Birthday Cupcakes

This week iLT is six months old. She’s doing quite well thanks to all of you: one million page views, almost 3,000 comments, and about 70 posts—though it feels like more. So if you have a spare minute, then pop a party popper, throw a streamer, crack open a bottle of Champagne, light a candle—that sort of thing.

Anyway, this is Sunday, so it’s time for Sunday Type. Let’s start with a type: Estilo Text from Dino dos Santos. I mention it for two reasons: one because it’s an expanded version of Estilo Script and Estilo and secondly because it’s on sale:

You may have already seen it; it’s not new, but I was trying to find it the other day, when coincidentally Romain sent me the link:

FontBook in a Movie

I received quite an impressive response to last week’s FontBook in a movie competition, inspired by Hamish’s Mel Gibson piece. This one is from Christian:

Apologies that I can’t mention them all, but here is a selection (click any of the images for an enlarged version). I was going to put little star rating gizmos below each entry, but gave up when I realised it would take me hours to do this within WordPress. So, by all means comment about the entries, and I’ll add my own opinion, and announce a winner next week some time.

(a) Mischa	(b) Vlad	(c) Christian
(d) Alec	(e) Gemma	(f) Hamish
(g) Ian	(h) Arild	(i) George

And here’s another from RogueJunkie. Not surprisingly I received several sexually explicit ones; one was particularly ingenious, but not quite publishable. Thanks to everyone for their entries. It was great fun, and brightened up an otherwise busy and unusually stressful couple of weeks (cue sad violin music).

Well, we’ve had chocolate type and potato type, and now we have cupcake type from Gemma over at For the Love of Type:

Can you name the typeface?

Type Friday / Type Neu

Eric sent me a mail about this new Flickr Group, Typography Friday:

Type Neu is a relatively new type site with daily posts. I wonder if iLT will make it into their ‘relevant links’ section? ;)

The above poster was featured on TypeNeu and is part of Dante Carlos’ Letter By Circle project. I like it.

Miscellaneous links

An interesting discussion on whether there’s a need for scientific tests for readability/legibility on Typophile.

Erik Spiekermann speaking at the University of Ulster for the FiFFteen exhibition.

Coming up

Next is the interview with Jean François Porchez. My fault that it’s been delayed, not Jean François’. We also have some more articles from Kris Sowersby, and a review of Gerard Unger’s While You’re Reading, one of my favourite books of 2007, and of course lots, lots more, including articles from new contributors!

A big thank you to iLT’s new translators to join the growing team. The latest members are Vitor Mazzeo for Portuguese and Uta for Chinese. More languages to come soon. If you write and translate well, and you’d like to help out, then send me a mail.

And finally

Does anyone know when the new edition of Counterpunch is due? Oh, and it’s Valentine’s day soon (I’ve forgotten which date exactly), so there are Valentine’s Font packs appearing everywhere. Utter nonsense in my opnion. If you want something romantic, then just go for an elegant script; and they don’t come much better than this:

However, if your girlfriend leaves you because you bought her a font rather than a 127-carat diamond engagement ring, don’t blame me.

Have a great Sunday!

fly me to the moon

It feels as though Jonathan Hoefler has been designing type for about 100 years—a tall order for a man in his thirties. While still in his teens, he established the Hoefler Type Foundry (now known as Hoefler & Frere-Jones, since teaming up with Tobias Frere-Jones, formerly of the Font Bureau). In 2002 he was honored with type’s top prize, ATypI’s Prix Charles Peignot.

If you own a Mac, then you already have a Hoefler font—Hoefler Text a serif face, commissioned by Apple back in 1991. If you’ve never even noticed it before, then do take a look: the family comprises some 27 fonts; it includes old-style figures, small caps, ligatures and even alternative versions of punctuation for use with caps and and small caps.*

But we’re not here to talk about Hoefler Text or H&FJ Didot or Verlag or Requiem, or even Gotham. If you look up at the night sky toward the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, you’ll spot H&FJ’s new typeface Archer, a rather lovely Slab Serif initially commissioned for Martha Stewart Homes.

I’m particularly taken with the ball terminals on the s (used throughout the lowercase). See the outlines below (hairline and bold). There’s definitely something Swanlike in its form. Interestingly (well, I thought it was interesting), the constellation Sagittarius contains several nebulae, one of which, the Omega Nebula, is commonly know as the Swan or Horseshoe. (one of those interesting facts you can raise when next at the pub).

