How and when did you become interested in typography & type design?

At university I majored in graphic design. I used to leaf through typeface catalogs in search of letters to use in my poster design assignments. However, I could never find any typefaces that matched perfectly what I had in mind, so I began making my own. I was lucky enough to have access to a Macintosh and Fontographer 3.1 at the university lab. At that time the Macintosh wasn’t particularly popular, and few knew how to use them. I found it great fun making fonts from scratch. It took me some time to get used to drawing letters on the computer, but I can still vividly recall the excitement when my font first appeared on the screen. From that instant, I was hooked on designing type.

Quintet Family

When Matthew Carter won the Tokyo TDC award in 1993 for his typeface Sophia, I returned home with his workshop brochure. That gave me good insight into the profession of a type designer. Although I had the opportunity to see the work of Emigre and Neville Brody — two big names back then — and, since their work had a strong graphic element, I wasn’t actually conscious of them being type designers. I wanted to create something similar to the brochure, which was beautifully executed to resemble a specimen book. From the start, I was interested in type design with a strong design element. When I had my typeface examined by Mr. Carter during a ten-minute critique at TypeCon Seattle in 2007, I was so happy to be able to tell him that his brochure inspired me to get into type design. I still treasure that autographed brochure.

Left: Matthew Carter’s autographed brochure from the 1998 Tokyo workshop.
Right: Sketches based on TypeCooker recipes.

You recently completed the Typemedia course at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK), Netherlands. What did you enjoy most about the course?

Perhaps I most enjoyed the TypeCooker experiments. The assignment was to draw letters from a randomly generated recipe TypeCooker recipe. I discovered many things by taking a pencil in my hand to draw the sketches. When I looked over the sketches of my classmates, they had unique approaches based on the very same recipe. There were many cool designs and it was very inspiring. Before I went to KABK, I self-studied letter-design, so it was particularly inspiring to see so many different kinds of designs from my classmates. And it made me realize how important it is to use your hands to sketch. I still perform these kinds of sketching exercises.

How did you start designing Quintet?

Quintet was part of my graduation project at KABK. Prior to designing Quintet, I was working on a typeface called Emotional. I thought it could be used for social networking by implementing emotional feelings in a font such as ‘happy’, ‘sad’, and ‘mad’. However, while I was sketching, I realized that this idea would not work in practice, since there is no common cultural concept for, say, ‘laugh’. Also, seeing how the teachers and students all reacted differently to the fonts, demonstrated that the implied meanings were ambiguous.

Left: Double-pencil technique.
Right: A rough sketch made at the Typeradio workshop.

While I was looking for different ideas, I thought it would be interesting to design a typeface that works even when the weight of the letters or even the numbers of layers is changed. When I designed the Latin component of the Japanese typeface, Hiragino UD, I drew it so that the width of the characters remained the same across all weights and styles. This time I wanted to create more developed letterforms. I went ahead with this idea once I had confirmed that these letterforms would be interesting with the addition of more layers. After looking at the script font designed at the Typeradio workshop, I discovered that it was possible to develop the weight without having to change the width of the letters, and without making the design awkward by adding all the weight to the inside of the strokes.

Left: Presentation made at the Typeradio workshop.
Right: Designs from the workshop.

Can you tell me about the Typeradio workshop?

At the ‘Typographic Chinese Whispers’ workshop, TypeMedia students were challenged to design letterforms as an interpretation of an excerpt of music or sound. The music was composed by students of the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste (HBR Saar) in Saarbrücken, Germany, who had earlier been assigned a typeface, and asked to interpret it as a one-minute piece of music or sound. Each student was allocated an anonymously labelled sound piece and their challenge was to create a typeface inspired by the sound. Our challenge was to reinterpret those sound clips as letterforms.

How did you draw the strokes?

In the beginning, I was sketching the font in double-strokes, but I realized that it was difficult to check the counter-balance and flow, so I first made a calligraphic font and, after checking the balance, I traced its outer line to form the strokes. On top of that, I wanted to add a little elegance to the strokes, so I slanted the letters to achieve better contrast. At this stage, I couldn’t make it exactly into the shape I wanted, so I made a couple of templates.

Left: The second stage designed after the workshop.
Right: Retouched from the unsatisfying second stage.

How did you convert ideas from the music?

I imagined a primitive sketch from the assigned music, while the stringed instrument was being played; I heard sounds of a line being drawn, paper being turned and a mouse being clicked, or sounds that could be associated with the history of the making and changing of the typeface. If I could convert the sketches into a digital font, I was convinced that I would be able to represent the process of letter-making. From there, I began sketching with two pencils, thus mimicking the contours of a flat brush.

I changed the style to a single stroke that better matched the flowing melody of the music. At the same time, I was excited to find that one discovery lead to another: while I was searching for a way to unfold a heavier weight, I realized that it was possible to keep the width of the letter even if the inner part, outlined with two lines, is bold. Being the inner part, it was possible to make a heavier weight by adding weight to either the left or right side as well as to make a new pattern — one with a hollow space in the middle by blending both sides. Fortunately, the activity enabled me to develop good ideas to make the most out of the shape.

How did the design change while you were searching for the shape?

I struggled to find a balance between a letter and its concept; the letters shouldn’t be made illegible by my insistence on drawing them in a single stroke. For example, I was not sure whether to draw the middle stem for the lowercase ‘m’ or the dot for ‘j’, so, for those letters, I gave up drawing them in a single stroke and retained them as ‘alternates.’ Initially, I wanted to make individual letters with an elegant flow but, in the end, I decided that the overall balance was more important so that it would work well as either a single- or multilayer typeface.

What made you design a layered script face?

I wasn’t thinking of making a layer font from the start. As I was sketching over and over again, I realized that I could easily turn it into a layer script face with a double stroke that created more variations in its weight without having to change the width of the letter. There are two types of font-users: those who use the font and those who read the font. Nowadays, anyone can make a greeting card design using a computer. Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to customize your font just like you can choose a gift and message? With Quintet, there are at least thirty different combinations and, if colors are added, the permutations permit almost infinitive possibilities. At this stage, only the left stroke is bold but you could also have the right stroke bold. Moreover, you could have it condensed. From the four master fonts, the variations can be expanded even further.

Above: Quintet Script combination chart.

Future family concept diagram.

What was the most challenging part in creating Quintet?

I incorporated many ideas into Quintet Script, but I didn’t want the design to look like a decorative font. In terms of design, I struggled to make an elegant, flowing line drawn as a continuous, single stroke. It was tricky to draw a double-stroke as a single stroke — it was like trying to solve a Wisdom Ring or Gordian Knot puzzle – and everyday I examined which connection method looked most beautiful. I once screamed with joy when I discovered the best solution while I was working in the middle of the night. I think I was able to come up with an interesting design solution, because I gave a lot of thought to a variety of ways to draw and connect the two strokes. Another key to my design, was to create a layer font that works both as a single- or multilayer design. I didn’t want to compose the layers as mere decoration — the individual layers had to function as letters too.

What were the difficulties in making the serif types to accompany the script face?

