For graphic design and desktop publishing, several type foundries offer redesigned and extended versions of this typeface.

In order to enable quick and easy reproduction, all drawings were originally based on a coarse grid and could be executed with compass and rulers.

DIN 16 had also been made available as lettering templates engraved in celluloid material for drafting use by the Filler and Fiebig company in Berlin.

They were released as celluloid lettering stencils for smaller applications, as larger metal stencils for application to machinery, vehicles and airplanes, and as cast metal lettering for street and building signage; nevertheless, printing type conforming to DIN 1451 have never been produced.

At the Bauhaus, the use of coarse grids for designing typefaces was advocated by Herbert Bayer and Joost Schmidt during the Dessau period.

The sans-serif is similar to Gill Sans and to Johnston; the serif reflects the classical Renaissance humanist model.

Also, the Berthold type foundry adopted the DIN typefaces for their optomechanical phototype setting systems such as Staromat.

This enabled an exact definition of details such as the amount of overshoot of round characters (e.g. C, G and O) below the baseline and above the cap height.

Also, characters such as S for which an accurate construction drawing had never been made were now defined using lines and arcs for the new cutting plotters that were to be used for the lettering on motorway signage.

Soon, other leading designers began using DIN Mittelschrift and Engschrift, making it a popular option to other sans serif faces.

[15] Users include the New York City Ballet, ETH Zurich, The Verge and the film The Wolf of Wall Street.

As the original DIN design is out of copyright, other companies have offered digital releases (or obtained rights to resell Linotype's).

[20] An extensive set of digitisations is that made by Peter Wiegel with donations requested from users under the OFL.

This includes the regular style (Mittelschrift) in two grades for printing with less and more ink spread, and the less well-known Breitschrift.

[29] The Bahnschrift source was completely rebuilt from the ground up by Aaron Bell of Saja Typeworks and was expanded in weight, character set and manual hinting.

[39] In 2023, the Berlin-based Type Foundry, Fontwerk released the Neue DIN typeface designed by Hendrik Weber, Andreas Frohloff and Olli Meier.