H&FJ faces are never short on weights, and Archer is no exception, available in eight weights with accompanying italics, old style figures, small caps, lining figures…you name it, it’s in there. I’ve always found the slab serif to be a little sterile, characterless even. Archer though is a more noble, elegant slab serif. If Courier is Jane Doe, then Archer is Isabella Rossellini or Audrey Hepburn.

Sweet but not saccharine, earnest but not grave, Archer is designed to hit just the right notes of forthrightness, credibility, and charm.

I could happily write several more pages on what I like about Archer, but I suggest you take a look at H&FJ’s Archer page. So what do you think of Archer?

Coming up…

A very exciting exclusive on another new typeface and the interview with Jean François Porchez. But before that, I’ll see you all on Sunday for another edition of Sunday Type.

If you haven’t already subscribed to iLT, then a couple of clicks will ensure you never miss another issue.

*Dot-font: Talking About Fonts—John D. Berry. 2006, page 59.
More about the heroic type duo that is H&FJ can be found here.

The Serifless Roman

Welcome to another edition of Sunday Type. I hope that everyone had a good week. It’s been an especially busy week, with more than the usual number of emails through iLT. Kris Sowersby’s Why Bembo Sucks article was incredibly popular. There are some more great articles to come from Kris.

Let’s get started with a great new type from Carl Crossgrove. It’s a ‘modulated sans serif’ by the name of Beorcana (pronounced: byor-KON-ah):

For more information and a PDF sample, see Carl’s Beorcana web site. You can find out more about Carl and his typefaces on Terrestrial Design. Here’s one of my personal favourites, Origami:

Difficult to classify in conventional schemes, Beorcana could be described as a serifless roman, as it retains the proportions and contrast of Renaissance Roman typefaces. It could also be described as a modulated or calligraphic sans, as it has no proper serifs, just swellings and taperings. In that sense it is a hybrid…

iPhone wallpapers

Last week I mentioned some of the new Veer iPhone wallpapers. I’ve created some of my own. Ferl free to download them. And of course, you can submit your own.

Where art meets type

Everything You Thought We’d Forgotten is a series of text-based interactive works. Some very novel and interesting ideas:

Thanks to Robert for the link.

TypeNuts

Some time ago I wrote that I’m developing a type-related news web site. It’s nearing completion; mostly just the details of the design to iron out.

There are myriad type-related news items out there, and not space enough to mention them all here, as iLT is geared toward longer articles—so typenuts.com was born. You’ll be able to submit and vote for news items; I’m hoping that it will become a great resource and archive of type-related news. So long as the news is related to type, it will be in there, so new font releases, etc will be there too and you’ll be able to subscribe to all or to specific channels of your choice. I’ll let you all know when I launch.

Free Font

Recently I mentioned Stefan Hattenbach’s beautiful Anziano. I especially like the small caps, and you can now download them for free. But be warned: use them and you’ll fall in love with them.

If you decide to buy it, there are numerous wonderfully drawn ornaments included. Here is a small taster:

And on a lighter note…

In the comments to my FontBook review, I paraphrased Mel Gibson’s words in BraveHeart. Hamish, kindly watched the entire movie again and took this screen grab:

In fact, I was so thoroughly impressed by Hamish’s work, that I thought I’d make a competition out of it. Here’s what you have to do:

Preferably choose a movie that most are familiar with (though it’s not obligatory), and find a role for FontBook. I can either choose a winner, or you can vote on them; your decision. I’m trying to work one into Casablanca. The winner will receive a copy of Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style. Just mail your entries to jboardley{at}gmail{dot}com, mentioning FontBook in the subject line.

Miscellaneous links

1. A PDF article on .net magazine: Better Web Typography.

2. Smashing Magazine’s incredible January Roundup with several type-related entries. I especially like the Better Ordered Lists item.

3. Some time ago, Emigre promised that as their stock of back issues sold out, they’d re-publish some of the content on their web site. I like this one: The Art of Type Founding.

Competition results

During my review of FontBook I asked if you could identify the three types I used in the header. 86 correct entries went into the hat and out came Miha, a design student from Slovenia. Miha wins a copy of Helmut Schmid’s Typography Today.

The winning answers: FF Meta Serif black italic; Officina bold, and Scala Sans regular. Thanks to everyone for their submissions. Interestingly no-one chose the correct weight for FF Meta Serif italic, but it’s difficult to tell when it’s reversed out (light on dark).

