Blackoak
Credits
- Classification
- Serif, Slab Serif, Egyptian
- Original Format
- Digital
Background
Blackoak is an Adobe Originals typeface designed as a big, heavy Egyptienne-sytle slab-serif titling face by Joy Redick in 1990 for the Adobe Wood Type series.
Blackoak is based on Antique Extended first shown as wood type by Edwin Allen in George Nesbitt’s 1838 First Premium Wood Types Cut by Machinery. While most wood type designs originated as foundry type, Nicolette Gray, in Nineteenth Century Ornamented Typefaces, stated her belief that this design originated as American wood type.
One envisions this type used for the large, decorative posters that once filled the “Wild West” of America. Types from the Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection and the wood type collection of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC acted as primary sources of inspiration for this design.
True to its roots, Blackoak is meant for use exclusively in headlines at very large point sizes.