Sunday Type
Adrian Frutiger turned 80 this week. I’m sure you’d like to join me in wishing him many happy returns. In fact LinoType has a page where you can leave him birthday greetings. I’d like to begin by thanking Stefan for the wonderful interview, and thank all those who read and commented. I’ll be sure to let you know when Stefan releases his next typeface. Perhaps we can have him introduce it to us. If there’s someone you’d like to see interviewed by iLT, then let me know.
If you like ampersands, then I guess you might like The Ampersand, a web site devoted to…wait for it…
Talking of ampersands, one reader, after reading Jonathan Hoefler’s piece on the ampersand, asked if I might write about my ten favourite asterisks. I must admit that I’ve never given it—the asterisk—much thought; and although the ampersand lends itself to some rather elegant and sometimes quirky interpretations, the asterisk is a little more limited. However, if there’s an asterisk that you’re particularly fond of, then let me know. Here are some to get you started:
And if etymology is your thing, then you might be interested to learn that the word asterisk is from the Greek asteriskos, meaning ‘little star’. I wonder if anyone can name the typefaces!
From stars to brooches. If I were a brooch-toting kind of person, then I might well tote one of these:
Thanks, Sonia. And if a brooch is not quite big enough, then this furniture might fit the bill:
Thanks, Michael.
Calligraphy
Though calligraphy is not typography, it can teach us much about type, and why letterforms are as they are. In fact, if you are designing type (sans or serif), then you might be surprised how much easier it is if you have some grounding in the art of calligraphy. So, how about some free resources to get you started. Alice Young’s blog is a good place to start. Then there’s the work of the very talented Georgia Angelopoulos, of the Fairbank Calligraphy Society.
Then you might like to take a look at these six free e-books on the subject.
Everything from the above Ludovico Vicentino’s Operina, on the chancery script, to Benedikt Gröndal’s Handwriting Models, and Leonid Pronenko’s Russian Calligraphy. And, for video, you might enjoy these:
For more in this series see the IAMPETH web site. I’ve mentioned this web site before—this time I shall say nothing about its design; only that it’s a truly wonderful resource.
And this is one of many from John DeCollibus:
This from Adam Romuald Kłodecki:
A search for calligraphy on YouTube will reveal many more.
And finally, some Online Script Lessons.
Free Fonts
Today’s is one of exceptional quality. But coming from Fred Smeijers, you’d expect it to be something special. The free font is the Semi Bold weight of Fresco (also used in today’s header).
Remember, this is for a limited period only, so hurry. Also worth listening to Fred Smeijers on Type Radio. And if you haven’t yet read his CounterPunch, then I recommend it.
Inspiration
Smashing Magazine has another bumper Showcase of Big Web Typography. If you thought my mastehead was big, then stand away from the monitor and take a look at this one:
Bechira Sorin has some very creative experimental type. I particularly like these two (Swade and Smoke, respectively):
Love this poster from Peter Crnokrak. A_B_ Peace & Terror visualises the degree to which each UN member state contributes to peace and terror:
Read more about it on AisleOne.
New Type
Fruiger Serif, a collaboration between Adrian Frutiger and LinoType’s Type Director, Akira Kobayashi. Wish they’d put together a better PDF specimen.
And, no, Fruiger Serif isn’t Frutiger with serifs clipped on. Rather it’s a reworking of Frutiger’s Meridien (1957).
Sunday Links
Doodle Covers—Unbeige
Fonts are like….—Swissmiss
T-shirts: type+humour—Sackwear
APA Letterpress—thanks to Peter
Ratatatat—Comic Font
Calligraphy Portraits—thanks to Able
An interview with Nick Curtis—MyFonts
Great photos of Fraktur mon Amour—Ministry of Type
TypeSites—Legendary Aircraft site review
Always happy when readers send in their take on “i love typography”. Here’s Tamlyn Rhodes’ made with some old card letters he found:
If you have one of your own, be sure to let me know.
