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Rotalics
Posted by hrant in
15 May 2012 — 6:57pm
15 May 2012 — 6:57pm
A term coined by Rob Keller of Mota Italic, in reference to this imminent cutie:
http://www.motaitalic.com/typefoundry/fonts/gemma/overview
Two others:
- Nowak's superb Eskapade: http://www.type-together.com/Eskapade%20Fraktur
- Hague's admirable London Olympics font* as well as his older Klute:
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/fw-alias/klute/
* http://www.qbn.com/topics/650549/
Any others?
And most of all: Opinions? Preferably passionate ones?
hhp
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16 May 2012 — 4:53am
The term is actually a bit older, see this blog post by Paul, and the links therein:
http://www.pilcrowtype.com/blog/the-ever-useful-rotalic
Here’s my ‘Rückwärts Rotalic’:
http://kaune.hardwig.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/filiale-6.jpg
I remember that some typedesigner did a ‘true Rotalic’, i.e. one where subsequent letters rotate increasingly, so that, within a line, a full Roly Poly is performed. Can’t find it back, though – must have been on Twitter.
Edit: Here it is, preserved by Indra. It was Frederik:
http://kupferschrift.de/cms/2011/07/new-ideas-for-book-typography/
16 May 2012 — 6:27am
Ah, thanks for the correction, and the links!
BTW, I remember seeing a photo of a London Olympics merchandise store where -like you've done- they had rotated a line of Hague's font so the letters look upright (sitting on a diagonal line). I wonder if they'd done that to make it look "normal".
hhp
16 May 2012 — 8:46am
Just hit me: maybe this is what a Latin font subordinate to [traditional] Arabic is supposed to look like...
hhp
16 May 2012 — 10:19am
Everything old is new again. My copy of Alphabete: Ein Schriftaltas von A biz Z from 1989 has a showing of Rotalic Medium with Swash, which is an obliqued sans without rotation.
16 May 2012 — 10:30am
So the term is at least that old, but that example hardy deserves it (it's just an Oblique).
BTW is it possible the font was called "Rotalic"? Although I don't know if that would disqualify it as a terminological precedent.
hhp
16 May 2012 — 11:04am
Hrant: Just hit me
Okay. Istanbul?
16 May 2012 — 11:07am
You might have to stand in line...
hhp
16 May 2012 — 12:25pm
is it possible the font was called "Rotalic"? Although I don't know if that would disqualify it as a terminological precedent.
Indeed, it was—as, once upon a time, a cougar was simply a largish member of the feline family…
18 May 2012 — 5:36pm
I'd love to see that 50 line Python script.
20 May 2012 — 6:51am
Just a few more recent samples - Dan Zadorozny (Iconian Fonts) includes rotalic versions of many of his fonts, including, I think, just about all that he's done since 2008.
- Herb