 12 font files total, released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 for free commercial use. Born from a single question — "Is the visual identity of space the cold precision of instruments, or a romantic projection toward the unknown?" — the two typefaces arrived at opposite personalities: one rational and restrained, the other bold and expressive.

Design Studio: Local Remote

Local Remote, founded by Brian Liu and Tsai Er-De in 2021, combines graphic design with spatial planning. The TASA brand identity redesign is among the studio's signature projects — a four-year effort that extended from visual identity into custom typeface development. Lead type designer Zhang Wei-Chung brought notable credentials to the project, including a Golden Pin Design Award concept nomination for "Danrei Gothic" and the Type Design Encouragement Award for "Hanjuku."

Key Features

Orbiter — The Precision of Science

• Strokes emphasize disciplined horizontal and vertical lines, with every joint turning at a crisp 90-degree angle — like the graduation marks on a precision instrument
• Slightly squared counters give the typeface a mechanical steadiness that mirrors the zero-tolerance accuracy of aerospace engineering
• Available in both Text and Display optical sizes, covering everything from body copy to large-scale headings

Explorer — The Courage to Face the Unknown

• Inherits the geometric spirit of Futura — the typeface engraved on the Apollo 11 lunar plaque — and slices sharp diagonal cuts into stroke terminals and junctions, giving each letter a sense of forward momentum
• The question mark and @ symbol retain bold stylistic personality, making Explorer's sharp character recognizable even at small sizes
• Version 2 fine-tunes x-height, curve fluidity, and letter spacing for improved on-screen readability in long-form text

How to Tell Them Apart

The quickest way: look at where the letters turn. Orbiter stops at right angles — strokes arrive and halt precisely where they should. Explorer slices through the same spots at a diagonal, carrying momentum forward. Set the same question mark in both: Orbiter closes the sentence with quiet authority; Explorer looks like it still wants to keep asking. This difference runs through the entire family — from the tail of the lowercase a, to the junction of the w, to the subtle angled cut at the top of the numeral 3 — every detail reflects two fundamentally different attitudes.

Shared Features

• Both typefaces offer 5 weights: Regular, Medium, SemiBold, Bold, and ExtraBold
• Support for Taiwanese Romanization (Tâi-lô) and Church Romanization (POJ) characters
• Available on Google Fonts for web font loading, or as downloadable TTF files for local installation

Can TASA Explorer and Orbiter Be Used Commercially for Free?

TASA Explorer and Orbiter are released under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1. Both typefaces are free for personal and commercial use. They may be freely modified and redistributed, with the sole restriction that the font files cannot be sold on their own. Source files are available on GitHub, and the design team welcomes community contributions for additional weights and language support.

Where Are TASA Typefaces Best Used?

• Orbiter: Well-suited for UI body text in tech products, heading hierarchies in academic papers and research reports, and brand identity systems that call for a professional, authoritative tone
• Explorer: Ideal for hero headlines on landing pages, event posters and key visual taglines, and brand applications where bold visual tension is needed
• Paired together: Use Explorer for headlines and Orbiter for body text to establish a clear typographic hierarchy. For Chinese text, the team recommends pairing with Noto Sans