Typekit, hmmm, I was pretty harsh on it on Twitter. But when a venture capital company who have put money into the likes of Meebo and Automattic gets involved and throws some cash about, you have to wonder if they know something about how the foundries are reacting behind the scenes. The press release is a little bit weasly-worded (in fairness, it’s a press release), and I can’t quite work out if it’s just True Ventures that is the investor, or a set of investors of which True Ventures happens to be the largest, but it’s namedropping like crazy.
Will the foundries support it? Will every page that features Webkit type require a request to a separate server, possibly introducing the same sort of network instability that web advertising can cause? How gracefully will pages inevitably degrade on IE? How will it deal with font rendering differences between OS platforms and browsers? How does the licensing, from a technical standpoint, work, and what happens if someone hacks my server, or my IP addresses change? How does it all fit with accessibility features and, more importantly, related law? What about typeface revisions, metric changes, OpenType support, character set encoding, multiple language support? What about safegards on readability or degradation on hairlines? Is this a one-off fee, or a subscription model that makes my archive content eternally drain money? With none of these questions answered, as far as I can see, it is hard to get over-excited and jump up and down like a ickle puppy, barking and possibly weeing myself, yet still maintaining a veneer of adorability. Of course I want nice type on the web (providing it is optimised for onscreen use), but I need more than a cocktease.
Will the foundries support it? Will every page that features Webkit type require a request to a separate server, possibly introducing the same sort of network instability that web advertising can cause? How gracefully will pages inevitably degrade on IE? How will it deal with font rendering differences between OS platforms and browsers? How does the licensing, from a technical standpoint, work, and what happens if someone hacks my server, or my IP addresses change? How does it all fit with accessibility features and, more importantly, related law? What about typeface revisions, metric changes, OpenType support, character set encoding, multiple language support? What about safegards on readability or degradation on hairlines? Is this a one-off fee, or a subscription model that makes my archive content eternally drain money? With none of these questions answered, as far as I can see, it is hard to get over-excited and jump up and down like a ickle puppy, barking and possibly weeing myself, yet still maintaining a veneer of adorability. Of course I want nice type on the web (providing it is optimised for onscreen use), but I need more than a cocktease.
Quick little reminder to anyone attending the Justin Howes Memorial Lecture (to given by Matthew Carter) tonight in London, that the location has been changed to Conway Hall. The event may be free, but bring some cash anyhow, as hosts St Bridge Library will benefit from book sales during the evening.
I’m not sure I am quite ready to be bored of the slab serif craze, especially when the better foundries are doing such wonderfully creative and diverse things with what one might initially think is a limited palette. The latest? From House Industries, welcome to Neutraface Slab. Five display weights, four text weights, and, of all things, a stencil. The latter is disappointing, the rest you should go explore.
UKTV, a series of channels broadcast on digital terrestrial and cable television here in Britain, is going through a full set of rebrands. Before, a selection of channels bearing self-explanatory names such as UKTV Gardens, UKTV Home, UKTV Living, UKTV Drama etc, all lived under the unifying UKTV brand. However, the last couple of years has seen a steady series of relaunches, which still continues, with the channels slowly losing their UKTV brand and taking on new names. First was UKTV G2, which became Dave, followed by other examples such as UKTV History becoming Yesterday, UKTV Gold becoming Go On Laugh Daily (which is just crap), and so on in that general manner. Each relaunch gives the channel in question an entirely new and independent look, some of which are more successful than others. That’s the history.
UKTV Style is the latest under the knife, rebranding as Home. As you can see from above, it again loses the rather pleasant UKTV brand and goes headlong into the mire of mediocrity. A strange swirly General Electric meatball roundel thingy*, and what’s possibly the most appallingly-set lettering (a modified version of Bitstream’s Freehand 521**) I have ever seen, shoved clumsily in the middle. I’m pretty sure I don’t have to spell out what’s wrong with the lettering, I’m just going to leave you to look at it, in shocked bewilderment, trying to imagine what sort of visually illiterate suit thought it was in any way acceptable enough to approve and pay the invoice of. Gosh.
