The starting point for Alena was a woodcut by Jost Hochuli, which he published in 1980. The letterforms of the capital letters are based on the proportions of the Roman Capitals of the first and second century A.D. The lower case letters are based on a late form of the humanistic minuscule.
In contrast to the original, the font has optical constant line widths. This gives the text a calm and unobtrusive effect. Roland Stieger attached great importance to the fact that the typeface is also legible in small sizes.
Matching italics for all the eight weights have a narrow ductus, as it was the case with the first italic typefaces, which were intentionally cut in this manner to save space. The italics have a slight inclination of 5 degrees, so they fit well into the body text and differentiate well from the uprights.
The font is suitable for complex typographic demands and also performs greatly on web-based applications.