Revived, Refined, & Refreshed: MT, ITC, LT, & Adobe

The Monotype, ITC, Adobe, and Linotype libraries were all updated last month with new releases and specially priced value packs. Now available at FontShop are convenient family packs of your old favorites like Neue Helvetica, ITC Charter, Frutiger, Univers, and Trajan, along with new takes on the classics like Bembo Book and Garamond Premier Pro.

For something fresh, look to Monotype’s own Sebastian Lester who has followed his extremely popular Neo Sans and Neo Tech with an extensive slab serif family, Soho.

Read more about the update in our June 2008 newsletter.

OurType: New and Updated Fonts

Discover fresh contemporary type from the Netherlands. A new crop of fonts from OurType is now available at FontShop. New designs like Parry, Neue Sans, Eva, and Amalia fulfill the modern day typographers’ needs and are the perfect alternative to traditional typefaces. Many of OurType’s existing designs got an OpenType Pro update and are now available in full family packages.

Read more about the update in our May 2008 newsletter.

Embrace The OpenType Hype

We love OpenType. It’s not just the latest font technology, but also the most advanced, poised to replace the old TrueType and PostScript formats. This font format brings many more possibilities for typographers and graphic designers. But, of course, a new technology always means new things to learn. To help you understand OpenType, we published a new page that describes the efficiency and power of the format, and answers the question: “Is OpenType right for me?”.

So if you now want to know how a Swiss Army Knife is like our favorite font format, check out the new OpenType page on our support section. Last year we spoke to attendees of the PINC Show about OpenType, so if you prefer to learn in a more visual way, have a look at the slides from that presentation.

• What is OpenType?
• OpenType presentation slideshow
• OpenType presentation slides as a Flickr set

Award-Winning Fonts

Undeniably, both awards – the Type Directors Club’s TDC² and Typographica’s Favorite Typefaces – are always long awaited by the design community. The selection of world’s best published font releases are highly respected for years. While the TDC award is the traditional top dog, Typographica is the aspiring spring chicken, asking 25 high-ranking international designers to pick from the year’s fonts. Both lists give a useful view on what is new and hot in type design. Fortunately, if you’d like to increase the quality of your own projects this year, most of the “Best of 2007” typefaces are available at FontShop:

FF Beowolf OT and FF BeoSans OT, designed by Just van Rossum and Erik van Blokland, published by FontFont, Winner Typographica’s OFT 2007. The OpenType version of world’s first typeface with a mind of its own: with 1,000s of alternates as well, the new Beo are as close to achieving the original idea of randomization as nearly any composer can expect today.

BistroScript, designed by Tomáš Brousil, published by Suitcase Type Foundry, Winner Typographica’s OFT 2007. This contemporary calligraphic script was inspired by promotional art in the 1960s. Thanks to OpenType features, a variety of ligatures and alternative glyphs allow the user to create more authentic and varied connections between letters.

Continue reading…

Entertain and Embellish

Click to enlarge.

Entertain and embellish with the typefaces of IHOF, Comicraft, and Norwegian Fonts. FontShop is known for workhorse text and corporate typefaces, but these new collections offer something slightly different from standard fare, proving that we are your source for decorative and novelty typefaces, too.

View some of FontShop's new intensive fonts of strong character now in our March 2008 newsletter.

New FontFonts: Release 44

FF Utility by Lukas Schneider. Click to enlarge.

Our new font blog entries have fallen a little bit behind. We won’t point you to all the new releases announced in recent newsletters, but do be sure to check out the issue showcasing the latest FontFonts. Aside from FF Celeste™ Sans’ OpenType version and numerous character set extensions to foundry favorites, three new designs were announced in February newsletter: FF Polymorph™, an exploration of global forms in the FontFont’s experimental tradition, developed by Stefanie Schwarz for her Thesis; FF Unit™ Rounded, in which our founder reveals the softer side of his “strict sans”; and FF Utility™, a hard-working sans serif for text and information design by newcomer Lukas Schneider.

FF Polymorph by Stefanie Schwarz. Click to enlarge.

Types & Characters: Xavier Dupré and Martin Majoor

Type design super heroes Xavier Dupré and Martin Majoor are featured in FontFont’s new Types & Characters brochures. Their excellent typefaces and their approach to design is presented to provide an insight into the work of the people behind the letters. The Types & Characters series, designed by students of University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden, Germany reveals type designers’ sources of inspiration, their sketches and computer work, as well as some very personal statements. The good news? The PDF files are free:

• Xavier Dupré (4.7M PDF)
• Martin Majoor (2.4M PDF)

2008 FontShop Calendar: April

April Featuring P22 Operina Pro and P22 Koch Signs

While we no longer have a monthly calendar offering, there shall be special exceptions, and this fantasy alchemical calendar for April is one of them. James Grieshaber combined his own typeface, P22 Operina Pro, with P22 Koch Signs to conjure this mystical backdrop for your digital wallpaper or physical desktop. Each symbol has an actual meaning that pertains to the month. The two names on the side are the names of actual meteor showers that will be visible on the dates marked. The first shower will be visible from the Northern hemisphere and the second from the Southern.

P22 Operina Pro is a unusually extensive OpenType font from IHOF, a new collection on FontShop. Read more about other new additions in our latest newsletter.

• printable 11×17 (3.4 MB PDF)
• desktop wallpaper (1 MB)
• widescreen desktop wallpaper (1.1 MB)

In Use: Hermes for Wig-01

UK-based designer Andrew Townsend is in charge of Un.titled’s art direction. As Wig-01 he works on self-initiated art and design projects such as the “Graphic Poetry” book and illustrations for various magazines. The typeface of his simple, dynamic website showcasing these projects is Font Bureau’s Hermes. The typeface does an excellent job both in screen and print media.

Continue reading…

Figuring It Out: OSF, LF, and TF Explained

Numerals (or figures) can take various forms. The figure style you choose ought to be appropriate to the project you are working on. Readability is key. But which style is best for which purpose? There are two main forms, oldstyle figures (OSF) and lining figures (LF). Each can come in tabular and proportional widths. See some examples below.

Full-featured text fonts include all four figure styles. Click the image above to see figures from
FF Scala Sans Pro, Adobe Caslon Pro and PMN Caecilia™ Std.

Continue reading…