LuaLaTeX: Smarter font selection macro for super-families

You would do this with an extensive list of FontFace= options, ideally in a .fontspec or .sty file. I don’t have that specific font to test, so I downloaded this version of Noto Serif into a subdirectory named fonts. Here is a sample:

documentclass{article}
usepackage{fontspec}
usepackage{parskip}
usepackage[paperwidth=10cm]{geometry}

pagestyle{empty}

defaultfontfeatures[NotoSerif]{
  Path=fonts/,
  Extension=.ttf,
  FontFace={ul}{n}{Font={*-Thin}},
  FontFace={ul}{it}{Font={*-ThinItalic}},
  FontFace={el}{n}{Font={*-ExtraLight}},
  FontFace={el}{it}{Font={*-ExtraLightItalic}},
  FontFace={l}{n}{Font={*-Light}},
  FontFace={l}{it}{Font={*-LightItalic}},
  UprightFont=*-Regular,
  ItalicFont=*-Italic,
  FontFace={mb}{n}{Font={*-Medium}},
  FontFace={mb}{it}{Font={*-MediumItalic}},
  FontFace={sb}{n}{Font={*-SemiBold}},
  FontFace={sb}{it}{Font={*-SemiBoldItalic}},
  BoldFont=*-Bold,
  BoldItalicFont=*-BoldItalic,
  FontFace={eb}{n}{Font={*-ExtraBold}},
  FontFace={eb}{it}{Font={*-ExtraBoldItalic}},
  FontFace={ub}{n}{Font={*-Black}},
  FontFace={ub}{it}{Font={*-BlackItalic}},
  FontFace={uluc}{n}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedThin}},
  FontFace={uluc}{it}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedThinItalic}},
  FontFace={eluc}{n}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedExtraLight}},
  FontFace={eluc}{it}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedExtraLightItalic}},
  FontFace={luc}{n}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedLight}},
  FontFace={luc}{it}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedLightItalic}},
  FontFace={uc}{n}{Font={*-ExtraCondensed}},
  FontFace={uc}{it}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedItalic}},
  FontFace={mbuc}{n}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedMedium}},
  FontFace={mbuc}{it}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedMediumItalic}},
  FontFace={sbuc}{n}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedSemiBold}},
  FontFace={sbuc}{it}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedSemiBoldItalic}},
  FontFace={buc}{n}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedBold}},
  FontFace={buc}{it}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedBoldItalic}},
  FontFace={ebuc}{n}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedExtraBold}},
  FontFace={ebuc}{it}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedExtraBoldItalic}},
  FontFace={ubuc}{n}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedBlack}},
  FontFace={ubuc}{it}{Font={*-ExtraCondensedBlackItalic}},
  FontFace={ulec}{n}{Font={*-CondensedThin}},
  FontFace={ulec}{it}{Font={*-CondensedThinItalic}},
  FontFace={elec}{n}{Font={*-CondensedExtraLight}},
  FontFace={elec}{it}{Font={*-CondensedExtraLightItalic}},
  FontFace={lec}{n}{Font={*-CondensedLight}},
  FontFace={lec}{it}{Font={*-CondensedLightItalic}},
  FontFace={ec}{n}{Font={*-Condensed}},
  FontFace={ec}{it}{Font={*-CondensedItalic}},
  FontFace={mbec}{n}{Font={*-CondensedMedium}},
  FontFace={mbec}{it}{Font={*-CondensedMediumItalic}},
  FontFace={sbec}{n}{Font={*-CondensedSemiBold}},
  FontFace={sbec}{it}{Font={*-CondensedSemiBoldItalic}},
  FontFace={bec}{n}{Font={*-CondensedBold}},
  FontFace={bec}{it}{Font={*-CondensedBoldItalic}},
  FontFace={ebec}{n}{Font={*-CondensedExtraBold}},
  FontFace={ebec}{it}{Font={*-CondensedExtraBoldItalic}},
  FontFace={ubec}{n}{Font={*-CondensedBlack}},
  FontFace={ubec}{it}{Font={*-CondensedBlackItalic}},
  FontFace={ulc}{n}{Font={*-SemiCondensedThin}},
  FontFace={ulc}{it}{Font={*-SemiCondensedThinItalic}},
  FontFace={elc}{n}{Font={*-SemiCondensedExtraLight}},
  FontFace={elc}{it}{Font={*-SemiCondensedExtraLightItalic}},
  FontFace={lc}{n}{Font={*-SemiCondensedLight}},
  FontFace={lc}{it}{Font={*-SemiCondensedLightItalic}},
  FontFace={c}{n}{Font={*-SemiCondensed}},
  FontFace={c}{it}{Font={*-SemiCondensedItalic}},
  FontFace={mbc}{n}{Font={*-SemiCondensedMedium}},
  FontFace={mbc}{it}{Font={*-SemiCondensedMediumItalic}},
  FontFace={sbc}{n}{Font={*-SemiCondensedSemiBold}},
  FontFace={sbc}{it}{Font={*-SemiCondensedSemiBoldItalic}},
  FontFace={bc}{n}{Font={*-SemiCondensedBold}},
  FontFace={bc}{it}{Font={*-SemiCondensedBoldItalic}},
  FontFace={ebc}{n}{Font={*-SemiCondensedExtraBold}},
  FontFace={ebc}{it}{Font={*-SemiCondensedExtraBoldItalic}},
  FontFace={ubc}{n}{Font={*-SemiCondensedBlack}},
  FontFace={ubc}{it}{Font={*-SemiCondensedBlackItalic}}
}