Coming up…

A great interview with the man behind the Porchez Typofonderie and designer of Le Monde, Sabon Next and Ambroise, Jean François Porchez; and some more great articles from Kris Sowersby. Alec Julien has also been working hard on a series of video tutorials. They’ll be posted soon; I think you’re going to like them.

And finally

Thanks to everyone for their continued support of iLT. We’ve now passed one million page views. It really is great to receive your emails and to read your comments. That reminds me: February 8th marks iLT’s six-month birthday—how time flies! Have a great Sunday, folks.

Book Review

Recently I received through the post something large, yellow and weighing 3kg. No, not a genetically modified banana, but FontShop’s FontBook, an the encyclopaedia of type. This book really should come with a health warning: my postman almost had a hernia delivering it, and very nearly sprained his wrist attempting to hold it in one hand as he passed me the delivery receipt with the other. However, with some 32,000 type samples, 1,760 pages, and 100,000 footnotes and cross-references, I don’t think FontShop will be publishing a pocket version any time soon.

I took the FontBook to my local café, where I often work in the evenings, and complete strangers approached me (unusual in Japan); several people remarked ‘ookii hon desu ne!’ (big book, isn’t it!), while others simply asked what the book was about.

Beyond the trademark FontShop yellow covers, the content is prefaced by a ‘how to use this book’ section in both English and German; however, to be frank, you could be a Martian and/or only speak Zangalulob and still find your way around the book without any problems. The types are organised into eight main groups: Sans, Serif, Slab, Script, Display, Blackletter, Symbols, and Non-Latin.

Cross-references

My favourite feature of the book—and this must have taken ages to prepare—is the ample cross references. For example, I’m looking for something similar to one of my favourite types, Gerard Unger’s Swift (a). I can go to the Serif section—where all the types are arranged alphabetically,…p, q, r, s,… Swift! The cross reference in the inside margin displays an eye icon (denoting similar types); and listed are ITC Charter (b), Demos, Hollander and Bitsream Oranda . A very simple and very powerful feature.

In fact I’d love to see this further developed, so that for example, I’m looking for a good sans serif accompaniment to Swift, and there’s a cross-reference that points me to one. I’d also like to see an index of names. Anyway, it’s the cross-references that do it for me, making FontBook an invaluable tool for just about anyone who uses type. There really should be no studio without this in its library.

After spending an hour or so flicking through its pages, Monty Python’s exploding glutton, Mr Creosote came to mind. After, consuming some 20 courses, four bottles of vintage red and six crates of beer, the Maître D, played by John Cleese, recommends “And finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint.” Type gluttons among you will simply not be able to resist just one more wafer-thin page.

In absolute terms, $99 is not cheap, but then this is no throw-away paperback novel; it’s a 1,760-page, 3kg encyclopaedia. An in relative terms FontBook is cheaper than 20 McDonald’s Value Meals.

Why?

The cynics among us (and I can be one too), may argue that FontBook is a marketing tool aimed at selling more fonts. It may well sell more fonts—FontShop is not the Samaritans. However, when one considers the time that has gone into producing this tome, and the costs of production, I doubt that FontBook is much of a cash cow. I suggest instead that it is simply the product of a passion for type, published not so much with pecuniary gain in mind, but simply because its authors love type.

The FontBook is to type what the chocolate house is to chocoholics.

This book is probably worth robbing a bank for (non-violently, of course). However, if you’re caught, then whatever you do, don’t mention this article; and pray that Erik Spiekermann is on the jury. If you don’t hear from me for a while, then it’s because Mafia Maurice and Billy the Bruiser won’t let me use the ‘Internet’ in Cell Block H—until I perform favours of a wholly type-unrelated nature. I guess it’s only then that I will appreciate the fact that FontBook weighs 3kg. Anyway, let’s hope I’m put in charge of the prison library.

Coming up…

Prison typography.

And there’s a prize if you can tell me which three types I used in the header “i” (1) “love” (2) “typography” (3). One correct entry will be randomly selected and announced on this week’s Sunday Type. The winner will receive a copy of typography today by Helmut Schmid.

Further reading:
One Book to Specify Them All. Khoi Vinh of Subtraction interviews Stephen Coles of FontShop.
FontBook on FontShop, with PDF sample pages.
FontBook—the movie.

By Kris Sowersby

At a recent panel discussion on New Zealand book design, I lambasted the overuse of Bembo in many New Zealand books. As more questions were asked than could be answered, I wrote this article to explain myself. Let me begin with a brief history.