*: Interestingly, they don’t use the roundel on the telly.
**: Thanks to Stephen Coles for identifying the typeface used.
UKTV Style is the latest under the knife, rebranding as Home. As you can see from above, it again loses the rather pleasant UKTV brand and goes headlong into the mire of mediocrity. A strange swirly General Electric meatball roundel thingy*, and what’s possibly the most appallingly-set lettering (a modified version of Bitstream’s Freehand 521**) I have ever seen, shoved clumsily in the middle. I’m pretty sure I don’t have to spell out what’s wrong with the lettering, I’m just going to leave you to look at it, in shocked bewilderment, trying to imagine what sort of visually illiterate suit thought it was in any way acceptable enough to approve and pay the invoice of. Gosh.
*: Interestingly, they don’t use the roundel on the telly.
**: Thanks to Stephen Coles for identifying the typeface used.
One of the longest running typography blogs out there, with a posting history nearly as checkered as the one you are reading now, has relaunched today. But no longer as a blog, oh no. A fresh new look and a renewed focus, on type reviews, and kicking off as it means to continue with a bumper review of notable typeface releases from 2008 (including reviews from Yves and myself) – you should go visit now before the IP queues form. Congratulations to Stephen and everyone else involved!
Google’s latest iteration of Chrome is prodding people about web fonts all over again, and once more debate is stirring on Twitter, on Blogs, and everywhere else about why people can’t embed a $399 typeface into their know-it-all webpage or PDF curriculum vitae.
I can’t help but think people are missing quite a big point. Most typefaces that cost a small fortune are certainly worth the money (I’m currently saving up for a couple of families - I’m guessing that in Autumn, when I get to download those precious beauties onto my hard drive, they’ll seem that bit sweeter for the wait), but only to a point. Or more accurately, an em.
With some notable exceptions, modern typeface families are print tools. The designers of them spend three weeks in a cubbyhole creating hundreds (or thousands) of kerning pairs because they’re being used at 1200dpi, not 75, 85 or 100dpi (or whatever nominal DPI rate your OS uses). Those traps he or she slaved over aren’t going to be worth a damn on your LCD, wether it be a lowly eeePC or a Mac Pro, as they’ll be displayed at 11pt on a browser who’s developer didn’t give two hoots about its type rendering capabilities. And you can kiss goodbye to those subtle shifts in line contrast, or those delicate little serifs. Those hairlines will recede faster than Ian Hislop’s before a high court judge.
These are tools, I repeat. They are high resolution tools that are primarily designed for printing onto paper, something that costs money to reproduce, and puts a stringent barrier to copyright infringement by its inherent physical qualities. They are investments in the production of a quality, tangible physical product. Web is not print, so why are people so intent on using the wrong tools for the job?
There are plenty of great options, designed for screen, that people can use for online work. Whether those come installed on your computer already (the MS Core web fonts all over, Lucida Grande et al on the Mac, the C fonts on Windows Vista, the Liberation series on Linux), or whether they are screen fonts acquired by download, paid or otherwise, that are designed and licensed for on-screen and web settings. Surely these options are more appropriate to web work (they’re designed for it, after all), the vast majority of which will be pretty standard text settings anyhow?
Use the right tools for the job, and if you all like capitalism and so-called free markets so bloody much, vote with your feet. If the highbrow foundries are so wrong as many of you suspect, they’ll “wake up”, no doubt, when the invisible hand of the market slaps their faces. Personally, I would rather they continue to get a good night’s sleep, before awakening refreshed and ready to resume their autistic craft.
Now, if you want to discuss embedding fonts into PDFs for sending artwork to the printers, that’s another matter entirely…
I can’t help but think people are missing quite a big point. Most typefaces that cost a small fortune are certainly worth the money (I’m currently saving up for a couple of families - I’m guessing that in Autumn, when I get to download those precious beauties onto my hard drive, they’ll seem that bit sweeter for the wait), but only to a point. Or more accurately, an em.
