Souvenir
Credits
- Designer(s)
- Morris Fuller Benton, Ed Benguiat
- Foundry(ies)
- ITC
- Release Year
- Add
- Country of Origin
- United States
Background
“The original Souvenir was drawn by Morris Fuller Benton and released by ATF in 1914. It appears, in a single weight only, in the famed 1923 ATF catalog. It has a distinctive ‘warm and fuzzy’ look, and is probably one of the softest typefaces ever to have wide popularity.
The most common version today is the 1970 interpretation, drawn by Ed Benguiat for International Typeface Corporation. When ITC was formed, Souvenir was one of their first releases for phototype. With its large x-height, soft round curves, and clean design, ITC Souvenir Light closely follows Benton’s original, which anticipated their design philosophy nearly sixty years earlier. Ed Benguiat changed a few details and expanded the concept to a family of four weights in both roman and italic. ITC Souvenir became hugely popular, and many people associate it with the design aesthetic of the ’70s and of early ITC types in particular.”
Memories