Oct 07

Bonesana

Posted in: Uncategorized

Special thanks to Gestalten for sponsoring the Typographica nameplate for October, 2009 with Bonesana.

Gestalten is known for very contemporary designs — the modular and the post-mod — so this tribute to the 18th century is quite a departure. Designed by Matthieu Cortat of Switzerland, Bonesana was initially developed for the new edition of the book “On Crimes and Punishment” written by the Italian philosopher Cesare Bonesana in the late 1700s.

A family optimized for book text, there are oldstyle, lining, proportional, and tabular figures, small caps, and italics, but there is no bold. Still, with a subtle tone, an extended Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic character set, and a complement of beautiful open face caps, Bonesana is versatile enough to set elegant text and titles in a variety of contexts.

No Comments | Tags: , , , , ,
Apr 22

Marlene

Posted in: Uncategorized

Marlene is an elegant, high contrast Egyptian face with a distinctive and contemporary calligraphic flourish. When I first saw it I was impressed at how incredibly crisp it was, as if drawn with a pen so sharp it could just as easily cut the paper as leave ink there.

The italic expresses this sharpness with a wonderful sense of speed; those beautiful thin upstrokes and unusually high connection points of the bowls on a, g and y, and the standout exuberance of the k feel as if it can’t wait to get you moving on to the next letter, with the stark horizontal of the terminal serif seemingly flinging you onward. The horizontal serifs along the x-height and baseline also create strong lines that add yet more of a sense of urgency and pace to text set with it. This face isn’t hanging around for anyone.

The face is contrasty too, not just of the thick and thin of upstrokes and downstrokes, but of the speed and sudden direction changes that give this face such quirky character and appeal. The regular a is unusual in carrying through such a heavy serif from more open characters like the c and r, and as a result ends up with a tiny counter that successfully keeps the character balanced. It’s a sign of the quality of overall design in this face that such a conceit not only works well but adds a distinctive and appealing character. I think the face is a great release and while it’d work well for body copy, especially for magazines and short copy, it will really shine in a display setting.

Aegir Hallmundur is a type-obsessed web and graphic designer living and working Brighton, England. He also runs The Ministry of Type, a website mainly about type and sometimes calligraphy, illustration, architecture and photography.

No Comments | Tags: , , , , ,
Apr 21

Glosa

Posted in: Uncategorized

Contrasting sharp serifs with rotund ball terminals, Portuguese designer Dino dos Santos evokes the vibrant work of 18th-century punchcutter Johann Fleischman with his 2008 release of Glosa. Dos Santos is clearly aiming for something beyond a revival though, and introduces enough contemporary flair and personal quirk to do so successfully.

Designed as an extended series of complementary font subsets, Glosa is well-suited for editorial design or other complex systems where a wide range in size, texture, and functionality (small caps, oldstyle figures, ligatures, etc) is desired. The face’s crisp cut gives it a lively sparkle; but for longer text, where the standard design’s angularity could become distracting, dos Santos offers Glosa Text, with bracketed serifs and other softened details.

On the other end of the spectrum, the series includes Glosa Headline, with an increased x-height, for more impact at larger sizes. Finally, it seems relevant to mention Glosa Display (even though it technically wasn’t released until early 2009); this latest addition to the series pushes Glosa’s sharp contrast to the limit, making it attractive for flashier decorative work.

Nick Sherman is a designer and writer working for MyFonts. He is also a skateboarder, musician, typography teacher at MassArt, pizza eater, letterpress printer, classic horror film fan, and monster wrestler. At present he is technically homeless, but spends most of his time between Boston and New York City.

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , ,