Spring 2004

New Releases Laurentian™ Family Laurentian Laurentian Italic Laurentian Semi Bold Laurentian Semi Bold Italic Laurentian Bold Laurentian Small Caps LAURENTIAN INITIAL CAPS

Featured Designer: Ray Cruz

T

he philosophy of Ray Cruz is “learn by doing.” He emphasizes this to lettering students and practices it in his career. After graduating from New York’s High School of Art and Design, he continued to hone his craft by working in several of New York’s top custom lettering studios. The more he drew, the better he got. His expertise in custom lettering and typographic design has brought in freelance work from ad agencies, pub-

Ligatures, Part II Old English Style Value Pack

Aa Aa Aa Aa Aa

Invitation Script Value Pack Aa Aa Aa Aa Aa Aa Plus, new typefaces from 12 new foundries!

D

lishers, and firms specializing in package design and corporate identity and has netted him over 30 art achievement awards.

...to page three to see type samples from Ray Cruz, including “Cruz Handy,™” featured above.

by Ilene Strizver

ecorative ligatures come in many varieties, but they’re all intended to add visual interest to your typesetting. Also called discretionary ligatures, some of these characters combine frequently occurring letter pairs (like ‘Th’) into a single, graceful design. Other ligatures, such as the ‘ck’, ‘ct’, and ‘st’ combinations found in faces such as ITC Dyadis™ and ITC Founder’s Caslon,™ originated from historical usage and add elegance and individuality to a setting. Still

others, like the joined ‘oo’ in ITC Rennie Mackintosh and the ‘LL’ and ‘TT’ in Jokerman,™ are designed just for fun, creating an almost hand-lettered appearance. ®

...for more on decorative ligatures. Continued on page three.

In This Issue 2 The Letter K

6 New Foundry Preview

2 Ask the Type Guru

7 Type Contest

3 Ray Cruz Typeface Samples

7 Typeface Showcase: Plantin

4 New Releases

®

page 1

Ask the Type Guru

Letter Series: The Letter K

H

The tenth article in our series dedicated to the history of the Latin alphabet, by Allan Haley

e’s spent 30 years in type. He’s committed more typefaces to memory than you’ve ever seen. He’s the guy that knows his p’s and q’s when it comes to s’s and t’s. He’s Allan Haley, our resident type guru. Allan is here to answer your most pressing and puzzling typographic questions, so ask away! Our featured question comes from Mary Ozee: Can you tell me where I can find a font based on the Palmer Method of cursive handwriting? You can learn more about the Palmer method and purchase Palmer-based fonts on EducationalSoftware.com. Looking for a variation on the design? Try School™ Script, available on Fonts.com. As the Web site describes, the Palmer method, features “a very smooth-flowing cursive style” and stresses “loose, free-flowing repetition.” Invented by A. N. Palmer, this method of handwriting offers a practical approach to learning cursive that has influenced the way students are taught today. Thanks again for all of your questions. Although we can show just one question in each issue, we do respond to everyone who writes. Remember, no type question is too big or too small. To put Type Guru, Allan Haley to work for you, email your type-related question along with your name, city and state to [email protected], with “Type Guru” in the subject line.

Typefaces Used ITC Berkeley Old Style Book ITC Berkeley Old Style Book Italic ITC Berkeley Old Style Bold ITC Berkeley Old Style Bold Italic Gill Sans Gill Sans Italic Gill Sans Bold Gill Sans Bold Small Caps Monotype Bodoni Monotype Bodoni Italic ( Nameplate) Impact (Nameplate) ®

S

ome letters are slaves to fashion. They’ll change their images for any number of reasons: to satisfy the whim of some snazzy new writing utensil, or even because they’ve taken up with a different language. The K, however, sticks to the tried and true. It’s remained virtually unchanged for the last three thousand years or so. K was the 11th character of the ancient Semitic alphabets, a position it still retains in our current character set. In form, it has probably varied less than any other character. The Semitic sign “kaph,” the forerunner of our K, was a three-stroked character that represented the palm of an outstretched hand. While several versions of the kaph were used by the Semites, and more specifically the Phoenicians, all were composed of three strokes drawn in a similar fashion. First, the character was a simple drawing of a hand. Next, the character looked something like our Y with a short middle stroke between the two longer diagonals. Finally, it was simplified even more and turned on its axis so that its two diagonals pointed left (like a backwards version of our K). But even as the character was modified and turned in several directions throughout its evolution, the basic form has remained nearly the same. The Greeks took the simplified kaph and introduced symmetry into the design. Eventually, they turned the character around so that the diagonals faced right. The Greeks even kept the basic name of the letter, changing it only slightly, to “kappa.”

Semitic Kaph

Phoenician Kaph

Greek Kappa

Roman Kay In the Greek language, two signs represented the ‘k’ sound: K and Q. The Etruscans, however, had three signs for the same sound: C, K, and Q. The early Romans adopted all three, but in time dropped the K, using it only for words acquired from the Greeks, or those of an official nature. The latter use was probably the reason the K made it to the Roman monumental inscriptions, which set the standard for our current design.