At the same time that I was creating the script face, I was working on a text typeface for package captions in short sentences and small sizes. The workload for a text typeface is heavier than that of a script face, but having the know-how from the interpolation and AFDKO, I calculated the time and got to work. I first designed an italic face, which is easy to draw along with the script face, and then gradually, I merged them with the Roman. The italic face was partly inspired by those I found beautiful at the Plantin-Moretus Museum.

Quintet Serif.

In what kind of media would you like your typeface to be used?

Of course it can be used well in print, but I designed the typeface with the screen in mind. It would be interesting if there was content where you could interactively customize the layer combinations. I insisted on the single stroke because I had in mind to move the font in a series of animations. It would be great fun if the letters were drawn in motion along to music, while at the same time the layers change color.

How would you like to use your typeface?

In addition to type design, I work on packaging design, so initially I would like to use it for package design. I would be able to create an in-depth design by adding gold or overlaying more embossed layers on top of a colored layer. Quintet is particularly suited to different and numerous color combinations; for example, tea and coffee packages need to have a coherent design while clearly identifying each flavor.

Are you planning to release the Quintet family and if so, when will it to be?

I have released the layer script component of Quintet through Photo-Lettering. I also have plans to release the entire Quintet family as OpenType fonts. There will be additional characters, and a new twist for the script face.

Kunihiko in Asakusabashi, Tokyo.

Interviewee: Kunihiko Okano graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts in 1995. He worked as a packaging designer for ten years; has worked on the Type Project since 2005, established Shotype Design in 2008, and studied at TypeMedia (KABK) 2010-2011.

Interviewer: Taro Yumiba is an interactive designer currently working at tha ltd. in Tokyo. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design, he worked for several studios in San Francisco and New York. He also continues to explore graphic illustration and create typographic experiments.

Japanese / 日本語

Sponsored by H&FJ.

An interview with Kunihiko Okano

After more than 10 years, Verena Gerlach has revised and extended her FF Karbid super family, an interpretation of German storefront lettering from the early 1900s. The new FF Karbid is a harmonized redesign of the original typeface. Rounder and less narrow letters lend the shapes more space and balance. Although the contrast was reduced to obtain a harmonious monolinear typeface (without losing its liveliness) it was increased in the bolder weights to improve legibility and achieve a certain elegance. FF Karbid Display is the most obvious spin-off of the original family. More than merely having been assimilated, the letterforms were revised according to a new concept.


From top to bottom: FF Karbid Text, FF Karbid Display, FF Karbid Slab, FF Karbid.

The FF Karbid family has been augmented with two entirely new sub-families. The first one, the Text version, is intended for body copy in small sizes. The eccentric, serif-like swashes in select letters have been abandoned, while the friendly, lively forms of l, y, z and Z show the close relationship to the FF Karbid family. The other new sub-family is a Slab version. It has a sober, journalistic character, inspired by the typography in magazines of the 1920s (see Memphis, etc.). The strong serifs lend the typeface footing and an air of reliability. To improve legibility and balance the contrast was increased in comparison to the sans serif version. FontFont’s Christoph Koeberlin and Ivo Gabrowitsch recently had the opportunity to talk with Verena Gerlach about her diverse super family.

1. Verena, please tell us a bit about your professional background.

I studied Communication Design at Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee from 1993 to 1998 with a focus on typography. Right after my graduation in 1998, I started to work as a freelancer, mainly in graphic design for cultural organizations.

Since then I have been busy in classic graphic design as well as type design, art direction for pop music videos, advertising and exhibition design. At the moment I am focusing on book design.

Since 2003 I have been teaching typography, design and type design in Germany as well as abroad; for example, in Algeria, Jordan, Sweden, and USA. Additionally, I have been giving lectures in several other countries.

Verena Gerlach.

2. Was the step of designing your own typefaces foreseeable due to your work as a graphic designer specializing in book design?

I did both simultaneously. Actually, I started with type design and later got involved in book design. Now, I find it extremely important for my work that I am doing both. When designing books I can do a better job of choosing the right typefaces and make better use of the chosen typefaces. Conversely, when designing typefaces I have a better understanding of type as text and as a part of an overall design.

3. What do you like the most about the type design process?

I like to have a finger in every pie, from drawing the single letters to programming the font. I most like the first drawings, which I do rather quickly; but I also enjoy the zen-like fine tuning of all the curves. I’m very happy when other designers use my typefaces and when beautiful things are designed with them.

FF Karbid has grown from 2 families with 5 styles to 4 families with 40 styles.

4. On the other hand, what’s the biggest challenge in this regard?

The clear decisions you have to make. There is only form and counter-form, that as single characters and combinations must add up to a balanced overall picture. There is only yes or no — no maybe. You are moving within very narrow borders and you must achieve the best possible result. There are also those moments when you change a form, spacing or kerning, and then the whole system no longer works and again you must change something, and so on. Finding the exact moment when you consider the font complete is very difficult because you are never really content.

5. How do you go through the process of a new type design? Are there any certain steps that you follow during the process?

My fonts are always conceived from scribbles on paper. I always start with a hand-drawn sketch, followed by drawing in a font program.

6. We know that FF Karbid was inspired by German storefront lettering from the 1930s. What made you so interested in this theme that you chose it as the inspiration for your digital typeface?

I’m in the lucky situation to have witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, and the happiness of the following years. To preserve the impressions and the excitement of this time in this city with its story, I collected a lot of visual material. Between 1991 and 1998, I documented the old shop lettering that was painted directly onto the façades in the former East Berlin – mostly in Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte. This lettering had not just survived WW II, but the more than 45 subsequent years of the post-war period. The reason why these traces from the early twentieth century could survive was the poor economy of the GDR. The whole political system was living on the leftovers of the ‘glory days’. I was fascinated when I got access to these massive resources of the suffering originals.  Because the old structures in the East were in very bad condition, the city started with the widely planned reconstruction of most of the façades, as soon as their ownership was discovered. The only way not to lose all of this beautiful lettering and the stories behind them was to record them in photographs and try to find a way of showing them later on in another context. Therefore, I took pictures of the lettering, ‘portraits’ of individual characters, and even the spaces in between. I call this method ‘search, find, and rescue’:

Berlin façades now and then:
Most of the lettering has gone.

SEARCH AND FIND
To show how the old shop lettering was disappearing over the past 15 years, in 2005 I returned to the same places where I’d taken so many photographs. I took new pictures, trying to get to exactly the same position, and keeping the same angles as the first shots. This was not easy, partly because so many cars are parked on the streets these days, compared to the relatively car-free days of the GDR. The thing I found out is that more than 98% of the old lettering has vanished forever. Just a handful of building owners cared about these old traces and conserved the originals on the façades by painting the new color around them.

RESCUE
To transfer the characters into a new mission, I examined the distinctive appearances of individual letters and tried to find out about their origins in old type specimen books. Old techniques for printmaking and reproduction and contemporary innovations, together with the everyday life in the early twentieth century are all very well reflected in the shapes of the letters. In the FF Karbid family the results of this research process come together in a new typeface, to be used in a new time and new media. In this way, the old lettering can live again.

