Messine is the result of an ongoing series of workshops at ÉSAL Metz, supervised by Alejandro Lo Celso and Jérôme Knebusch.

The family started with Messine Titrage (2011, optimised for headlines) by Céline Kriebs, Romain Gamba, Bernard Gissinger, Aude Schmittheisler, Gaïa Fyot, Eric Chapuis, Francis Ramel, Audrey Perreira, Fanny Woimant, Isaline Rivery, Esther Kauffenstein. In 2012, Messine Quotidienne (optimized for text, used for sample) was added by Nicolas Roussel, Romain Gamba, Julie Luzoir, Guilaine Harnist, Fanny Woimant, Francis Ramel, Sung Yee Jung, Soraya Sanuan Bornay. This group also started a sans serif variant, Messine Sens, intended for signage. In 2015, Lucile Béal, Camille Bertagna, Altay Dagistan, Princia Dickelet, Julie Fidry, Bernard Gissinger, Florian Hurtaut, Esther Kauffenstein, Loic Lusnia, Timothée Ostermann, Isaline Rivery, and Aude Schmittheisler added Messine Italique. In 2016, Tanoé Ackah, Julie Dufour, Juliette Manis­calco, Marion Niporte, Thaïs Gondouin, Aube Senoussai, Jules Aubriot, Princia Dickelet, and Rafael Ribas worked on Messine Gras.