Indices : Typefaces : PMN Caecilia

Caecilia, designed by Peter Matthias Noordzij, was issued by Linotype in 1991 as PMN Caecilia in a range of weights, including small caps and text figures. This face is (perhaps) the first neohumanist slab serif, with a true slab serifed italic to match. The italic is based on renaissance parameters, meaning it slopes at 5°. This face is a graceful and sturdy slab serif, useful for various applications.

External Links:
PMN Caecilia at Linotype

Indices : Typefaces : FF Scala

Martin Majoor, 1987-1990

In 1988 Majoor started working as a graphic designer for the Vrendenburg Music Center in Utrecht, for which he designed the typeface FF Scala especially for use in its own printed matter. In 1991, FF Scala was released on FontShop International's FontFont label as its first serious text face. Later on Martin included the much-requested Bold Italic as well as the missing small cap weights. There are also two condensed weights, well-suited both as display faces and for narrow columns of text.

Indices : Typefaces : FF Kievit

Michael Abbink with Paul van der Laan

Indices : Typefaces : Californian

Considered of one his finest type designs, Frederic W. Goudy designed Californian as a private commission for the University of California at Berkeley in 1939. Californian was later released by Lanston Monotype for general use by designers and printers.

Discussion:
LTC Californian
Californain FB vs. Berkeley Oldstyle
Question about Californian FB
Sans Pairing for Californian?

Versions:

Indices : Typefaces : Myriad

A humanist sans serif design that was the product of the collaboration between Robert Slimbach and Carol Twomblywith Fred Brady & Christopher Slye. Myriad was orignally released in 1992.
A prominent use of this typeface is by Apple (it is actually Myriad Pro Semibold).

A comparison of the principal differing characters in Myriad and Frutiger*.
* This is actually Bitstream's Humanist 777, which is based directly on the Frutiger typeface.

Discussion:
Adrian Frutiger on Myriad

Additional Articles:

Indices : Typefaces : Clarendon

Discussion:
Best Clarendon?
Best Cut of Clarendon?
Typefaces similar to Clarendon
Slab Serif Font

Indices : Typefaces : Optima

Optima, one of Hermann Zapf's most successful typefaces, was released by the D. Stempel AG in 1958.

Indicies : Typefaces : Sabon

Sabon is a typeface designed by Jan Tschichold in 1967 for D. Stempel AG. The typeface was commissioned by a group of German printers, who wanted a good text face that would appear the same on all three metal type mechanisms used at the time (hand-set foundry type, the Linotype Machine, and the Monotype Machine). Its design was based on Garamond.

Sabon was later converted for use on photo-typesetting machines. Still later, it was made available in digital format. The digital Sabon is distributed by Linotype.

Indices : Typefaces : Georgia

The “essential” serif face for reading on screen. Designed by Matthew Carter for Microsoft. Based on the Scotch Roman model.

Indices : Typefaces : Times New Roman

Indices : Typefaces : Typophile's List of "Essential" Typefaces

In response to several requests for a list of "essential" typefaces, this page is an experiment to compile a list agreed upon by Typophiles.

Indices : Typefaces : FF Meta

PT 55, the design that would later become FF Meta, was devised by Erik Spiekermann for the German Post Office (Deutsche Bundespost) in 1985. The Post Office, who was using Helvetica at that time, cancelled their commission at the last minute. Spiekermann's design went into hibernation. Interestingly enough, the post office did eventually change their corporate face—to Frutiger, which they still use today.

Erik Spiekermann, Christian Schwartz, 2003

Following the success of his most popular typeface FF Meta, Erik Spiekermann worked with Christian Schwartz to release FF Unit in 2003. The key challenge was creating a new typeface that would have enough character to distinguish itself without calling too much attention. It would need to be legible at small sizes, but with heavy weights for headlines.

Indices : Typefaces : Univers

Indices : Typefaces : Helvetica

Helvetica is a Grotesque sans serif face, also classified as Lineal under the Vox-ATypI Classification Of Type. The strokes in Helvetica are monotone in weight and the overall forms of the typeface itself are based on Akzidenz-Grotesk from Berthold (around 1898).

In 1957, at the behest of the Haas Typefoundry's Eduard Hoffmann, Max Miedinger designed a Grotesque sans serif face, distributed as Neue Haas Grotesk.

Indices : Typefaces : Baskerville

Baskerville is a "transitional" typeface, designed by John Baskerville in England in the mid-18th century, revived in the early 20th century and widely used for books and other long texts. Many versions are available.

Indices : Typefaces : Garamond

Garamond is the original typographic naming disaster--a source of ongoing confusion. There are many types called "Garamond", almost to the point where garamond has emerged as a category among serif text faces. What most of the Garamonds have in common is that they are more-or-less accurate revivals either of type cut by Claude Garamond in the late fifteenth century, or of type cut by Jean Jannon in the mid-16th century.

Indices : Typefaces : Bembo

Bembo was a Monotype "recutting" (in effect a revival and reworking) of type used by Aldus Manutius. It is named because it was based on a type used by Aldus in Pietro Bembo's dialogue De Aetna (1495).

Indices : Typefaces : Avenir

Adrian Frutiger designed Avenir for Linotype Library in 1988. It is a typeface based on Futura, which was designed during the 1920s by Paul Renner. Frutiger had never been bappy with the cold, modern appearance of Futura, so he "humanized" it.

Avenir has no true italic styles were made though, just oblique ones. This seems in keeping with most of Frutiger's other typefaces. Avenir also has no small caps, oldstyle figure, or condensed styles. These three features may be found in the 2004 redesign of Avenir that was produced by Frutiger and Akira Kobayashi, Avenir Next.

Indices : Typefaces : Comic Sans

Although frequently described as a typographic atrocity committed against a helpless world, Vincent Connare's Comic Sans is one of the fonts most widely used by the general public, who love its artless, jaunty feel. Users love it as much as typographers and designers hate it.