FF KARBID
The shapes of FF Karbid Display stick quite closely to the found originals, while FF Karbid Text shows its historical background less obviously. The typeface has been trimmed down to the bare essentials of a text face, which makes it eminently readable, especially at small point sizes. Despite this back-to-basics reduction, FF Karbid Text is a font that captivates through its sheer liveliness. The sweeps that replace the serifs and link the characters create a flowing movement.

Here are some examples for the process behind FF Karbid Display’s design:

‘a’
At the turn of the last century it was very popular to design typefaces whose lowercase ‘a’ sits with its full weight on the baseline. This is a kind of reference to the organic shapes used in Art Nouveau.

‘g’
Due to technical limitations of the time and the German standard baseline specification of 1905, foundries started to truncate the descenders of roman faces so that they could be combined with blackletter faces in the same line. While it was easy to amputate the descenders of letters like ‘p’ and ‘q’, the ‘g’ provided a much harder challenge for the type designer to play with its short tail. The strangest shapes suddenly appeared in the ‘modern’ typefaces, whose unique look was applied to façade lettering as well, although there was technically no need for this.

Some of FF Karbid Display’s letters directly link to storefront lettering.

A reflection of the speed of modern times in a busy city like Berlin are the rally stripes of A, E, F and H. The shapes of these characters are taken directly from the found lettering.

One very important graphic and type designer of this time was Lucian Bernhard (1883–1972), who created the typefaces, Extrafette Bernhard Kursiv and Bernhard Antiqua. The sweeps of ‘n’ and ‘m’ in FF Karbid are taken from Bernhard Antiqua, as if it has been enlarged by a photocopier. These shapes replace the serifs and link the characters to create a flowing movement.

FF Karbid’s terminals and serifs are irregular: as if they have fallen off, as actually happened to the originals when the plaster fell off the old façades in the East.

7. Why did you decide to redesign FF Karbid after all these years?

I acquired more knowledge in all the years since designing the original FF Karbid, by designing typefaces and using them in book design. I found the forms of the old FF Karbid rather unsuitable for body text, and there are some other things that I have a different view on now. An Italic/Oblique was missing, and I thought a matching Text and Slab version would be great. The weights were not balanced and a Light was missing. You could say that the new FF Karbid Pro is like Berlin: it evolved during this time; it has grown up and has become serious despite all the party hype. Many different people have moved to Berlin and perhaps FF Karbid Pro is the gentrified version of the old FF Karbid.

8. Where does the name ‘Karbid’ come from?

The working title was Kabinett as a reference to the curiosity cabinets of the turn of the century. I eventually found this name too kitschy and thought it should be based on the lettering found on the facades of the workshops and stores of that time in the neighborhoods around Hackesche Höfe and Pappelallee. The numerous signposts of coal stores (Kohlehandlungen) supplied me with a nice collection of ‘Ko’ lettering, but also the idea for the name of the typeface, Karbid, the German word for Carbide, a carbon compound. Carbide is not only the main ingredient of the extremely bright carbide lamps (used for cinema projectors at the time) but also highly explosive which I found very appropriate.

9. What are the special features of FF Karbid? Why should a designer use it in his/her work?

The features consist mainly of alternate characters – by using them you can strikingly change the appearance of the typeface. These alternate letters have forms reminiscent of the Art Déco without being obtrusive: the higher or lower waists of the capitals in SS01 and SS02, or the almost circular forms of C, E, G and O. There is also a non-diagonal, rounded upwards A in SS03. And the several styles of the fonts enable ambitious graphic design with many different text hierarchies. For example, the new FF Karbid Text Pro is a softer version of the FF Karbid Pro without those serif-like terminals to enable discreet but lively body copy. In this sober version the references to the store lettering are just visible as a little friendly salute.


Low-waist alternates of Stylistic Set 1 and high-waist alternates of Stylistic Set 2 (SS02), contained in FF Karbid, FF Karbid Text and FF Karbid Slab.

The Slab is a stronger, louder variant which combines perfectly with the other more prosaic styles.

10. Could the family unfold its glory only through the OpenType format?

I could have made separate fonts from all those features, but this would be redundant and confusing in these OpenType times. By clicking on the features you can play with the font and choose the most suitable features. You will need a bit of intuition but that’s something every designer loves to be challenged by, right?

Many hidden gems to be found in FF Karbid’s Stylistic Sets: Single-storey a and g in Set 5, alternative ampersand in Set 7, rounded A in Set 3 and circular letters in Set 4.

11. With FF Karbid Slab you added to the superfamily a completely new variant. What inspired you for this?

I always liked Memphis which was suitable only to a limited extent for body copy. When used with justification, for example, you get bad gaps in shorter lines. So, I looked for a narrower Egyptienne and then I had the idea to just apply square-edged serifs to FF Karbid and to raise the contrast. Thanks to the new font program, Glyphs by Georg Seifert, this was done quickly.

What I transferred from the original Memphis is the upright-standing rounded upwards ‘A’ which I then also used for the other weights, and which was already part of the FF Karbid Display variant. I had taken it from lettering in a Bauhaus version, but the idea for this form, for a Text capital ‘A’, came from Memphis.


FF Karbid Slab used in ‘The Murder of Crows’ (Hatje Cantz, 2011).

12. How does a historically influenced super-family like FF Karbid make sense in the new webfont environment?

I find it appropriate to transfer the lettering onto the web. The point with webfonts is that they must be well hinted and readable on screen. Of course, it’s up to the designer to select the right font for the right purpose and use it accordingly (size, colour, contrast, space, etc.). It’s a bonus if all the beautiful lost letterforms of the reconstructed façades in Berlin can live on on the web.

13. Compared to the other variants, FF Karbid Text differs from FF Karbid only slightly. Why did you decide for such a separate family instead of a stylistic set extension?

I see the problem in marketing the stylistic sets. This version is very different from the normal FF Karbid Pro but you can just see it in text. The individual letters are partly the same, but the new FF Karbid Text Pro is a softer version of FF Karbid Pro without those serif-like terminals to enable discreet but lively body copy. In this sober version the references to the store lettering are just visible.

14. Since FF City Street Type, that you designed together with Ole Schäfer, as well as your typefaces Tephe and PTL Trafo are all based on type that you’ve explored in Berlin, would you see yourself as the prototype of a Berlin graphic designer? How does the city influence your work in general?

I see myself as a designer who observes her environment and finds inspiration in it. I can’t go through life without handling what I see in my graphic work. As I’ve lived in Berlin for many years, my inspiration is Berlin. And given the history of this place during the last 100 years it was so special that it has left many traces throughout the city. I had the same feeling in Algiers which is also a rich source for inspiration, as well as Damascus, and even Monaco. I would see myself rather as a prototype of a designer inspired by any environment.

15. Do you have plans for a new type design in the near future?

Yes, I have. But first I’d like to design using my typefaces. Some time, in the not too distant future, I will surely again design and publish a new typeface.

Links: FF Karbid | FontFont | @FontFont

Sponsored by H&FJ.