Today’s Types
ITC Lubalin Graph—a slab serif Avant Garde Gothic.
and the rather fun and bubbly DF Gusto, from Rian Hughes:
Coming Up
The fourth instalment of Type Terms, Type History, Modern (or Didone); and more interviews, typeface reviews and a book review. Next Sunday I’ll publish the second iLT crossword too.
Have a great week.
— Stephen Coles
— Hochuli & Kinross
Mirko
This Fresco free font is really great, love the ebooks on calligraphy too. Thanks for this.
May 26, 2008
Min Tran
Wow … Thanks for your great resources! Very inspiring!
May 26, 2008
Sander
Gotta love those ampersands! The box letters can be bought directly from http://www.set26.ch/, great! I wonder how my iLoveTypography costs:-)
The link to Klepas was very useful, thanks. Ode to Fred Smeijers, thank you for giving the Fresco Semi Bold OT away. Looking forward to the new crossword. Have a great week.
May 26, 2008
Harry Roberts
Am I right in thinking the top third asterisk is Annivers?
May 26, 2008
johno (iLT)
Harry
Yes, Anivers it is. Well spotted.
May 26, 2008
FV
John Sans at lower left? Lower third has to be Didot, but which one… :)
May 26, 2008
Esben Thomsen
top right is FF Meta.
May 26, 2008
Esben Thomsen
I cheated, but lower second is Univers
May 26, 2008
nicetype
My favourite asterisk must be from Bodoni Poster. No, wait, Neo Sans! Umm, scratch that, Farnham Display Bold! Now I know: HTF Whitney Black! Hm, but what about Dederon… And Simple… And Ziggurat… And You see, I have a soft spot for cool asterisks :)
May 26, 2008
Klaas Wijnne
Middle bottom must be Clarendon. I have a question: when you look at a typeface in, say, Word, why do some look nice and crisp while others look terrible in small sizes? It does seem to have no relation to what fonts look like in a PDF specimen file.
May 26, 2008
nicetype
Klaas, when you design a typeface, you also have to program hinting, which will tell the OS how the font should look on screen, when should the pixels move if there isn’t enough space to show the stem correctly for example. Some fonts obviously have good hinting, some aren’t hinted well (it’s a difficult and very tedious process too). In a PDF a different technology is used, so the fonts look smoth.
May 26, 2008
Kari Pätilä
Look — it’s a new favicon.
May 26, 2008
Travis Neilson
I love Sunday Type, even on monday!
Good work Johno, Sunday type is becoming as regular as going to church.
May 26, 2008
hangfromthefloor
I believe you have a typo (‘Fruiger’) in the link text of that section.
May 26, 2008
James Ivey
Thanks again for the mention, John. We’ve gotten 56 referral hits from your website so far today.
And I appreciate you not commenting on the design ;o)
Best regards,
James Ivey
IAMPETH Webmaster
http://www.iampeth.com
May 26, 2008
Amber
I used to dabble with calligraphy when I was in high school. The German black letter was my favorite. Thank you for the e-books. I feel like getting back into it.
Fresco is lovely. Thanks!
May 27, 2008
kristarella
Fresco is nice.
I only recently discovered the variety in asterisks. They’re pretty cool. I quite like Baskerville (I think that’s what I’m thinking of - very thin centers and bulb-like ends).
I’d love to know how you get headers to associate with certain posts. It’s pretty spiffy.
May 27, 2008
johno (iLT)
Some impressive guesses on the asterisks. Naming the typeface based only on the asterisk is extremely difficult, if not impossible in some instances—a number of typefaces share almost identical asterisks.
Kari
Well spotted.
James
I’m pleased that readers are clicking through to you. Be sure to let me know if you have any events/classes planned.
kristarella
For the alternate headers I use WordPress custom fields. If you want the code I use, just send me a mail: jboardley [at-sign-here] gmail [dot] com.