With some notable exceptions, modern typeface families are print tools. The designers of them spend three weeks in a cubbyhole creating hundreds (or thousands) of kerning pairs because they’re being used at 1200dpi, not 75, 85 or 100dpi (or whatever nominal DPI rate your OS uses). Those traps he or she slaved over aren’t going to be worth a damn on your LCD, wether it be a lowly eeePC or a Mac Pro, as they’ll be displayed at 11pt on a browser who’s developer didn’t give two hoots about its type rendering capabilities. And you can kiss goodbye to those subtle shifts in line contrast, or those delicate little serifs. Those hairlines will recede faster than Ian Hislop’s before a high court judge.
These are tools, I repeat. They are high resolution tools that are primarily designed for printing onto paper, something that costs money to reproduce, and puts a stringent barrier to copyright infringement by its inherent physical qualities. They are investments in the production of a quality, tangible physical product. Web is not print, so why are people so intent on using the wrong tools for the job?
There are plenty of great options, designed for screen, that people can use for online work. Whether those come installed on your computer already (the MS Core web fonts all over, Lucida Grande et al on the Mac, the C fonts on Windows Vista, the Liberation series on Linux), or whether they are screen fonts acquired by download, paid or otherwise, that are designed and licensed for on-screen and web settings. Surely these options are more appropriate to web work (they’re designed for it, after all), the vast majority of which will be pretty standard text settings anyhow?
Use the right tools for the job, and if you all like capitalism and so-called free markets so bloody much, vote with your feet. If the highbrow foundries are so wrong as many of you suspect, they’ll “wake up”, no doubt, when the invisible hand of the market slaps their faces. Personally, I would rather they continue to get a good night’s sleep, before awakening refreshed and ready to resume their autistic craft.
Now, if you want to discuss embedding fonts into PDFs for sending artwork to the printers, that’s another matter entirely…
P22 has announced the release of IHOF Brass Script Pro, based on a design from a German specimen book dating to 1910. Designed by Richard Kegler with additional calligraphy work by Michael Clark, the typeface has the now almost obligatory OT automatic ligatures and swashy goodness. Interestingly for a script of this type (with its high contrast and genuinely hand-lettered feel one might usually associate with a limited character set), there is extensive language support, with a full CE profile - nice work. Oh yeah, its on special offer till the end of the month. Credit crunch probably.
AIGA have posted an interview with Bill Moran, a third-generation letterpress printer, print historian, teacher, and owner/founder of Blinc Publishing. Smashing interview, lovely examples, go read.
It is a sad day. Speak Up is to close. We get a full, understandable explanation, but that doesn’t really help matters, does it? It’s very sad when an independent online publication closes its doors after so long, especially one that predates the larger uptake of blogs in general.
I, and others, have linked to lovely examples of dead or alive Las Vegas illuminated type plenty of times before, but with each photographer comes a new pair of eyes. A whole gamut of fine examples popped up on Flickr in the last 24 hours. Enjoy.
Yes, until Twitter falls into the hands of an evil empire, you can follow Typographer there too. When Yves or I post here, you will be informed there, along with smaller news links that have not made it to the main website.
Earlier this month, sat in Quark Xpress, amending a teenage pregnancy directory for a London borough, I noticed the person who set up the original had used envelopes for email address signifiers. Hmmm, I guess it is better than an ampersat, right? So when I found out about this new set from FontFont, complete with email symbols instead of envelopes, ipods and USB memory sticks instead of floppy disks, iPhones, QWERTY Blackberries, mobile phones and DECT cordless phones instead of rotary landlines and fax machines, along with laptops, Wii-motes, compact fluorescents and naked men (oh, and OpenType-based layering for colour effects to make said naked men pink) the link got send straight to the studio manager.* I hope she takes the hint.
Controversy looks like it may be about to erupt elsewhere in the online type community, so how about a sing-song...
I’m not going to comment on intellectual property or derivative works on this story at all – other than, perhaps, to say that pretty much the entire canon of type is derivative to some extent. I will say that I think that type purchasers need to look carefully at a typeface design, the quality of construction and the design choices and references before purchase, to ensure that the price they pay is appropriate.