An Interview with Verena Gerlach

More than half a millennium has passed since the invention of moveable type in Europe. It’s now just about impossible to imagine a world without it. That very sentiment is set in ink in this new print collaboration with Stefan Hattenbach. A sumptuous screen-print of gold, white, and black inks on beautiful red Plike paper. A truly stunning print, and perhaps the perfect Christmas gift!

It’s been a while (too long) since the last Week in Type, so without further ado:

Let’s begin with a smile and this great tee from Able Parris:

A lovely short of Robert Warner dancing with his Golding Jobber press:

Another video. This one a delightful spelling video, and some unusual materials for letterforms:

Practice your kerning (or, more accurately, letter spacing) with KernType.

And read Paul Shaw’s comprehensive review.

All you need is a large chainsaw and an even larger piece of ice. Promo video from Monotype for Kobayashi’s Akko:

A little baffled by Google’s foray into Kickstarter projects. Why would one of the richest companies in the world seek crowd-funding for its fonts. The quality of many of the fonts in their library is pretty poor. Perhaps they should stick to investing in technologies for improving screen fonts, rather than publishing more sub-standard fonts in a market that is already bursting at the seams with crap free fonts. See Stephen Coles’ no-holds-barred Roboto is a Four-headed Frankenfont, where he describes Roboto as an “unwieldy mishmash.”

It’s merger/buyout time: First Adobe buys Typekit. Though Adobe fails and fails again when it comes to software, when it comes to fonts, they’ve done well. If they keep the present Typekit team — and they’ve announced that they will — then it’s a really great move.

Then Monotype (Linotype, ITC, et al.) bought Bitstream (MyFonts). Looks like a good deal for Monotype. Not sure what it will mean for customers. Perhaps this is a good time for new players (distributors/resellers) to enter the market?

Type Can, where Type Campers talk about their experience of Dr. Shelley Gruendler’s wonderful Type Camps. New Zealand plays host to the next one in January.

In case you missed it, FontFont has a page devoted to free fonts, including FF Nuvo Web Medium.

Typographic Design in the Digital Domain: Elliot Jay Stocks interviews Erik Spiekermann:

Great to see the Ludlow Projectt has reached its funding goal. Still time to add your support:

Oded Ezer has a great new Hebrew Typography blog:

Think you’ve seen it all? Leg hair letters (upper- & lowercase):

I gave up trying to find a segue from leg hair to Matthew Carter, so:

Highlights from Paul Shaw’s interview with Matthew Carter for the TDC. A must-see:

Bookmarks

How to enable more languages in InDesign CS5.5
FontLab Studio 5.1 released at last. Now compatible with Lion.
What Should I Look For In a UI Typeface? (comments are more valuable than the article).
The trouble with font classifications
Putting the ‘Fonts’ into Webfonts
Seminario de Profundización y actualización profesional en Tipografía
Interactive Typography Effects with HTML5
James Mosley on the Elzevir letter
My Type of Music
The Typography Out Approach
Video interview with Oded Ezer

Still controversial, but if you are in the yes camp, here’s how Ralph Hermann thinks the capital Eszett should be drawn:

Further details on Ralph’s excellent blog, Opentype.info.

New & notable type

Grilli Type is a very promising new Swiss foundry. Like GT Lena,

Cassia, the soft and friendly ‘Egyptienne’ from Dieter Hofrichter, and available from MyFonts:

A display type that’s as fat as they come. Meet Daisy from Ludwig Übele:

Erler Dingbats is free to download and use for both private and commercial use. The core glyphs are from FF Dingbats. You can read more about it on the FontShop blog, the FontFeed; and download it here.

Importantly, it’s Unicode friendly, mapping to Unicode address U + 2700 through U + 27BF, so you can use it on websites and embed it in apps.

Many more great new releases featured on Typedia.

And finally…

There are a handful of Codex magazine still available. Or you can buy the PDF version of Codex.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Sponsored by H&FJ.

Heaven Devoid of Stars

Sponsored by H&FJ.

Steve Jobs

A line of text is like a silhouette on the horizon. Closer inspection reveals the detail, the trees, bushes, rocks; details that, though only vaguely perceivable from afar, create both rhythm and variation. The beauty of this landscape is born of both regularity and variety.

I chose Tundra as the name for my new serif typeface not during the design process, but from the outset. I had in mind this idea of a wide and flat landscape. This was the initial idea: Tundra should lead the eye effortlessly along the line, thus emphasizing the horizontal. This would have been rather easy, since a typeface with comparatively wide proportions would achieve this quite naturally. But I also wanted to create a useable, legible typeface: somewhat compact or condensed so that it might also serve well for narrow columns and space-starved headlines.

In the first sketches Tundra had asymmetrical serifs to accent the reading direction. Somehow it looked cropped (mutilated), especially for the capitals.

A typeface has two principle directions: The horizontal, the line, which the eye moves along; and the vertical of the individual characters, defined predominantly by the stems. The stems are responsible for the rhythm of a typeface, while the curves (bowls, instrokes, outstrokes, etc) determine its character. In general, the narrower a typeface becomes, the less distinctive it is. A narrow typeface creates a picket fence or staccato effect, a line dominated by closely spaced stems. This is tiring and dull, and does not make for easy reading. The same occurs when the distances between the stems is too generous. So my main question was: How could I create a rather narrow typeface that best emphasizes the round parts and the horizontal line? How could I optimally adjust these two directions?

Warm and open

The most important parts of a typeface are the zone at the base line and even more at the x-height. Here reside the more complex forms (in contrast to the middle parts, which are usually only the vertical stems).

As a counter movement to the stems, which are more dominant the more narrow the typeface becomes, I tried to emphasize these two lines: the base line and the x-height. I made the general contrast rather moderate. The serifs are strong and flat. I also drew the shoulders (n, b) flat and strong.

Some characteristics of Tundra: moderate contrast between thick and thin parts, flat and strong serifs, diagonal stress, open and heavy terminals, flat and strong shoulders.

The diagonal stress moves the thick parts more to the horizontal. The terminals (a, c, e) are heavy and the apertures open. The letters c and e — owing to their contrast — could almost be part of a sans serif typeface. Open forms also permit more interaction between the letters. All these elements help to create even lines that make reading easy and comfortable.

Above: Comparison of narrow type: closed and open letterforms.

The italics have no curved head and terminals, but serifs, to emphasize the baseline and x-height.

Of course reading is much more complex than these very simple considerations. Why a typeface is legible, why it appears fresh or lively is much more complicated and difficult to specify. Rhythm can’t be reduced to a fence pattern. And to create harmonious letterforms it’s much better to follow your own feeling for forms rather than follow rules. Very often I’m unable to point out why I like a typeface and why it creates an enjoyable image of text; or, conversely, why it fails. Therefore, I try to track my own eye, and how it describes a path through the text, across the line, and through the words. Is it a pleasing and fluid movement, or does it stutter and stall? But still I can’t precisely describe why a typeface works. Usually I try make forms clear and distinct. I was never much interested in playful details (which you can’t see at small sizes anyway). I think a good typeface must be more than a selection of interesting (and more or less pushy) details. It needs a design vocabulary of its own. A good text typeface should be concerned with producing interesting and lively texts, rather than interesting and lively characters.