Before digital typesetting and offset printing, there was the letterpress. A typeface was composed of fonts, one font for each size. These size-specific fonts consisted of individual letters made from metal alloy. Single letters were placed by hand to create words, words were aligned into sentences, sentences were stacked to make paragraphs, and these were inked and pressed into paper. As a printing process it is fairly basic. Woodcuts and potato stamps use a similar method.

However, cutting a 7-point lowercase ‘g’ takes a lot more skill than making a smiley-face potato stamp! The old masters of typeface design spent decades perfecting their craft. Each font of type was designed to work at a specific size. For instance, when Bodoni needed a font for text size, he cut a font at 9 point. When he needed a larger size for headings, he cut another font at 36 point. The 9 point worked beautifully for text and 36 point worked for display. If one were to blow up the printed impression of the 9 point to the same size as the 36, the differences would be readily apparent. The 9 point has sturdier details: the serifs are thicker, the contrast is lower, and the spacing is more generous. The 36 point has much finer lines and the spacing is tighter. This is as much a technical consideration as an aesthetic one: the 9 point needs to be sturdier to withstand the printing process. If the details are too fine then the metal will quickly wear or serifs will break off when pressed into paper.

This practice takes on new meaning when we consider that there can never be a definitive Bodoni, Garamond, Jenson, or Fleischmann typeface, as their oeuvres consist of a multitude of single, size-specific fonts. It is like mashing up Othello, King Lear, Hamlet and a touch of The Tempest and publishing it as ‘The Shakespeare’.

Why is this relevant? Well, in the rush to adapt to digital typesetting technology, type foundries digitised classic typefaces. The nature of digital fonts is to use one outline and scale as desired. Typefaces went from being cut in a multitude of sizes to a single, all-encompassing outline. A digital typeface can be optimised for a few sizes, but hardly for all. Bembo, for instance, is a digital copy of a metal interpretation of an original typeface cut in 1495 – a copy of a copy. So, the process of digitisation poses a problem: which point size should be digitised?

This seemingly superfluous dilemma can only be truly understood when the original metal typefaces are seen in print. Oh, what a joyous sight! The subtle variation of letterform, the slight impression into the paper, the vibrant warmth of a page of text. It is not only beautiful, but an absolute delight to read. The effect of these typefaces is impossible to emulate with their insipid digital ghosts. Modern printing has become so perfect, so uniform and precise that the spirit of the original is crushed. It is like spending a lifetime slurping instant coffee and never experiencing a proper espresso.

As languages change, so do typefaces. These changes are not radical; they are subtle evolutions that address culture and technology. Modern typography requires modern typefaces, designed by the people of our time for the people of our time. There are cultural considerations as well. Is it appropriate to set contemporary Pasifika poetry in a typeface designed by a seventeenth-century Italian philanderer? What about using an eighteenth-century clanger for a twenty-first century New Zealand political polemic?

Are the ideals of the typeface designer compatible with those of the writer? It would be pedantic, of course, to match every nuance of the writing to the tone of the typeface. However, it is nice when some effort is made in the selection of typeface. Reading New Zealand books would be far less tiresome if the internal typography was much more considered. Just imagine if the same amount of effort went into choosing the typeface as there is for choosing the colour of the cover!

Clinging to the corpses of digital ‘classics’ is pointless, old fashioned and anachronistic – it will only ever lead to typography that is dull at worst and pedestrian at best. Ultimately, the point is to respect the reader. They will spend a lot of time reading the thing, so it is sensible to make that experience as comfortable and appropriate as possible.

Kris Sowersby is a professional type designer from New Zealand. You can see his typefaces at Village.

The Art of S PAC ING

Regular readers may well remember the lovely 1940s-style brush script, Kinescope, from the talented Mark Simonson. Mark’s latest offering is Filmotype Glenlake, a digital revival of a classic Filmotype font from the Fifties. And if you have no idea what Filmotype is, then head on over to the Filmotype page.

And here’s a little taster of Filmotype Glenlake:

FontShop has not long released its list of top ten types of 2007. Among them is of course FF Meta Serif, Stefan Hattenbach’s Anziano that I mentioned last week, and this absolutely beautiful didone from Jean François; she’s called Ambroise:

iCandy

I’m not going to dwell on this next item. I don’t have an iPhone, so it pains me to talk about them. Anyway, Veer has produced some lovely iPhone wallpapers; among them are a few type-themed ones, with Candy Script by Alejandro Paul used on the left, and I’m sure you can guess which type is used for the wallpaper on the right:

iLT iPhone wallpapers coming soon. If you’d like to make your own, then why not submit them here (320px × 480px)

Zoo type

Maybe you’ve already seen the book Bembo Zoo, but have you seen the web site; same principal as the book; pretty clever, I think. Just click the letters and enjoy.

