Featuring Verlag (Black)

Featuring Historical Allsorts (Fell Type Small Caps)

I will keep this in mind.

Over the past couple days, the have been some major releases in the type industry.
Neutraface Slab

I’m greatly enjoying the trend of creating a serif and sans versions of typefaces. It has been one of the many reasons of why I love Scala so much. It will be interesting to see how this gorgeous face will be used. It is quite classy, elegant and charming, not to mention versatile. It seems to be a more industrial/geometric alternative to Archer while maintaining a wonderful individuality. It almost seems like a direct move to compete with Hoefler & Frere-Jones. The character of the typeface shifts quite a bit from the sans version of this font and can’t wait to see them paired next to each other.

Sentinel

A beautiful and very legible clarendon serif typeface that feels contemporary while classic at the same time.

Fonts: The Final Frontier of Nerdiness

If you’re like me in this case, and few will freely admit it, the study of fonts is kind of a pastime for you.  You went to go see “Helvetica,” your favorite part of the MoMA is the portion dedicated to the Au Bon Pain font, you know how to add newly created fonts to your Word roster, and you now what the heck a serif is.  If this is how your life works, you will surely have taken note of the fascinating rise of a siple font, in the last two years, that has and will continue to take America by storm.  This is Gotham.

The font was created by the font design firm Hoefler and Frere-Jones.  How proud is this group of their font?  Their own logo features their work, and for good reason.  It is a clean and beautiful font that seems to be dictated by the simplest laws of geometry and physics.  The look is without serifs, barbs, beaks, outlines, or gimmicks.  It is a writing for writing’s sake.

This font was featured prominently in the Obama campaign these past two years.  Often below the emblematic “O,” this font stood sentry, making a proud statement about the candidate and the simplicity of his candidacy.  While Hillary’s Times New Roman proved a bit too traditional to represent a new age, and McCain’s Optima, the same font used at the Vietnam Memorial, was a bit dated, Gotham came to be recognized as a direct and flawless design choice.

The font was also chosen by Governor Pataki back in 2004 to serve as the typeface for the Freedom Tower Memorial Stone currently situated at the World Trade Center.  At the time, it was chosen for its beautiful simplicity, and, as Mr. Frere-Jones has stated, its connection to, not the artistic drive behind most fonts, but the engineering necessity of the time.

This font came to say much about the Obama campaign, and like the analytic minds behind it, showed America that the unecessary flourishes of the past had passed, and that Senator Obama would become the President-elect he is today: pragmatic, direct, and a wise engineer of the public policy we all eagerly anticipate.

- Luke Pattan

All photographed at Hawthorne Powell’s Books.

Black Postcards by Dean Wareham

H&FJ Gotham by Jonathan Hoefler & Tobias Frere-Jones

1000 Record Covers by Michael Ochs

FF Meta Officina Sans by Erik Spiekermann (thanks to Marc Roman.)

Born In The Bronx by Johan Kugelberg

Akzidenz Grotesk by Günter Gerhard Lange

The iPod Playlist Book by Cliff Colby

TheMix (a shorthand for ‘Thesis Mix’) by Lucas de Groot

Jazz: The Rough Guide by Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather and Brian Priestley

Rotis Semi Sans by Otl Aicher

The Sinatra Treasures by Charles Pignone

Neutraface Display by Christian Schwartz

This week’s font is another little gem from Hoefler & Frere-Jones: ARCHER

“Sweet but not saccharine, earnest but not grave, Archer is designed to hit just the right notes of forthrightness, credibility, and charm.”

Also, for typography students, read up on the use of thin and hairline fonts in the section entitled “Can You Ever Be Too Thin?“  I wish I had seen this earlier.

David Sherman posts some great insight with his thoughts on the perspectives as a designer in the workforce.

i’m completely cool with the first two adjectives. it’s the alchemistry part that has me flummoxed. mercifully, one’s keen eye can be a more important tool than any fraction, measurement or magic.

i am currently reading the elements of typographic style by robert bringhurst. he’s a poet and a typographer so his writing is a bizarre hybrid of flowery prose and techno-speak. the book is not an easy read. as i slog through the text, it’s clear why designers become so passionate about typography. it’s seductive, letterforms are inherently beautiful [if designed and drawn properly] and it’s a covert society. as soon as i learn the secret handshake, i will let you know. i am always good for secret spy stuff.

the book also reminded me of the many people who are gifted type designers. i believe my loyalties reside with jonathan hoefler and tobias frere-jones. for my money, they produce the most gorgeous contemporary type around. and i will continue to love the cantankerous and opinionated erik speikerman: hello? [catch all three designers in helvetica, a film by gary hustwit.]

who knew i could fall completely in love with a slab serif? please enjoy archer, which i will buy in all of its glorious incarnations very soon:

i am head over heels and floating on air, crossing my fingers that archer asks me to the senior prom!!

Over at Hoefler & Frere-Jones, Hoefler talks about ampersands (&). (via kottke)

This post is a celebration. I have discovered my new love, and she is Archer. It’s possible that by the end of this year, I will only be using Hoefler & Frere-Jones’ typefaces. This would not be a bad thing.