I’ll name all the asterisks next week.
May 27, 2008
Kevin Zak
The Smashing Magazine article was really well-written. I really love that publication. There’s hardly ever a bad article in it.
I used Fresco in a poster I made on Saturday. Bit of a coincidence! It’s a great font, though. Good post, thanks for the links.
May 27, 2008
Ko
“Calligraphy is not typography”, but I wonder why. I would have thought there is plenty of overlap between these two areas of art. Many typefaces have started out as calligraphic sketches. And when setting up a calligraphic text, one would use many principles (if one may call them such) of typography.
It might be an interesting subject to explore the connection between calligraphy and typography.
May 27, 2008
Ko
Why are there no asterisks with seven arms, legs, petals or whatever you call those things? The five and six armed versions are common, you may see a very occasional eight-legger and I have on my work computer a four sided version from Blippo Bold YU, one of the sixty Serbian Orthodox Church Latinica fonts, that looks so weird it can’t be confused with a + or x. (In the ‘normal’ Blippo/Blippo Black versions that float around, the asterisk is five sided - such detail could possibly help in finding out if a typeface has been derived, copied or ripped of from another font: type forensics).
Getting carried away here. Is there an asterisk with seven extremities?
May 27, 2008
Andrew
Oh, can’t wait till next Sunday… not that this Sunday wasn’t great. Cause it was!
May 27, 2008
Pedro Leal
Wonderful post this week, loved the calligraphy section! I’m also really curious on who are you going to interview next!
PS: great new favicon!
May 27, 2008
Mikhail
Wonderful post
May 27, 2008
LaurenMarie - Creative Curio
Rather off topic, John, but I LOVE how you’ve styled the number of subscribers!! That is absolutely beautiful! Please do tell how (or give a link)?
I like seeing work done with type as the main graphic, like the ampersand book. It seems more creative to me than just using pictures. I wish I could learn the secrets…
Wow! And what styling for AJAX edit comments! You have been working really hard behind the scenes here lately, John!
Ah, and I had an idea about the interviews: would one with a designer that does typography well be out of the question? I’m thinking questions about getting a solid handle on using type would be helpful to those of us trying to learn it. I know it’s not the same as interviewing a type designer, but I thought it would still be interesting and helpful.
May 28, 2008
Fabian
A student of mine turned me on to your blog and I am very grateful she did as I just finished my first test surf. Fantastic site - thank you for a great resource and interesting read! I will share with my designers and students alike.
May 28, 2008
johno (iLT)
Ko
I can’t think of any seven-spoke asterisk. I guess that it would soon start to look like something of a blob at small sizes.
About “calligraphy not being typography”, chapter three of Fred Smeijers’ Counterpunch does a wonderful job of explaining the differences (there are similarities and overlaps, of course) between handwriting (calligraphy), lettering, and typography.
Pedro
Thanks. The main reason for the new favicon is that it scales well, and I can use it at larger sizes elsewhere: twitter and as a Gravatar.
Lauren
Thank you. The subscriber count is made with the Feed Count plugin and a CSS background image (set with Anziano Ornaments and small caps. The interview idea is a good one. Do you have anyone in mind?
May 28, 2008
LaurenMarie - Creative Curio
Indeed! That’s an easy question: YOU!
I’ve also found Cody Curley’s use of typography very beautiful (haven’t seen him around lately!), and Jon Tan, too. If you feel weird interviewing yourself, I can come up with some questions for you :)
May 28, 2008
Magnus
I second Travis comment, Sunday Type is indeed becoming a Sunday tradition. =)
There is just one problem with it – I want more, it’s addictive. ;)
May 29, 2008
johno (iLT)
Lauren
you’ve got me thinking now. Me interviewed on iLT? I wonder? I guess it would help readers get to sleep :)
Magnus & Travis
Thanks very much. I really enjoy writing it each week, and it’s wonderful to receive such positive feedback.
May 29, 2008