Some nice type treatments here from Kollega:

And on a lighter note

The following book cover is not the the marriage of PhotoShop and the typographically challenged comedian, but is the real deal. And of all the people in the world to find it, Jonathan Hoefler of H&FJ did. Priceless:

Gemma over at For the Love of Type photographed this in her local book store. Spot the ‘deliberate’ mistake:

If you come across similar crimes against type, then be sure to send them in—so long as they’re not examples of my own typos ;)

Dan Reynolds needs you

Dear iLT readers, Johno has asked that I appeal directly for your aid. This year, I’m researching Indian newspapers, which typefaces are used, and how these work in print. Fellow students are conducting similar research: I’m just looking at Hindi newspapers (not other languages that use Devanagari), while a colleague is looking at Telugu newspapers. Other students are looking into Tamil, Gurmukhi, Oriya, and Malayalam, but not for newspapers. Perhaps this explains things a little better.

Links to newspaper websites are not what we are looking for—a website uses fonts installed on the reader’s browser. PDFs of newspapers are a good second-best… at least here correct fonts are displayed. If any of you out there are from India or happen to fervently collect daily Indian newspapers, do drop me a line at d.j.a.reynolds [you know what comes here] reading.ac.uk. Thanks!

Coming soon…

This one I’m very excited about: Alec Julien, the author of the popular So you want to create a font series, has made iLT’s first ever video tutorial. More about that next week. Next up is an article by type designer (and creator of Feijoa) Kris Sowersby; and then an interview with Jean François Porchez, type designer, former president of ATypi, and founder of the Porchez Foundry.

And finally

A big merci to Jean-Baptiste Levée for the Ambroise header. Here are a my font-picks for this week (Anaheim Script and Leitura Display):

…and it’s Sunday, so don’t work too hard.

Part 3: Siècle des Lumières

Welcome to part three of our Type Terms series. In part one we travelled all the way back to the 15th century to take a closer look at the Humanist or Venetian style types with their distinctive lowercase ‘e’ (remember that sloping crossbar?). In part two we considered the Old Style or Garalde types and also discovered how this era gave birth to the first italic type in 1501.

Today we’ve moved along the time-line to the cusp of the 18th century, the start of a period in history that we now refer to as the The Enlightenment, a time that was to sow the seeds of revolution in France, North America and beyond. But today we stand in the cobbled streets of 17th century France; Louis XIV is on the throne and Jacques Jaugeon is working on what is now considered to be the first Transitional (or Neoclassical) style typeface, the Romain du Roi or King’s Roman, commissioned by Louis XIV for the Imprimerie Royale in 1692.

¶ Continue reading this article »

More Edible Type

We’ve had chocolate type, but that’s just for dessert. Well, here’s some carbohydrates in the form of potato type. How do you like your type? Baked, boiled, fried, sautéed, perhaps? Which type would you use for your own potatoes? I’d go for sautéed Parisine.

ATypI membership

It’s January and ATypI membership for 2008 is now open to buy. ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale) annual membership costs $110 ($35 for students).

Not only does membership bring with it discounts for ATypI events, but you will also have access to the database of members, subscription to the members-only e-mail discussion list, annual reports from Country Delegates, and much more. If you’re already a member, then please share your thoughts.

I love these beautiful letter blocks that I found via Swiss Miss. Just need to have some children, so that I can justify buying some.

RedHat users might be pleased to hear of the release of Liberation, a set of fonts for Unix, that acts as a replacement to Arial and Times, etc. However, you don’t need to have Unix to use them. They can be downloaded here in several formats. Thanks to Alec for the link.

Up with the x-height

It seems like an age ago since I last mentioned the Insigne type foundry. Terfens is the latest offering from Jeremy Dooley, also the creator of the rounded sans Montag:

Terfens is a sans serif with inspiration from chancery scripts like Stefania. Subtly rounded and eschewing harsh technical lines, Terfens is a warm and inviting typeface. Its tall x-height gives it a friendly but not overly informal feel. Its readability and unique contemporary look makes it suitable for a wide range of design applications.

