LL BIFF was first drawn in 1995 by Jonas Williamsson as a series of single illustrations in Aldus FreeHand, as part of a client-commissioned graphic identity project.

Later produced as a minimal, upper-case only headline font using Fontographer, it eventually slotted into the visual toolbox of Swedish-Swiss Design/Art/Poetry collective REALA (1999–2007), which consisted of Williamsson, Samuel Nyholm and Laurent Benner. In 1999, Lineto published BIFF on its first website.

The letterforms were inspired by early New York graffiti and succeeding styles, commonly known as Throw-Ups. Derived from the Swedish adjective ‘biffig’ (meaning ‘muscle-bound, beefy, chunky’), the font’s name evidently referenced its formal characteristics, but also evoked TIFF, one of the aliases Jonas used as a writer back in the 1990s.

Unlike other typefaces from Lineto’s recent revival project, BIFF had remained an active, much-loved asset of Lineto’s main catalogue since 1999. A formal makeover and possible expansion had already been in discussion for a while, when Anatole Couteau started to dedicate himself to the task. He redrew the original BIFF shapes, fixed compromised outlines and irregular highlights, completed the character set and then elaborated an outline version in collaboration with Jonas.

In a final twist, graphic illustrations were added to the Outline cut, paying homage to Michel Jarland’s new age-themed Astral, an often ridiculed milestone of the dry-transfer era published by Mecanorma in 1971.