When I designed my typeface Marat, I also drew a super black version, and – unusual for a classic serif typeface – it works very well. For Tundra the opposite is true. It appears that this particular construction prefers lighter weights.

The lighter a typeface the more linear its stroke. The Extra Light weight has much less contrast between thick and thin than the Bold. The thin parts of the Extra Light and Regular are almost equal.

The reason might lie in the moderate contrast of the letterforms. So I drew Light and Extra Light weights and reduced the contrast yet further. In my opinion, many thin contemporary Old Face types contain too much contrast. Maybe its caused by extrapolation, I don’t know.

I’m not a friend of fonts with thousands of (interpolated) weights flooding the font menu. I try to graduate the weights very carefully and appropriately for the particular design.

Tundra comes in six weights from Extra Light to Bold, accompanied by italics and small caps. The Pro character set contains letters for all major languages using the latin alphabet.

Different numerals and various other OpenType features provide advanced typographic performance. There is one thing I want to point out, a composition problem often occurs for certain character combinations, mainly f and y.

For problematic combinations Tundra contains alternate characters or ligatures (blue).

For this reason Tundra contains ligatures and alternate letters. A common problem is f followed by an accented character. In this specific case a narrower f applies automatically via OpenType’s contextual alternates feature. For g y there also exists a ligature. For more details check out FF Tundra on the FontFont web site.

Tundra has been selected by the Type Directors Club of New York to receive the 2011 Certificate of Excellence in Type Design.

FF Tundra full character set.

You can find more of Ludwig’s work at ludwigtype.de and follow him on twitter. Back in 2008, I interviewed Ludwig for ILT.

If you’d like to read this article set in FF Tundra web fonts, thanks to FontFonter you can. Hat tip @TimAhrens

Sponsored by H&FJ.

The making of FF Tundra

Founded in 1957, the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) is a worldwide organization dedicated to type design and typographic-related themes. Reykjavík/Iceland hosted this year’s annual ATypI conference. From 14–18 September, about 250 local and international guests gathered to hear presentations on writing systems, design history, and font production. I attended with the Linotype/Monotype Imaging company contingent, and was fortunate enough to give a presentation on the final day of conference. While this write-up doesn’t cover every lecture or activity, I hope that it lends readers a good feeling of the event’s flavor.

This year’s conference was held in the brand new Harpa building on Reykjavík’s harbor. Photo by Frank Grießhammer.

Reykjavík is a beautiful city, and the conference location was outstanding. All regular activities took place inside the recently completed Harpa Reykjavík Conference Hall and Conference Center. Harpa has a contemporary, nebulous appearance. Although the building is without a specific profile, it still features a prominent façade, created by the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. While Reykjavík may be a small town, as far as European capitals are concerned, Iceland seems immensely large upon arrival. Many conference attendees took advantage of the easy opportunity to drive out into the landscape and experience more of the island’s natural wonders.

Font editors & a book steal the show

The five-day conference began rather informally on Wednesday, 14 September. Attendees could sign-up for optional workshops; the most interesting of these may have been Indra Kupferschmid and Nick Sherman’s Define: type matters round-table discussion on typeface classification, or Mike Duggan’s ClearType hinting for webfonts workshop. Indra and Nick are hoping to publish proceedings from their workshop on the ATypI website soon; this will give the wider community the benefit of their work at the conference. As for hinting, Mike works for Microsoft, and I think that it would be great to see more workshops with him at future design conferences.

Over the past few years, I have experienced several design events where the new, star products were all typeface releases. As far as I recall, no new typefaces were released at this year’s ATypI. Instead, talk of four new font editors filled the air. Days before the conference began, FontLab issued the long-awaited public beta version of FontLab Studio 5.1, a re-write of FontLab Studio that enables the application to run under MacOS X Lion.

This slide from Frederik Berlaen’s presentation shows node manipulation on a glyph in the new RoboFont application. Photo by Frank Grießhammer.

Before the conference, much of the online buzz around this year’s ATypI revolved around RoboFont. So, many attendees must have felt relieved when Frederik Berlaen took to the stage on Thursday to demonstrate RoboFont publicly for the first time. RoboFont – already used by some of the world’s best typeface designers – is a Mac-only, UFO-based glyph drawing application, originally commissioned from Frederik by the Font Bureau. RoboFont was officially released during the conference. Later on during the conference, I saw several designers in the audience with their laptops open, already designing in RoboFont. For professional type designers, the €400 price is really a steal, especially if they have already purchased other UFO-workflow applications, like Metrics Machine and Superpolator. A 15-day trial version of RoboFont is also available.

Drawing in RoboFont.

There were other font editors shown during the conference: Georg Seifert presented his Glyphs font editor, which he had demonstrated in beta at last year’s ATypI conference. Google’s Raph Levien previewed a new, spiral outline font editor he is developing; this cloud-based application is apparently not yet ready for release, however. Will it help make 2012 be ‘year of the font editors’?

Fred Smeijers discussing a close-up photo of a sixteenth-century matrix from the collection of the Museum Plantin–Moreutus in Antwerp. Photo by Frank Grießhammer.

Another release was Hyphen Press’s announcement of the second edition of Fred Smeijers’s Counterpunch, and a few advance copies of the book sold out quickly in Harpa’s bookstore. Fred had a lecture of his own on Friday morning, in which he showed incredible close-up photos of sixteenth-century matrices from the Museum Plantin–Moretus collections; some of these matrices were struck with punches cut by Claude Garamond, Robert Granjon, or Hendrik van den Keere. Counterpunch itself was originally published in 1996, and Fred’s lecture focused on his research into punchcutting since that time. According to Fred, Counterpunch’s second edition is primarily a reprint, not a sequel, although he then teased the audience, remarking that his additional findings may some day be published in a follow-up volume, which he jokingly referred to as Counterpunch Two. I know that this is a text that I would eagerly read.

Iceland’s special letters

This year’s conference theme was ‘eth’ – or ‘œŧħ’, as the conference designers wittingly spelled it. The ‘eth’ name represents the Ð/ð letter of the Icelandic alphabet. The lowercase ð form seems to have come to Iceland via Anglo Saxon texts, while a ‘barred D’ type of uppercase form is used in the diacritics of other contemporary languages as well. Today’s Icelandic alphabet has 32 letters, including the Þ and the Ð, an Æ, six letters with an acute accent, and an Ö. The letters C, Q, W, and Z are not used. The Þ and the Ð share a similar th sound, at least to non-Icelanders; but the Þ only appears at the beginning of a word, while Ð is an inter-word letter only. In keeping with the special-letter theme, several papers on diacritics from various European languages were presented during this year’s conference, particularly on Friday.

This street sign in Reykjavík illustrates how common the diacritics are in written Icelandic. Unfortunately, Icelandic presenters during the conference mentioned that including flat-stroked bar on the letter ð is not the best way to draw the character. Photo by Frank Grießhammer.

