It was designed in 1995 by Albert-Jan Pool, based on DIN-Mittelschrift and DIN-Engschrift, as defined in the German standard DIN 1451.

[6] At a 1994 meeting of the Association Typographique Internationale trade association in San Francisco, Pool encountered Erik Spiekermann, who encouraged him to design a revival of DIN 1451 for release by FontFont, the type foundry Spiekermann had just established.

[7][8] It includes ranging (old style) figures and several refinements that allow it to perform better as a print and screen text face.

The entire family includes extended characters such as arrows, fractions, euro sign, lozenge, mathematical symbols, extra accented Latin letters, and superscript numeral figures.

[11] Assisted by Ivo Gabrowitsch of FontShop International, Albert-Jan Pool wrote a brochure named FF DIN Round – digital block letters.