Type News: Blackletter Friday
Happy Friday! Kick back and relax with some new type. But first:
Act quickly!
A few deadlines are quickly approaching. Imminent, even!
- Help survivors of Typhoon Haiyan and design a sun-inspired glyph in the process by participating in Font Aid VII. The deadline for submissions is December 1.
- Chicago-area artists, printers, and book artists: apply for a two-week residency at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum!
- Submissions for the Walter Tiemann Prize are due November 30.
And now, a veritable kernucopia of new type:
New Type
Oh, what a typographic mix we have this week. Kicking things off is a new performer from Dave “Squid” Cohen’s Sideshow foundry. The bold Mister Brown is a stylish, low contrast script with a pocketful of OpenType treats for the kiddies.
On a clear day, you can see forever. Does that mean with a Clear Sans, you can type forever? I’m sure that lettering artist and Positype proprietor Neil Summerour would like it that way. According to Neil, his new “rational geometric sans” is based on the warmth and movement of hand-lettered forms, not merely the “pretty geometry” of similarly styled families. Regular, text, and screen-optimized subfamilies cover an impressive 40 style range.
More than half a decade of blood, sweat, and béziers went into Charles Borges de Oliveira’s latest Desire. Built on the condensed frame of a rather mundane bracketed serif, this stately headliner fuses decorative alternates, intertwining swashes, and distinctive Victorian-esque details — with an ostentatious flourish.
Panos Vassiliou’s very deliberately named Das Grotesk takes inspiration from early 19th century grotesques, as well as the “gothic” handiwork of Morris Fuller Benton. There are fourteen weights worth of this slightly condensed sans — each style featuring “lively” strokes and “sheared” terminals. Detail that come into their own when set large, while subtly fading into the background when used at smaller sizes.
Acid is probably not the first name that springs to mind upon seeing this casual, upright condensed script — but, there it is. Designer Warit Chaiyakul has created something that’s bright and bouncy, rather than harsh and biting — with a curious, brush-like modulation and a handful of playful ligatures.
Uruguayan foundry TipoType presents Rufina — Martin Sommaruga’s blending of constrasty, Bodoni-influenced forms with the emotive touch of the calligrapher’s pen. This tidy family consists of two weights, their italic counterparts, plus a set of alternate cuts — each containing a selection of wonderfully illustrative ornaments.
Rounding out this week’s list of fresh faces — literally — is the cuddly HWT Gothic Round from the Hamilton Wood Type Foundry. Dating from the early 19th century, this chubby gothic display face has been updated from vernacular hard wood to hard working OpenType thanks to the skills of Miguel Sousa and a plethora of helpful historians at the Hamilton’s disposal.
News
We return early next week with leftovers! — er, a giant helping of links.
Thanks to Grant Hutchinson for all the new type. And thank you for reading!
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