setmainfont{NotoSerif}

makeatletter
edefcurrent@weight{m}
edefcurrent@extent{}

DeclareRobustCommandfontweight[1]{%
  edefcurrent@weight{#1}%
  update@series%
}

DeclareRobustCommandfontextent[1]{%
  edefcurrent@extent{#1}%
  update@series%
}

DeclareRobustCommandupdate@series{%
  expandafterifxcurrent@extentrelax%
    fontseries{current@weight}%
  else%
    ifxcurrent@weight m%
      fontseries{current@extent}%
    else%
      fontseries{current@weightcurrent@extent}%
    fi%
  fi%
}
makeatother

newcommandulweight{fontweight{ul}selectfont}
newcommandelweight{fontweight{el}selectfont}
newcommandltweight{fontweight{l}selectfont}
newcommandmdweight{fontweight{m}selectfont}
newcommandmbweight{fontweight{mb}selectfont}
newcommandsbweight{fontweight{sb}selectfont}
newcommandbfweight{fontweight{b}selectfont}
newcommandebweight{fontweight{eb}selectfont}
newcommandubweight{fontweight{ub}selectfont}
newcommanducwidth{fontextent{uc}selectfont}
newcommandecwidth{fontextent{ec}selectfont}
newcommandcdwidth{fontextent{c}selectfont}

begin{document}
mdweight Noto Serif textit{Italic}
ulweight Thin textit{Italic}
elweight ExtraLight textit{Italic}
ltweight Light textit{Italic}
mbweight Medium textit{Italic}
sbweight Semibold textit{Italic}
bfweight Bold textit{Italic}
ebweight Extra-Bold textit{Italic}
ubweight Heavy textit{Italic}

ucwidth
mdweight Noto Serif Extra-Condensed textit{Italic}
ulweight Thin textit{Italic}
elweight ExtraLight textit{Italic}
ltweight Light textit{Italic}
mbweight Medium textit{Italic}
sbweight Semibold textit{Italic}
bfweight Bold textit{Italic}
ebweight Extra-Bold textit{Italic}
ubweight Heavy textit{Italic}

ecwidth
mdweight Noto Serif Condensed textit{Italic}
ulweight Thin textit{Italic}
elweight ExtraLight textit{Italic}
ltweight Light textit{Italic}
mbweight Medium textit{Italic}
sbweight Semibold textit{Italic}
bfweight Bold textit{Italic}
ebweight Extra-Bold textit{Italic}
ubweight Heavy textit{Italic}

cdwidth
mdweight Noto Serif Semi-Condensed textit{Italic}
ulweight Thin textit{Italic}
elweight ExtraLight textit{Italic}
ltweight Light textit{Italic}
mbweight Medium textit{Italic}
sbweight Semibold textit{Italic}
bfweight Bold textit{Italic}
ebweight Extra-Bold textit{Italic}
ubweight Heavy textit{Italic}
end{document}

I re-invented the wheel there: the nfssext-cfr package by @cfr also defines commands to set weight and width separately, and I used similar names. If you also want commands corresponding to textit, textup, and so on, you would define them with DeclareTextFontCommandtextul{ulwidth}, etc.

You might instead want to redefine the standard bfseries, mdseries and so on, so that bold condensed would be bfseriescdseries instead of bfweightcdwidth. This is how fontaxes and fontspec handle itshapescshape for italic small caps. I avoided overriding the standard commands here, but that means they aren’t compatible with the new ones.

Like most packages, I used the official LaTeX series names from The LaTeX Font Installation Guide, but note that fontspec allows you to give your series and shapes arbitrary names. There is no reason you couldn’t set up fontweight{Semibold}fontextent{Condensed}selectfont to work, or fontseries{SemiboldCondensed}selectfont. Just declare FontFace{SemiboldCondensed}{n} instead of FontFace{sbc}{n}.

To enable options such as support for optical sizes or variable fonts, add them inside the braces after Font=, such as FontFace{ebc}{n}{ Font={*-ExtraBoldCondensed}, SizeFeatures={...} }. See the fontspec manual for the features you need.

LuaTeX 1.13 and up now supports variable fonts as well.

If you just want to use the human-readable names in your code, you could attempt something like fontspec{Avenir Next LT Pro Medium Condensed}. Loading fonts by display name is deprecated, however.