The next item doesn’t make for the most legible type, but it’s an interesting experiment nonetheless. Each letter form is derived from the number eight:

Might also be interesting to see something similar derived from squarer-looking eight. Thanks to James Brown (yes, it’s his real name) for the link.

During my interview with Neil Summerour I mentioned one of his recent typefaces, Epic. It’s now on sale over at TypeTrust. All twelve weights can now be purchased for $145 (half the original price); and Epic Pack A (4 weights) is available for just $50 (an OpenType font of course).

I’ve mentioned the display face Brasserie from Swedish designer Stefan Hattenbach before, but I’ll mention it again because iLT will be interviewing him in future.

And here’s another of Stefan’s, Anziano,

which comes adorned with numerous ornaments. To see more of Stefan’s work, visit his web site.

Tales of tattoos

Do you remember Roger who asked for your advice on a suitable type for his tattoo? Well, yesterday he did the deed, and here’s what he has to say:

Thanks for all your suggestions and inspiration regarding my possible tattoo a few weeks ago. I promised I would send a photo of the completed work and I’m happy (and slightly shocked) to report that I paid the shop a visit this afternoon and got my very first tattoo.
I went through a couple of type options with my friend and the artist. I wanted lowercase, but my friend rightly pointed out that a single lower-case word looks odd out of the context of a sentence. Also, uppercase tends to have more impact. I was keen to go for Baskerville, but the artist informed me that he wouldn’t be able to give proper definition to all the subtle curves and serifs (except he didn’t use the word ‘serif’), so I went with xxxxxx instead. I wanted a smaller size, but apparently what I’ve got is about as small as you can go without losing definition. In the end, it wasn’t exactly what I was after, but it’s definitely growing on me. I’m hoping it will thin out a bit when it has healed properly.

Thanks again for all your help! Perhaps this will be of use to someone else planning a type tattoo in the future.

I’ve intentionally x’d out the name of the type Roger used. That’s for you to guess. It’s not so easy:

And talking of tattoos, there’s an interesting article over on Easily Amused, the blog of John D Berry. It’s entitled Wearing your art on your sleeve.

Coming soon

The next in our Type Terms series, Transitional Type, where we’ll be heading back to early-eighteenth century France to take a closer look at the types that followed the Old Style forms like Garamond. We also have some more great interviews to come.

And finally…

Can you name the type used in this article’s header? Thanks to Antonio Serrano.

I’ve added some links and a search this site and search for fonts option, accessible via the ‘Typography Tags & Search” menu at the top of the page. You can also search for fonts from the FontWall. Soon I hope to have a search for fonts application within this site, with samples from a database of thousands. Yesterday I published the first translation of an iLT article into Portuguese. It’s a translation of Alec’s Font Creation case Study—one of iLT’s most popular. Many more translations to come, including Japanese, Chinese and French.

Have a great Sunday.

FF Unit Rounded Ready to Roll

News just in from Erik van Blokland writing on SpiekerBlog is that Unit Rounded is now complete.

One of the dangers inherent in creating one of these rounded types is the ‘sausage effect’. Those rounded corners may well look OK at one weight, but what happens when you want numerous additional weights? That’s where the Superpolator comes in—a kind of anti-sausage machine. To discover why FF Unit Rounded is no sausage, you can read the original article here.

FF Unit is serious enough to be rounded without becoming a sausage face or one only suited for comic strips. It looks friendly without losing its precision and changes its appearance quite dramatically as it grows in size. The Rounded version should be available at your local FontShop any day now.

It’s worth pointing out too that while the Superpolator looks like a pretty impressive piece of software, the final product was tweaked and perfected by human hands and trained eyes.

And here’s the original FF Unit designed in 2003 by Erik Spiekermann and Christian Schwartz:

See you Sunday for another Sunday Type. If you missed last week’s, you can read it here.

An Interview With Ellen Lupton
Graphic designer, curator, artist, educator and writer, Ellen Lupton is perhaps best known for her Thinking With Type—a book that in many respects opened up typography to a wider audience. Many have remarked that she made learning about typography fun; and ‘do I look fat in this paragraph’ and ‘typography is what language looks like’ are now oft-quoted phrases. She also stirred up some controversy over her Free Fonts Manifesto, which you can read about here.

How did you become interested in typography?

I discovered typography as an art student in the early 1980s. I had played around with lettering in an amateur way as a teenager, but I had no notion of typography until I was exposed to it in a typography course taught by George Sadek and William Bevington at Cooper Union. I was stunned.

¶ Continue reading this article »