One of my fondest memories of the conference will surely be the panel discussion on the design of the lowercase ð, which was the penultimate Friday afternoon presentation; it is a pity that this was not filmed for later release to the general public. Panel participants included Anton Kaldal Ágústsson, Gunnlaugur SE Briem, Veronika Burian, Steinar Farestveit, Gerry Leonidas, Gerard Unger, Gunnar Vilhjálmsson, and Ian Watson. Albert-Jan Pool lent a hand, too. Early on in the discussion, Gerard Unger remarked that, ‘it can be tricky to design an ð for a typeface. If you don’t want to design an ð that matches your typeface, you can design a nice ð and then design a typeface around it!’ This comment set a light-hearted tone; yet, despite all of the laughs during the 30-minute time-slot, I think that there was a lot to be learned during this part of the programme.

After the presentation had ended, Adobe’s Frank Grießhammer told me that the problem type designers had about not knowing how to properly design the ð is now over. By convening in Iceland, the ATypI ensured that more than enough photos of Icelandic signs will make their way onto Flickr.

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, the president of Iceland, addressed the ATypI during the conference’s official opening on Thursday, 15 September. Photo by Frank Grießhammer.

This year’s ATypI conference included a new element: a ceremonial opening on Thursday evening by Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Iceland’s president. Although there have now been 55 ATypI gatherings, this is the first time a head of state has addressed the organization.

President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson’s talk was a treat. With great humor and insight, he explained the role that he saw for languages with smaller numbers of speakers, both in Iceland and abroad. For instance, Microsoft once had a policy of only supporting languages with over one million speakers. Although Icelandic is the national language of Iceland, only some 318,000 people are estimated to live on the island. However, Windows does now support Icelandic, thanks to a personal letter the president sent to Bill Gates. This was only one of several anecdotes he used to captivate his audience.

The presidential address was followed by a keynote lecture from Gunnlaugur SE Briem, author of the English-language instruction guide for type designers eager to learn how to properly design the Icelandic characters thorn (Þ/þ) and eth (Ð/ð), and likely the most well-known Icelandic type designer.

One of five short videos put together by Iceland’s ATypI volunteers. This one, from the conference’s last day, is my favourite. Aside from shots of many aspects of the conference, it also features short interviews with several attendees.

World scripts

If Saturday’s daytime activities had their own theme, it would have had something to do with non-Latin design. This year’s conference programme included talks on – at the very least – Arabic, Devanagari, Khmer, Korean, Latin, Meeti Mayek, Mongolian, and Tamil scripts. Aside from the annual TDC and TDC² exhibitions that have long been part of the ATypI conferences, this year saw the first World Scripts Exhibition from the collections of the Typography and Graphic Communication department of the University of Reading. Fiona Ross and Alice Savoie curated this fascinating glimpse into the resources available to students and researchers at Reading; many of the items included traveled outside of the archives for the first time in order to be part of this exhibition.

Above: Two issues of the Malayalam newspaper Malayala Manorama, from Kerala in southern India. The single color issue is from 1983, while the other issue is more contemporary.

Drawing for a Tamil letterform, made at Mergenthaler Linotype. This image, and the one before it, is part of the collection of the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of Reading. Several collection artifacts traveled to the ATypI conference for the World Scripts exhibition. Photos by Frank Grießhammer.

Saturday’s final presentation was from Hanif Kureshi, entitled Painter Kureshi, last street painters of India. I first saw Hanif’s HandpaintedType project during the Typography Day 2011 conference in Ahmedabad, India. His project has come a long way since then. Some time back, a free font named Painter Umesh was released via the website. Now, the first commercial font family is available for sale: Painter Kafeel.

This was one of two videos Hanif showed during his presentation. The second was produced especially for the ATypI conference, and is not yet available online.

Although the Painter Kafeel fonts cost $50, they are a tour de force worthy of consideration in a broad scope of headline and other display typography applications. A full half of each purchase will go directly to Kafeel, the sign painter in Delhi who made the artwork on which the fonts are based. The remaining $25 will be invested in the HandpaintedType project itself. Mumbai-based design studio WhiteCrow digitized the Painter Kafeel fonts. This studio’s bespoke typefaces can already be seen all over India, so seeing their support for HandpaintedType is a good sign. Hanif Kureshi mentioned in the Q&A after his talk that, thus far, very few copies of the Hanif font have sold. However, I have a feeling that this might be about to change.

Two of the fonts in the Painter Kafeel family, overlapping each other to create effects similar to those common in vernacular lettering styles the world over.

Not all work and no fun

Celebrating and socializing are important parts of any conference. Reykjavík’s intimate size made it easy for groups of conference attendees to meet-up in the evenings for pub-crawls or clubbing. There were also organized after-hours activities, including an exhibition opening at Reykjavík’s Spark Design Space, and a large Gala Dinner on Saturday night for all of the conference attendees, followed by an after party with drinks and dancing at the Iceland Design Centre.

TypeTogether’s Veronika Burian travels with several other ATypI delegates in a balloon-filled bus to Saturday evening’s Gala Dinner. Photo by Frank Grießhammer.

Everything ATypI related wound down quickly on Sunday, 18 September, as attendees began to leave for home. For those who remained through the end, the first order of business for the final day was the organization’s Annual General Meeting, which only about twenty percent of conference registrants attended. Several additional talks took place after the meeting concluded, including my own. Fortunately, these were much better attended that the General Meeting itself.

The highlight of this year’s Annual General Meeting was a series of presentations on possible locations for future ATypI conferences. The Board of Directors determines exact locations, but it seems very likely that next year’s conference will meet either in Yerevan, Armenia or in Hong Kong. ATypI conferences might be organized in any one of a long list of cities that presently includes Amsterdam, Antwerp, Reading/UK, Toronto, and Weimar/Germany. A proposal for a future ATypI conference in India is also being prepared.

Before we start planning for ATypI 2012, I would like to heartily thank Hörður Lárusson, Gunnar Vilhjálmsson, and all of the other volunteers in Iceland who made this year’s great conference possible. Thanks must also go to ATypI’s Barbara Jarzyna, whose organization throughout the year ensures that conferences like this one run smoothly. Birna Geirfinnsdóttir designed the conference logo, color scheme, and other collateral. The white/blue/orange combination was excellent, and the design in general was exemplary.

Links:
ATypI 2011 Flickr pool – http://www.flickr.com/groups/atypi11.
ATypI 2011 round-up videos on Vimeo.
ILT’s review of the first edition of Fred Smeijers’s Counterpunch.
Vikki Quick on Google webfonts presentation early on at the ATypI conference.
Yves Peters FontFeed on this year’s ATypI conference.

About the author:
Dan Reynolds is a type designer and typographic researcher in Berlin.

Sponsored by H&FJ.

ATypI 2011 Reykjavík

Hard to believe that 2011 is coming to a close. Autumn is showing its face, and before you know it, we’ll be Christmas shopping. Some inspiring stuff in this week’s The Week in Type. Sit back and enjoy.

Let’s begin with a gorgeous book cover by Carlo Giovani for the new Brazilian edition of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth:

Lovely use of Phaeton by Randy Jones & Kevin Cornell.

Via @ThinkingType.