There may be trouble ahead,
But while there’s moonlight and music,
And love and romance,
Let’s face the music and dance.
Before the peddlers have fled
Before they ask us to pay the bill,
And while we still have a chance,
Let’s face the music and dance.
Soon, we’ll be without the moon,
Humming a different tune and then,
There may be teardrops to shed,
But while there’s moonlight, and music,
And love and romance,
Let’s face the music and dance, dance!
Let’s face the music and dance!
I’m not going to comment on intellectual property or derivative works on this story at all – other than, perhaps, to say that pretty much the entire canon of type is derivative to some extent. I will say that I think that type purchasers need to look carefully at a typeface design, the quality of construction and the design choices and references before purchase, to ensure that the price they pay is appropriate.
Waiting for my weekly workload meeting to start in the studio today, I picked up the new Creative Review that was sat on the table. I stopped buying CR every month a good 7 years ago now – it can be excruciating at times – but flicking through it this month, I couldn’t help but notice the pure amount of type-related goodness inside. Sure, that cover story talks about Mumbai taxi type that may gently teeter on patronising, but elsewhere, there is a surprisingly rich vein ranging from digital through to hand lettering, with pretty much everything else in between. Just be sure to rip out the Designers Republic retrospective and stamp on it when you’re done.
I mean really, who wouldn’t want to be reincarnated as Jonathan Hoefler, after reading this? Smashing.
Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present Yves’ latest edition of Bald Condensed, for your reading enjoyment.
Zuzana Licko’s latest is a reinterpretation of her 1996 release, Mrs Eaves, itself a revival of Baskerville. Mrs Eaves XL comes with a larger x-height and tighter spacing for a more economical version, making it a prime candidate for longer settings. It can’t hurt that the XL version comes in a stack of weights and styles wrapped up in OpenType goodness either, of course.
More importantly though, the letterforms are crisper and more consistent than the original Mrs Eaves, losing some of the quirkiness in the process of course, but ultimately making for a more usable typographic workhorse. Once a retro-classical funky face, we now have a new crystal goblet to drink from. Welcome home, Mrs Eaves XL.
More importantly though, the letterforms are crisper and more consistent than the original Mrs Eaves, losing some of the quirkiness in the process of course, but ultimately making for a more usable typographic workhorse. Once a retro-classical funky face, we now have a new crystal goblet to drink from. Welcome home, Mrs Eaves XL.
Incredibly good eyesight? Check. On a fast desktop computer with modern browser and Flash enabled? Check. Perfect hand-eye coordination? Check. Broadband connection? Check! Then head over to the OurType website and squint away at Ludwig, the latest family from Fred Smeijers. I want to say good things, but I cannot without lying. So I shall refrain.
Sorta. Porchez Typofonderie has announced in their March Newsletter that they will now sell you single weights of a selected range of typefaces. I guess this is a good way to incorporate Jean-François’ creativity in logotypes and other elements where there is no need for a whole family, or if you just want to dip your toes into his work. But really, if you have the cash, jump in feet first and buy the faces as they are meant to be enjoyed – as rich, diverse, sexy, rigorous typographic explorations in their full family form.
It is St Patrick’s Day. What do you mean, you didn’t know? Isn’t a green Whitehouse fountain enough of an indicator? OK, how about the release of a uncial with a Celtic bent? Kelly Pro, by P22. Ahhh, grand.
And none other than Hoefler turns up too. Oh, it is only two pages, go on, you will be done in ten minutes tops.
That new MyFont WhatTheFont iPhone app does exactly as it says on the tin. The above graphic is from the very first test I gave it. Pretty good, no?
Just how cool is this? And how did I manage to miss it for well over a week? MyFont has released WhatTheFont for iPhone - yes, now you too can identify fonts while standing in rainy queues. Great stuff, if not downright fab.
Yup, another foundry gets in on the hot n horny Facebook action. The demon social network just got a little bit more hairy. Just saying.
