ITC Tabula就是用于阅读的。该设计源于一项研究，该研究旨在创作一款用于设置电影字幕的字体。据该字体的巴黎设计师Julien Janiszewski表示：“我为该设计设置了一些参数，即字母在胶片上放置时必须能够保持很小的尺寸，但在剧院屏幕上观看时必须能够放大2000倍。”
字幕字体尚未完成，但是几个月后，Janiszewski重新审视了该设计并有了新的发现。“我意识到，我为该字幕字体设置的限制，与人们在创作排印标识时可能遇到的限制相差不远。很多时候这需要一种易于使用的字体，该字体可以很容易地用在高速公路广告牌的大尺寸标题上，而非常小的字体可以用于文本正文。” 这项工作又进行了两年后，Janiszewski才对结果感到满意。
最终的设计是一个包含四种字重及其相应斜体的有点方的无衬线字体家族。 Janiszewski本来还想创做他所谓的“敏感的衬线，一种不仅仅局限于几何形状，但又有微妙的书法基础的sans”。ITC Tabula不仅易于阅读，而且设计独特美观。

ITC Tabula is meant to be read. The design grew out of a study to create a font to set film subtitles. According to Julien Janiszewski, the face's Paris-based designer, “I set parameters for the design whereby the letters had to be able to hold up at very small sizes when set on film and yet must be able to be enlarged 2000 times to be read on a theatre screen.”
The subtitle font was not completed, but several months later Janiszewski revisited the design and made a discovery. “I realized that the constraints I had established for the subtitling font was not that far from those people could have in creating typographic signage. Many time this calls for a font that can be used easily in very large sizes for headlines on highway billboards and quite small for text copy.” Work proceeded for two more years before Janiszewski was satisfied with the results.
The final design is a somewhat squared sans serif family of four weighs with corresponding italics. Janiszewski also wanted to create what he calls a “sensitive sans-one that is not restricted to geometric shapes but has a subtle calligraphic, foundation.” ITC Tabula is not only easy to read, it is also a distinctive and handsome design.