In 2021, the Wiener Bildungsserver commissioned type designers Martin Tiefenthaler and Titus Nemeth to produce a new typeface for handwriting instruction. The resulting design is called Prima and was released in 2023. The Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport, or Ministry of the Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport, has been involved in the outreach of design to school educators.
Prima boasts of a wide glyph set that meets international standards and includes all the characters and diacritical marks needed for major European languages, including representing German in Austria. This is an improvement over other handwriting teaching typefaces currently used in the country, and allows students in a multicultural society to write names and terms correctly. Feedback from international experts was also sought and incorporated during its development. Further, the typeface is available free of charge, as is accompanying support material for teachers.
The design includes two styles — simplified print script and cursive — that can be taught in the first and second grade. The cursive hand is sloped, semi-joined and based on oval foundational forms . The lowercase letters feature medium-length and looped extenders. The uppercase letters, on the other hand, borrow from simplified print script vocabulary, while allowing for some cursive influence.
