Kategorien-Archiv: Type

Typografie et al

Taking Over Type Foundries

Type foundries taking over other type foundries is a common thing in type history, but Linotype wasn’t the company at the front of actions. Stempel: 1897 takes over Juxberg-Rust, Offenbach 1915 takes over Roos & Junge, Offenbach 1919 takes over Hoffmeister, Leipzig 1919 takes over typefaces of Drugulin, Leipzig 1929 takes over Genzsch & Heyse, Hamburg (together with [...]
Veröffentlicht in Allgemeines | Kommentieren

Typographers are scholars

says Dan Solo: … typographers are all interested in the history of printing type. There comes a point at which, if you become a typographer, you’ll become a scholar. The two go hand in hand. It can’t be otherwise. I doubt that there are any really good typographers who are not scholars by nature. They [...]
Veröffentlicht in Type | Kommentieren

Alastair Johnston rants about Helvetica

This isn’t a Blue Pencil (could never challenge master Shaw), just a lazy, quick TextEdit. Alastair Johnston wrote an article on Helvetica posted on Smashing Magazine yesterday. I don’t want to comment on his strong opinion and cut out most of his subjective ranting. But some facts seem to have gotten a bit wonky. He [...]
Veröffentlicht in Type | Getagged | 5 Kommentare

The Hamilton Woodtype Museum is the coolest place in type world!

However, they are being forced to move out of the old Hamilton factory building that houses them and have not funds enough to do so. A minimum of $250,000 is needed to pack up the 30,000 sq. feet of printing history and move to a new home yet to be found. Please consider helping them [...]
Veröffentlicht in unterwegs | Getagged , , | Kommentieren

Notes from Lyon

Posted via email from Starbucks, the only working wifi in town. James Mosley is the best! “There has been a lot of rubbish written about type history.” “I’m thinking of Updike who thought he knew everything about type, but in fact he didn’t know type at all.” “One hero is Harry Carter. And then a [...]
Veröffentlicht in unterwegs | Getagged , , | Kommentieren

Type used in Germany’s best designed books of 2012

Germany’s Stiftung Buchkunst just published the “Best Designed Books” of 2012 on a new website. I quickly distilled the typefaces in use. All other details regarding design and production, as well as photos can be found on the individual pages for each book. What is interesting to note is that – compared to former years [...]
Veröffentlicht in Type | Getagged , , , | 2 Kommentare

On Responsive Typography

The idea of responsive web design and layout – as it was discussed in the past two years, e.g. by Ethan Marcotte – is to have a set of specifications that adjust to the requirements of a device, resulting in different layouts on different devices. The idea of responsive typography – as it was discussed [...]
Veröffentlicht in Type | Getagged , , , | 13 Kommentare

Multi-axes type families

There is an occasional confusion with extensive type families and the involved terminology. Basically a type family – a set of fonts with common design characteristic and features – can have · multiple weights (Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Black etc.) · multiple widths (Narrow, Compressed, Condensed, Normal, Wide etc.) · multiple related designs (Sans, Serif, [...]
Veröffentlicht in Type | Getagged , , , , | Kommentieren

Some notes on the history of Akzidenz-Grotesk

This is a letter I once wrote to Paul Shaw regarding the history of Akzidenz-Grotesk by Berthold (mind typos and crap grammar). … Günther Gerhard Lange was convinced that Akzidenz-Grotesk doesn’t have its origin at Berthold but goes back to Ferdinand Theinhardt’s foundry in Berlin. Theinhardt, said Lange, cut one of the first later AG-styles, [...]
Veröffentlicht in Type | Getagged , , , | Kommentieren

Type classifications are useful, but the common ones are not

This is an article I wrote for the publication about the conference Research in Graphic Design at the Academy of Fine Arts Kattowice where I gave a talk on the subject in January 2012. Please excuse the lack of illustrations. I will try to add some later, but usually those are empty promises as you [...]
Veröffentlicht in Type | Getagged , , | 6 Kommentare