The Berthold press release doesn’t mention the designers invovled in the extension work... http://www.microsoft.com/typography/links/news.aspx?NID=5786

I have no idea who does the dev work for them, and my guess is that whoever they are, they are under NDA :-)

Odd thing is it looks like they used the same ogonek from the regular weight all the way through extra bold. It looks pretty wimpy there hangin’ out of the bolder weights like a broken wire coat hanger. That makes me wonder if they were using a Greek consultant for the Greek glyphs.

ChrisL

“a Greek consultant”

I thought there is only one! Gerry, been on any trips to Chicago recently ;-)

Are there any Berthold employees or contractors at Typophile? Now is the time to come out of the closet and claim your fine work!

No, I’ve had no involvement in designing these fonts. But I wouldn’t object to a trip to Chicago, mind you, if anybody out there is offering!

From Myfonts... “In recent years creative work centers on the “type atelier” in Munich where Dieter Hofrichter and Bernd Möllenstädt work with type design master craftsman Günter Gerhard Lange.” Is Dieter a Greek name? ;-)

I’m afraid not. Sounds German to me...

:-)

ChrisL

Well, after Spyros’ alert, the Greeks (who do not all live in Reading :-) ) found out that the development work for Akzidenz Greek (and not only for this typeface) was done by Panos Haratzopoulos (Cannibal Fonts [fonts.gr]), after discussing it with Matthew Carter (who developed Helvetica Greek) and Dieter Hofrichter.
Cheers, typophiles!

...and I didn’t really understand the connection between the ogonek and the Greek consultants. I obviously missed a joke (?)

Hi Angelo,

I don’t think it was a joke. I think the point was that the ogonek design showed little input from an ogonek expert (ie. Adam Twardoch or Fillip Balzek) so led Chris to believe that maybe the Greek was done without Greek consultation. Glad to hear that wasn’t the case.

However if anyone can think of a joke, or better yet a pun, involving the ogonek and Greek consultants then Chris can. I’ll start him off… “Gerry and Kimis walk into a bar in Warsaw…”

Gerry and Klimis walk into a Packed Warsaw bar and order Gin and Monotonic. Adam Twardoch is in a nearby booth amorously involved with a young lady. Their mutual flirtations become vocal and obvious enough that everyone in the bar is complaining to the bartender. The bartender says something in Polish to the passionate couple. Everyone in the bar cheers. Gerry and Klimis don’t understand Polish so they ask the bartender what he said. The bartender replies, I just said to them “Oh go neck in the park!”

ChrisL

Perfect! Thanks Chris!

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts—but that is a horse of a different color :-)

ChrisL

:D

Back to the topic, the ogonek looks OK in the lighter weights but not so in the bolder weights. As for the Cyrillic, I think it is modeled on the authentic Akzidenz Grotesk Cyrillic which was offered by the St Petersburg branch of H Berthold AG in the early 20th century.

Most certainly, the Cyrillic part does not come “111 years later”.

A.

• As for the Cyrillic, I think it is modeled on the authentic Akzidenz Grotesk Cyrillic which was offered by the St Petersburg branch of H Berthold AG in the early 20th century.

To me it looks much closer to the [cleaned-up] adaptation—of the late 1960s? early 1970s?—developed by G.G.Lange and his team for Diatype, Starsettograph, Staromat, and other Berthold photolettering devices.

Speaking of which. Have you seen that movie on type design at H. Berthold AG (c. 1986), posted at http://www.global-type-movie.de/mov/Berthold_type_design.mp4
A real hymn to GGL...

Should I wait until a Sunday to play that hymm or is today OK? :-)

ChrisL

• Should I wait until a Sunday

Dear Chris,

With all due respect to GGL, he may be a father, and a son, but not the Holy Spirit, for sure.

LOL!!!
ChrisL

Well, almost...
Probably my post at a Greek forum was slightly misinterpreted by Angelo.

I never had the privilege to discuss any project with Matthew Carter, I wish I had.
What I mentioned was that (in Helsinki) I had the chance to exchange views and listen from him about his experience in developing Greek Helvetica in the early 70’s.
Secondly, as Dieter Hofrichter has worked closely with G.G. Lange, he explained to me several things about Lange’s design approach and philosophy.

Thanks Panos! You know what happens to information after the first hand...