Type News: The Importance of Being
There’s a dusting of snow in Chicago this morning. Fitting that we have a dusting of new type and type news to share with you.
As we alluded to last week, Alejandro Paul has indeed completed updates to the first pair of faces from his voluminous Charles Bluemlein Script Collection. The defiant brush of Mr Dafoe and the delicate flourishes of Monsieur La Doulaise have both gone “pro”—featuring dozens of new alternates (and a light housecleaning all around.) Given Alejandro’s habitual awesomeness, can expect the remaining thirty Bluemlein scripts to experience the same buff and polish in the very near future.
Belgian designer Dries Wiewauters is known for considering and adapting the historical and material contexts of type. The most recent example of this exploration is PDU — a rigid, modular design derived from Joseph A. David’s 19th century, stencil-based lettering system — better known as “Plaque Découpée Universelle”. The structured, alphanumeric weights include solid and Morse code-esque outline cuts. Two styles of corresponding pattern fonts are also available, along with a snappy looking limited edition, laser-cut physical stencil.
The good folks at the Lost Type Co-op recently sprung another couple of pared down display faces on us. Ben Dalrymple’s Arvil is a softened, compressed sans with subtle vertical contrast and a monolinear nod to classic, squarish “gaspipes” like Agency Gothic and friends.
Also fresh from the Co-op is Bender, a bold geometric “throwback” by Jim Dore. With a quirky mix of curves and diagonal crossbars, the solid and inline styles evoke industrial equipment, factory signage, and some nifty vernacular charm.
After three years of work, the talented Nina Stössinger has released her very first commercial typeface. FF Ernestine combines warmth, earnestness, stability, and a certain underlying femininity. The four weights of this monoline slab show their distinctive personalities in the airy, modestly extended Romans and the slightly slanted italics. Additional traits include some smart contextual alternates, a smattering of playful ball terminals, and the delightfully appropriate Armenian glyphs contributed by Hrant Papazian. While the accompanying microsite offers significant background on the typeface, check out this “first sketches” thread on Typophile—it really shows how the typeface began as just a twinkle in Nina’s eye.
And now, the news:
- Ivo Gabrowitsch and Christoph Koelberlin interview Verena Gerlach for I Love Typography.
- Interested in letterpress? Cole Henley shares how you can get into it.
- Did you know that letterpress loves lasers?
- Meet Justin Knopp of Typoretum.
- Paul Shaw and Indra Kupferschmid share some information about the origins of the ‘Helvetica’ name.
- Jon Hicks introduces another way to use type for icons on the web.
- Check out Typekit Tweaker, a handy plugin for adjusting Typekit previews.
- Just what the world needs: another typeface history infographic.
- Thermo Fisher Scientific is closing its factory in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Does anyone know how this affects the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum?
- RoboFont 1.1 is out.
- And Apple’s iBooks app has been updated to include some different typefaces. Yves Peters and John Berry share their thoughts on the update.
- The prolific Mr. Peters also has another great installment of his ScreenFonts series for your enjoyment.
- It seems too angular, but meet the Helvetica bike anyway.
- Jason Santa Maria has some great photos of M & H Type, “oldest and largest letterpress type foundry” in the United States.
- Head to Japan between now and January 17, 2012, to check out some alphabetic equestrianism from House Industries.
- More chocolate letters. Mmm!
Thus ends what we hope is a delectable confection for your Saturday. See you next week!
Thanks to Grant Hutchinson for bringing us a flurry of new type.
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