We’ve seen typographic ornaments, clothing, furniture. But what about the floor! Enter LinusDean and their type-themed rugs:

If a rug is too big, then how about something a little smaller: Type-Rings:

The Wood Type Revival site of Matt Griffin & Matt Braun has launched. This started out as a Kickstarter project. You can now buy licences for some of the ‘revived’ fonts. Some of the library is available on Typekit.

Linotype is one of the last of the big font foundry/distributors to redesign their websites. Looking pretty good. Certainly a huge improvement:

PBS continues its series of Off Book shorts with one devoted to type:

This could well be the world’s largest printing type. The work of Nick Sherman:

And, yes, he printed with them.

Created for the Wood Type Evolved exhibition at Columbia College, Chicago. The exhibition runs until December 10, 2011.

Promotional video for Simon Garfield’s Just my Type:

Just My Type from Pentagram on Vimeo.

And Paul Shaw’s scathing review of the book.

I recently featured the work of the 2011 Hague Type Design graduates. Now for the Reading class of 2011:

Particularly like Saja for its Korean component, and mostly for its ground-breaking true italic:

Vaibhav Singh’s Eczar is also pretty ambitious. Like the stencil:

Web Fonts has just released its Web Font plug-in for Photoshop. Basically access to the entire library of WebINK web fonts for comping.

See Elliot Jay Stocks’ review of the plug-in for more info.

Emigre’s award-winning type specimen catalogs are now available for free as PDF files:

Wonderful interview with the brilliant graphic and book designer Irma Boom:

via @klimtypefoundry

Bacteria type. You might not want to try this at home:

Via @tina_stsh. Didn’t Oded Ezer do something similar to this a while back?

Right now the annual ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale) convention is in full swing in Iceland. We’ll have a review posted here in due course. For me one of the highlights is the release of the long-awaited font editor, RoboFont.

And congratulations to type designer Eben Sorkin who was nominated for election to the ATypI Board. Great news.

New fonts

Love Filmotype Prima available from FontShop. Drawn by Patrick Griffin (see also his Ambassador Script & Bigfoot)

The bulbous and voluptuous Fiance by Sudtipos:

A lovely new Fatface from James Puckett of Dunwich Type. Meet Sybarite in four weights with complimentary italics:

Like the naming convention: Small, Medium, Large, and Huge.

And Mark Simonson scores another home run with his third typeface in the Filmotype ‘G’ series, Filmotype Gay. Wonderful:

See also Filmotype Ginger and Filmotype Glenlake.

Abril from TypeTogether is a really sound text face. Interesting are the dual sources for the complimentary text and titling styles. The titling face is based on the Didone, while the text face is inspired by the Slab Serif and Scotch Roman. Comes complete with a number of typographic ornaments and borders:

Bookmarks

The shape of of future book.
Roman Opałka: 1 – ∞
What made scribes laugh?
About face: Ratio Display
Three-Letter approach to kerning
Typotheque sues US presidential candidate Rick Santorum
Stop Motion Video Introduces The Vocabulary Of Typography
Veer Ideas: Behind The Typeface
The books business: Great digital expectations
Really looking forward to @Contents magazine.
Who really designed Times New Roman?
Some nice spreads of Codex magazine over at Typetoken and here.

Finally, some news about Codex magazine. You may have heard via Twitter that I am having problems with PayPal and their arbitrarily imposed rolling reserves. Without going into the impossibly dull details I’ll just say that Codex will be published twice yearly instead of quarterly. Though it will mean fewer issues per year, it will mean that the quality remains exceptionally high. Work on issue two has already begun, and I hope to publish it in December or thereabouts. If you enjoyed issue #1, then you will go crazy for issue #2. As issue #1 is almost sold out (4,000 copies sold!), I will be releasing a PDF version soon. I will announce it on Twitter.

Finally, finally, I have some great new feature articles coming soon to ILT. So, keep your eyes peeled, and have a really great weekend, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.

Today’s I Love Typography header set in Jean François Porchez’s AW Conqueror Carved One & Four.

Sponsored by H&FJ.

Gay type

New limited edition prints by Seb Lester

I am proud to present a new limited edition print released today entitled ‘Peace’. It is available in two colourways. A classic metallic gold on black and a contemporary dark chrome on white. I would like to offer a little insight into the design.

There are words that are common currency for calligraphers and artists. Often profound words that encapsulate an idea or sentiment that has broad and timeless appeal. ‘Peace’ is one such word. I felt this year was a good time for me to produce my interpretation of the word ‘Peace’.

As is often the case I have drawn inspiration from our rich heritage of letterforms in the West. These influences have been filtered through modern sensibilities to, hopefully, produce something that appears fundamentally of our time. ‘Peace’ is a melding of inspiration from many sources including Anglo Saxon art, 18th and 19th century virtuoso penmanship and Medieval illumination.

The background filigree is composed largely of spirals and stars. I was drawn to spirals because, apart from their profound beauty, they have mystical qualities. They appear as ancient Pagan symbols in megalithic art, notably Newgrange in Ireland. They appear in Norse culture on the prows of Viking ships. They appear in Maori facial tattoos and in ancient Chinese art, where they are thought to symbolise the sun. They appear in the sacred art of all the world’s major religions. So spirals are powerful symbols that cross cultural and religious boundaries. For these reasons a filigree design based on spirals seems perfect to me.

I know a piece is finished when I feel that adding or removing even the smallest of details would be detrimental to the overall design.

Behind the scenes, the dark chrome on white edition in production at BEP Screen Printing in East London:

Peace – A limited edition screen print from Seb Lester on Vimeo.

‘Peace’ is available to buy now. Full details, including pricing and technical specifications, are on my website. I am also having a launch at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen in London this Thursday, September 1st, 2011. A selection of my previous releases will also be on show there until the end of October, including a third colourway of my extremely popular ‘Stars’ print.

Some original pieces of art have also become available today.

Shopping List

Since I got into calligraphy all my shopping lists look like this.
Calligraphy on found ephemera (ok, it’s my gas bill).
148 X 210mm. Framed in a modern white frame.

The Quick Brown Fox

A calligraphic study of some of my favourite pangrams.
Black ink on white calligraphy paper.
297 X 210mm. Framed in a modern white frame.

One Of Those Days

Calligraphy, metallic gold ink on black Plike art paper.
297 X 210mm. Framed in a traditional black frame with gold detailing.

For more information about all of the above new work visit seblester.co.uk

Sponsored by H&FJ.

Peace

As some of you may know, I am the director of a feature-length documentary film about the Linotype type casting machine. About a year ago, I partnered up with two good friends on a journey to document the Linotype and the people who love these crazy machines. After 45 interviews and 26 separate shoots, we have amassed an amazing collection of footage telling the surprisingly emotional and fascinating story of the Linotype.

“Linotype: The Film” Official Trailer from Linotype: The Film on Vimeo.

Called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by Thomas Edison, the Linotype revolutionized printing and society, but very few people know about the inventor, Ottmar Mergenthaler, or his fascinating machine. The Linotype brought about a revolution in literacy and communication as dramatic as the internet today. To read a much more in-depth history of the Linotype, you can read my article in Codex #1.

The film tells the story of the people connected to the Linotype and how it impacted the world. We have discovered that the Linotype was more than just a machine - it was a career, a skill, and a passion. Even in the face of modern technology, many still believe it to be the best way to create beautiful typography.

