Podkova
Type with Purpose
Good typography guides attention, improves understanding, and makes communication effortless.
The Anatomy of a Typeface
By FontSide · June 2026
Every typeface is a system of decisions — about stroke contrast, x-height, spacing, and rhythm. The best ones feel invisible: you stop seeing the letters and start hearing the voice behind them. That transparency is the hardest thing to design.
A high x-height opens up the counters and makes small text breathe. Tight tracking pulls a headline together; loose tracking gives a caption room to exhale. None of these choices are accidents — they are arguments about how reading should feel.
Uppercase
Lowercase
Numerals
Symbols
Package Manager
The recommended way to use fonts in modern web projects.
1. Install Package
pnpm add @fontsource-variable/podkova 2. Import in App
import '@fontsource-variable/podkova/wght.css'; 3. CSS Usage
body {
font-family: "Podkova Variable", serif;
} Google Fonts CDN
Use Google's CDN to embed the fonts directly via HTML.
HTML <head>
<!-- Please select at least one weight and style --> Fontsource CDN
Skip the build step by adding this directly to your global CSS file.
Global CSS
/* podkova-latin-wght-normal */
@font-face {
font-family: "Podkova Variable";
font-style: normal;
font-display: swap;
font-weight: 100 900;
src: url(https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/fontsource/fonts/podkova:vf@latest/latin-wght-normal.woff2)
format("woff2-variations");
} Background & Story
Podkova is the Russian word for Horseshoe, and this is a monoline slab serif with diagonal terminals. The wide proportions and clean features aid legibility at small sizes, while the unusual letterforms provide enough character to be useful for display typography too.
Initially designed by Ilya Yudin in 2010, it was carefully refined and expanded by Alexei Vanyashin into a wider range of weights (that made the bold style a little lighter) in January 2017. In September 2019, the family is now a variable font.
To contribute, see github.com/cyrealtype/Podkova.
Tags & Moods
Subsets
Install
pnpm add @fontsource-variable/podkova Designed by
Cyreal
Links
License
OFL-1.1