®

®

®

the perfect font is out there

find it on

Cruz

continued

To the left are several typeface families from designer Ray Cruz. Visit Fonts.com, the exclusive home of these designs to see additional weights of Cruz Handy, Romantica and Elegante.

Ligatures

continued

Where are they located? Decorative ligatures (illustrated in the graphics to the right) are not standard in the typical 256 character font layout, and are usually located in alternate or extended fonts, or expert sets. Sometimes decorative ligatures are found in non-standard locations within a font and can be located with Key Caps, Fontek Character Chooser, Character Map or any other keyboard layout utility. In an OpenType font (the newest font format), ligatures are typically incorporated into the font. Take note, if you are working with an OpenType Pro font, it is possible that these extras may only be accessed by the limited group of applications that support this emerging format. Take a look inside your favorite fonts. You may be surprised by what you find! Use With Care Remember, a ligature is treated as a single character by your graphics application. Take care when you open or close the overall letter spacing of a word containing these special combos. The ligature’s internal spacing will remain unchanged and might look too tight or too open in contrast to the remainder of your text.

Four ligatures – ‘Th’, ‘st’, ‘of’ and ‘th’ – are part of what helps this copy, set in Marguerita,™ flow so well.

Two different conjoined ‘oo’ ligatures and a ‘Th’ ligature give a hand-lettered look to this example, set in ITC Rennie Mackintosh Light.

The whimsical feel of Jokerman is enhanced by the ligatures for double T and L letter combinations.

The use of ligatures lends individuality to this setting of ITC Dyadis.

page 3

What’s New!

a

Fonts available exclusively from Fonts.com. www.fonts.com 800.424.8973

Fonts available exclusively from ITC. www.itcfonts.com 866.823.5828

page 5

Type Contest Answer the trivia question to win the ITC Kabel family ®

and other ITC designs by reading ITC Classic articles on ITCFonts.com.

E

ach issue we give away a fabulous font prize. This issue, we’re putting the complete ITC Kabel family up for grabs – a $119 value. To win, answer the trivia question below. Send your answer and contact information to [email protected]. We’ll choose one winner from the correct responses. Good luck!

Last Issue’s Winner Congratulations to Pam Sherrod of Bay Area Labels, winner of last issue’s Type Contest. Pam noted that the original designs of Braff™ were created for titling on book jackets. For her prize, Pam will receive the Braff typeface, courtesy of Fonts.com. Thanks to everyone who entered!

The Kabel typeface was released twice in the last century: originally for the Klingspor Type Foundry before being revived by ITC. Name both years Kabel was released. Hint: You can learn more about the history of Kabel

Typeface Showcase: Plantin

C

hristopher Plantin should be remembered and honored, but not for designing Plantin. This important printer was instrumental in helping to create the rich typographical tradition we enjoy today. He was largely responsible for making type and typography in The Netherlands the model of 16th century printing. Plantin, however, did not design or use the types named after him. If not Plantin, then who? Most reference books credit F. H. Pierpont as the designer responsible for the modern revival of the typestyle we now call Plantin. Actually, Pierpont did not draw the face either. Pierpont was not even a type designer; he served as production manager of a large British printing and publishing house in the early 1900s. Although Pierpont did not design Plantin, it was his passion and guidance that brought the typeface to light. Pierpont had long thought that his publishing house needed a typeface that was distinctive, legible, and that would print well on both coated and coarse papers. No existing font seemed to meet his requirements. While on a business trip to Antwerp, Pierpont visited the Plantin Moretus Museum. There he saw the exquisite collection of 16th century punches and matrices use by the printer, along with examples and documentation of

the various stages of early type manufacturing techniques. Thanks to the enthusiasm of the museum’s director, Pierpont left with a wealth of knowledge, hundreds of photographs and stacks of antique typeset specimens – including a few examples of Robert Granjon’s work

classic Old Style text design was preserved in the basic structure, but newfound strength and body were added to this delicate frame. The combination was a notable success. Shortly after its release, a number of influential presses adopted Monotype Plantin and, as a result, it became the typeface of choice for virtually all kinds of printing. Today, the Plantin family includes Light, Regular, Semi Bold and Bold weights. Plantin Headline was especially drawn for display setting, and a full suite of small caps, ligatures and old style figures have been drawn for the text designs.

that were produced by the Plantin Press but never used by its founder. These were to become the premise for Pierpont’s design. Pierpont took his portfolio of type designs to the Monotype works, and under his direction, an adaptation was drawn and cut. In adapting the antique types for contemporary needs, Pierpont and the Monotype craftsmen mixed a love and understanding of 16th century type with a healthy dose of poetic license. The

page 7

Look Inside for These Exciting Features! New Releases

Informative Pieces Featured Designer: Ray Cruz Ligatures, Part II History of the Letter K New Foundry Preview Typeface Showcase: Plantin

Plus, more classic typefaces revisited

Agfa Monotype Corporation 200 Ballardvale Street Wilmington, MA 01887-1069 800.424.TYPE (8973) www.Fonts.com

Font Promotions