Gathering Footage

We have filmed all over the United States and into Europe. Along the way, we met some of the most generous and amazing people that have a passion for the Linotype. Filming in barns, museums, corporate headquarters and government buildings, we found Linotypes in tiny towns and major cities. Below is a small list of a few of the people that we have interviewed over the past six months:

Matthew Carter — type designer & former Linotype employee
Frank Romano — preeminent Linotype historian
Carol Knopes — former editor at USA Today
Carl Schlesinger — former New York Times Linotype operator
Bill Boarman — Head Printer of the United States
Nadine Chahine — type designer & Arabic specialist at Linotype
Klaus Trefzer — German collector of Linotypes

Nadine Chahine

Davin Kuntze

Matthew Carter

You can see excerpts from several of our interviews in this video:

“Linotype: The Film” Interview Excerpts from Linotype: The Film on Vimeo.

Funding the Film

From the beginning, all of our funding has come from grassroots support — people that love printing, communication and typography. We had a very successful Kickstarter campaign in November that exceeded our expectations. This allowed us to expand the scope of the film to include more people and locations to make this the definitive film on the subject.

Honestly, our original budget for the film was naïve in estimating our total film expenses. Thankfully, the Kickstarter community knew better than us and gave above and beyond our goal. In a moment of serendipity, the money raised was exactly the amount needed to fund the filming portion of the film.

We are now launching a second Kickstarter project to help cover our post-production expenses such as color-correction, audio engineering, motion graphics and titling, music, and archival footage. Post-production is where the film really takes shape. If we have done our job correctly, it is where we take 45 interviews and tell a story together.

Supporters of the Kickstarter project can receive limited-edition letterpresses posters, a copy of the final DVD or even an actual line of lead type.

Screenings & Release

Many have been asking when they can see the final film. Because of our expanded scope, the film will premiere in early 2012 and screenings of the film will tour around the world shortly thereafter. The DVD will be released in the spring of 2012. We will be submitting the film to various film festivals and we hope to meet many of you out on the road.

LINKS

Kickstarter project.

Sponsored by H&FJ.

Linotype the film — final push

The type-obsessive, thoroughly inspiring Andrew Byrom in this TEDxUCLA talk, If h is a chair:

If you haven’t already downloaded it, then get on over to the iTunes store. The iconic FontBook, that yellow, heavy-weight, doorstop, monster of a typeface reference is now available for the iPad. Refereence books are especially suited to digital and the FontBook is no exception.

FontBook on iPad from FontShop on Vimeo.

There’s also a good article over at the FontFeed about the team behind the iPad app. I like Mai-Linh Truong’s closing comment,

The last FontBook was big enough to crack open your skull, but the new FontBook app will totally blow your mind.

I began writing a review, but there really is no need for one. The FontBook has always been a great reference book. It’s now available in an easy-to-search, easy-to-digest format — and it costs little more than a cup of coffee. Need I say more. What would be great is the ability to print samples from within the app. Not sure if that’s even possible?

Some very fat, very orange, vacuum-packed type from Spain-based Txaber:

From vacuumed-packed to exploding type:

Type Fluid Experiment “Z” from Skyrill.com on Vimeo.

See more about the project over at skyrill.com.

Kyle Durrie’s Moveable Type Project. What a wonderful idea:

Arabic type + product design = Kashida:

New from scriptmeister Ale Paul, Poem Script:

Poem Script from Sudtipos Foundry on Vimeo.

Some beautiful specimens of Jean François Porchez’s AW Conqueror on The Case & Point:

How do you create a typeface with a bicycle? Here’s how:

Urbanized Typeface : Shibuya08-09 [PV:EN] from yang02 on Vimeo.

Similarly Joseph Tame does the new Google+ logo on foot (running!) in Tokyo. Twenty-one km! I don’t think there’s much chance of me replicating this feat:

Lots of inspiration to be found on Posters in Amsterdam:

I think I want this bookcase:

Love this iPad Letters Flickr set from Stephen Coles:

Something to try at your next party!

Some more Anamorphic Typography‬‏. Must try this some day:

If you’re wondering how it’s done: just use a projector!

Similar to WLT is typeverything.com. Definitely one to add to your bookmarks:

Not new, but just in case you missed it: Bacon Ipsum.

Marc Bottler’s lettering illusions:

Ralf Herrmann has uploaded a high-res (600 dpi) Walbaum Type Specimen. Lovely:

New fonts

Crescendo by Nancy Harris Roemy and Patrick Griffin for Canada Type:

Weingut a frilly decorative display type by Georg Herold-Wildfeliner for Facetype. A set of four fonts:

Rhythm by Neil Summerour:

Satura by Peter Bruhn and Göran Söderström for Fountain Type. Fourteen fonts in all:

Wallflowers by Laura Worthington. William Morris meets 60s psychedelia. Get your pattern on!

New from Rosetta Type is Nassim. Available in Latin and Arabic. Impressive:

New from Photo-Lettering is a pull-no-punches slab serif. Meet Goliath:

New from HVD fonts is Pluto. Sixteen fonts in all:

FF Sero by Jörg Hemker:

FF Sero Medium is free to download and try.

Looking for a letterpress shop in Oakland? look no further than Rebecca Peters.

Mota Italic Gallery in Berlin is holding an exhibition of the work of the 2011 graduating master classes at the University of Reading (UK) and the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten (NL). Runs through August 27. Twenty-four typefaces in all. Congratulations to all the students who have produced some really exceptional work. One of my many favorites is the five-layer Quintet from Kunihiko Okano (@Shotype_EN)

Love Mark Adison Smith’s blog, You Look Like the Right Type. Overheard dialogue rendered in numerous wonderful styles of lettering:

Books

Louise Fili & Steven Heller trace the history of typographic scripts in Scripts: Elegant Lettering From Design’s Golden Age:

Ben Archer reviews the long-awaited English edition of Joep Pohlen’s Letter Fountain:

Add it to your wishlist. Published by Taschen.

Reading list

• Typekit: Improved font rendering on Windows
• To hell with low-contrast fonts!
• July Linotype newsletter, including the release of Neue Haas Grotesk and Sinova.
• Quatro Typeface — the Kickstarter project.
• The humility of details — Shelley Gruendler
• BBC World Service: user experience and typography
• Font-weight in the age of web fonts
• Aquafadas launches iPad mag & book design tools for InDesign
• Paul Shaw interviews Akira Kobayashi
• An interview with Gerard Unger
• The future of type design
• Ampersand Conference 2011 reviewed
• Improved Language Support on Fontdeck
• Typedia’s Type News celebrates its first birthday
• The new Typecast app
• Putting a face to the typeface
• FontShop introduces comp fonts
• The origins of the @ symbol

And finally…

There are a limited number of Codex magazine remaining, so if you don’t yet have a copy, grab yours now. More on the second issue of Codex coming soon.

Next month will mark ILT’s fifth birthday! Lots in store for this site. I aim to devote more time to it. I even have a complete redesign planned.

Have a great weekend!

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All sorts of type