Type News: Attention to Detail
This week we find type designers laboring over the small stuff, learn more about webfonts, and encounter new type.
The latest newsletter from Hoefler & Frere-Jones is out, and readers will learn about the excruciating level of detail that goes into high-quality typeface design, including the decision to include serifs in an otherwise sans-serif family. FontFont shows similar care by sharing a sample of FontFonts with extended Cyrillic language support. On I Love Typography, Stephan Willerstorfer shares his own experience in crafting Acorde, which he attempted to design for longevity.
When dealing with type on the web, paying attention to the small things is important in slightly different ways. One of the more useful things to understand is how operating systems (and browsers!) render type in distinct ways. Thomas Phinney has an informative and highly entertaining introduction to this issue. (If you’re feeling lost in all the talk of webfonts, Ilene Strizver will help catch you up.)
To understand where we are, it’s helpful to understand where we’ve been. In the latest installment of his Story of Type, Mike Parker introduces us to the work of Nicholas Jenson. Dan Reynolds covers the more recent past in part three of his series on ATypI 2010. And Aegir Hallmundur directs us to a growing repository for Armenian script.
There is also more recent work to appreciate (and perhaps put to good use)—new type!
Ambicase Modern, by Craig Eliason and available through FontShop, has “preposterous” swashes and ligatures fitting for such a wild face.
Monroe, by Daniel Hernández and released by Sudtipos, is a lovely, quirky slab serif. The face has a level of play that should make it a joy to work with.
Angel Koziupa and Ale Paul have released the delectable Cupcake through Sudtipos. It feels freshly baked and has a sweetness that shouldn’t make one’s teeth hurt.
From Fountain comes Göran Söderström’s Meadow Condensed, a welcome addition to the Meadow family.
Originally used on the cover of Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, the typeface Zadie is now available from A2-Type. Jessica Hische calls this type “awesome”; you probably will, too.
Richard Lipton has expanded Matthew Carter’s Miller with the new Miller Banner. Use it in the largest sizes you can, and its refinement should reward you.
This week is filled with book-related announcements:
- Creative Characters vol. 1, edited by Jan Middendorp and designed by Nick Sherman, is available.
- Wim Crouwel In His Own Words is available from Typotheque.
- Just My Type: A Book About Fonts will be available later this month.
- The Unruly Alphabet is fascinating, irreverent, and worth taking a look at.
- Alphabeasties, while not new, is still wonderful, and the Type Directors Club is hosting an evening with Sharon Werner about its origins on November 3.
- Since we’ve deviated from new books a little, Slanted 11: Monospace, Typewriter is recently in print, and Dan Reynolds has a review.
Here are a few other items of interest:
- TypeCon 2011 planning meeting. You’re invited to help.
- EDO Type Night, with Paul Barnes, David McKendrick, and Kuchar Swara, is on October 27.
- Check out the fascinating work from the Type and Media class of 2010
- Scott Hutcheson has started a Kickstarter project to fund a documentary about Comic Sans. You can help make his dream a reality, if you wish.
Do you have corrections, news that we missed, or anything else to add? Please share in the comments.
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