Type News: Manicules & Pedicules
It’s the first Saturday in MonOctober! How about some news? — and, of course, some huge new type:
We start off this week’s fresh faces with a pair of inaugural font releases. First up is Typiqal Mono from the London-based Temple studio. This finessed, single-weight sans is based on tight, monospaced geometry and a “technical feel.” Suitably equipped for both wayfinding and coding.
Nika is another debut release, this time from Arlo Vance’s brand-spanking new Typecaste foundry. Weighty, wedge-shaped serifs are clamped onto a hairline frame, making for an enjoyably offbeat display face. Maybe it’s just us, but does this font look like a stringbean teenager wearing oversized sneakers?
James Puckett and his Dunwich Type Founders have revisited their popular gothic sans family, Lorimer. The aptly named Lorimer № 2 and Lorimer № 2 Condensed replace the original, expanding the range and normalizing some of the typographic “oddities.” James also added a sharp-looking stencil variation based on the black weight — which just happens to be on sale over at Fontspring for a dollar and change.
Carla Zetina-Yglesias and the prodigious Chank Diesel have unleashed the lively Aguas Frescas. Two bouncy, hand-drawn display faces that can be combined into colourful layered settings or left to their own devices. There are plenty of alternate lowercase characters too.
Gothic graffiti written with textura spraypaint. XXII Blasphema is an extensive, 15 style “urban” blackletter by Lecter Johnson for Hamburg based Doubletwo Studios. We’re seen similar contemporary interpretations of blackletter forms in faces such as Underware’s Fakir and House Industries’ Blaktur — but Blasphema oozes a certain attitude that’s straight off the street.
One of a pair of recent releases from Lost Type Co-op, Homestead lays down a solid, geometric foundation of headline-savvy, textural slabbiness. Designed by Luke Lisi, the package includes six distinct styles built for creative intermingling.
Already an extensive collection of elegant text and display faces, Typonine’s Marlene gets yet another boost with the addition of Marlene High. Exaggerated contrast and “wispy” serifs feature throughout the four new weights and their true italics.
What’s better than a free font? How about a free font from TypeTogether? Veronika Burian conceived and constructed Birdy on the spot during London’s recent Graphic Design Walk, and now she’s giving it away. Sporting angular, upright, and calligraphically-inspired lines — but only a limited character set. However, Veronika has mentioned that … “An extension is in progress.”
If you’ve never been on a type walk, once you’ve read Paul Shaw’s account of a recent type walk in Berlin, it should be clear how one might inspire you to create some wicked letters of your own. And should you create those letters, you might want to enter this year’s type competition from the TDC. Or you could take that inspiration with you to Type Camp — the 2012 schedule is out!
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, though, let’s take another look back at ATypI 2011. reactions to the conference have gone from a trickle to an outright deluge (or at least it feels that way):
- Dan Reynolds writes about the conference for I Love Typography.
- Roger Black recounts his experience in Iceland with some poetic prose.
- Vikki Quick reports on Dawn Shaikh and Mark Tobias Kunisch’s talk, “The Subtle & Peculiar Lessons We Learned from Google Web Font Users”
- Dan Rhatigan posted a video of his presentation on using webfonts well to Vimeo.
- See some of the early reactions to RoboFont, which was released during ATypI.
Whew! And now, for the rest of this week’s news:
- The Web Font Awards are back for a second year! Submissions are due October 28. Learn more about this year’s awards on the fonts.com blog.
- Steeltown Anthem visits those intrepid folks at the Wood Type Revival studio.
- Last week we mentioned the “average font” that was making the rounds. Stephen Coles doesn’t think there’s much there there. (Though, as Shelley Gruendler observes, with Mr. Coles on the prowl, “when there’s no story, there’s still a story.”)
- A different — and perhaps more interesting — look at the alphabet comes in this video from n9ve.
- The webfont service at fonts.com now speaks German — and offers annual subscriptions in addition to its à la carte model.
- Russ Maschmeyer writes about using webfonts and responsive design to create 3D text that folds itself up.
- Learn from Jim Felici about the craft of typography.
- John Berry would like to set the record straight about the difference between type design and typography.
- Treat yourself right and have a manicule.
- While your out on the town, maybe have some gourmet typography.
- These are some lovely font haiku.
- FormFiftyFive recently interviewed Erik Spiekermann.
- MyFonts has a nifty new detailed glyph view.
- If you look at (the) numbers as much as Yves Peters does, you’re bound to have some interesting things to say. Be sure to read Figuring out Numerals at the FontFeed.
- “Our Fonts, Our Friends” is just swell!
For the calendar obsessives among us:
- Typographic Matchmaking in the City is happening on the evening of October 4. If you can’t make it to New York but want to attend, there will be a live webcast.
- On October 6 in Chicago, join David Demaree, Jackson Cavanaugh, Nick Sherman, Bill Davis, and me for “The New Web Typography.”
That’s it for this week. It’s breakfast time around here … care for some bacon? Let us know in the comments!
Thanks to Grant Hutchinson for his huge specimens — what? — and for bringing us this week’s new type.
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