Type News: Rampant Misnomer
Welcome to another week of new type and new news, where we always tell it like it is or was or may yet be!
Type
Jeremy Dooley’s Ashemore Softened is an updated, rounded sans in an unassuming, Arts and Crafts style. Covering the same six weight, three width range as its crisp-cornered Ashemore cousin — it’s a natural extension to already voluminous superfamily. Toss in a selection of unique alternates and titling options and you have a very versatile face — comfortably straddling typographic eras and styles.
Keeping symbols simple is a Symbolset specialty. And their latest web-optimized icon font is no exception. SS Pika combines subtly curvaceous, “pixel-fitted” imagery — by the talented Dutch Icon — with smart, OpenType-powered semantic substitution. What does that even mean? It’s as simple as typing “heart” to feel the love — the iconic representation of love, that is. Simply brilliant. Brilliantly simple. And with over 500 glyphs and even more natural language keywords, Pika has your phrase covered.
Kicking the caffeine into high gear, Font Diner’s Sideshow offshoot pours up a mean cup of jangled handwritten joe. You’re likely to find Coffee Drinker jotted down on the back of a napkin or scrawled across some used car salesman’s dog-eared business card. Alternates are available as needed. Refills are always free.
The Filmotype font factory has fired up the (re)assembly line once again. The first batch of recently reinvigorated faces are a take on the condensed grotesque sans genre. Originally released as phototype back in the late sixties, Rian “Device” Hughes has brought the typographic trio of Miner, Marlette, and Manchester up to 21st century speed. Hughes also expanded the series by slipping the Mansfield and Meredith weights in between the existing styles. All five faces feature international character sets, automatic fractions, ordinals, and a handy assortment of alternates.
Also popping out of the Filmotype archives is Royal — a sharp and sensible five style serif. Starting from a single weight, designer Charles Gibbons extended the family (literally and figuratively) to include a range of widths — an nicely implemented hat tip to the optical scaling techniques of the past.
While not a public release, Commercial Type’s Обои (Oboi) is fascinating enough to warrant mention. Christian Schwartz and Vincent Chan designed this multi-sectioned sans specifically for the November 2012 issue of Wallpaper* magazine. Each of the three styles share the same rectangular, modular structure — but deviate via shifts in the way the various stencil breaks are applied.
Items
What’s out there? Things, and lots of them:
- Watch out, calligraphers — this machine is after your jobs!
- Alas, these typesetter blues.
- Good news for letterpress fans: in 2013 Hatch Show Print is moving to a “new, custom-designed space” within the Country Music Hall of Fame.
- Allan Haley profiles Michael Bierut.
- Chris Armstrong explores “The Infinite Grid.”
- Check out this incredible map haul!
- Jessica Hische and Erik Marinovich get the Bold Italic treatment.
- David Sudweeks begins a multi-article adventure through hand-painted letters.
- Mig Reyes redesigned Signal vs. Noise.
- Jason Santa Maria shares his thoughts on baseline grids on the web.
- Did you miss TYPO London? Never fear, Yves Peters has resources for you.
- Paul Giambarba examines the branding of Polaroid.
- Typekit has new, improved browser samples.
- This is a lovely use of Eskapade.
- TypeToy collects an assortment of intriguing objects.
- If you need more romance in your life, consider acquiring this poster of love songs from the 1980s.
- For regular readers of the Type News, there are some new items as well as some “greatest hits” in the latest Week in Type from I Love Typography.
Events
Will these stories end in laughter or tears or both? There’s only one way to find out!
- On October 22 make your way to the Alberta College of Art and Design for Rod McDonald’s launch the Carl Dair Typography Workshop.
- Join Rymn Massand and Kai Zimmermann for “Life in 12 pts,” October 25 at the Type Directors Club in New York.
Hello!
See you again in 168 hours or so — or perhaps sooner, in the comments.
Thanks to Grant Hutchinson for delivering another hebdomadal showcase of new typefaces.
Comments are closed on this entry.