Archive for the ‘Type for Print’ Category
7 January 2013
by Ryan Arruda
Founded in Southern California nearly four decades ago, Mongoose is a recognized authority in the biking world. With an extensive collection of rugged mountain, BMX, and street bikes in their product line, it’s fitting that the company’s website is indeed peppered with a distinctly kinetic and visceral visual spirit.
Bold, prominent typography contrasts seamlessly with imagery overlaid with bright, saturated colors. The site’s top navigation features the DIN 1451 typeface for its main elements, as well as the stocky, bold weight of the ITC American Typewriter family for secondary items.
The body of the site follows in a similar vein — headlines are generously set in the EngSchrift style of DIN 1451, while subheadings and body copy are set in the bold and medium varieties of ITC American Typewriter, respectively. The friendliness of the ITC American Typewriter family is an especially nice foil to the seemingly pragmatic demeanor of DIN 145.
DIN 1451 is available in both a regular and condensed weight. ITC American Typewriter is available in three weights — light through bold — and features matching italic designs as well as three condensed styles. Both designs are available through subscriptions to the Fonts.com Web Fonts service.
Ryan Arruda is the Web Content Strategist at Monotype Imaging. Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Clark University, and an
MFA in graphic design from
RISD.
Tags: American Typewriter, DIN, DIN 1451, fonts, itc american typewriter, typefaces, typography, web, web fonts, webfonts
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Posted in Type for Print, Type for Web, Uncategorized
6 December 2012
by Johnathan Zsittnik
When we announced our SkyFonts font rental service just over two months ago, we promised to continually expand the service’s selection of typefaces. Those participating in the beta have hopefully noticed that we’ve kept to our word. Our most recent release more than doubles our original inventory, providing access to over 5,000 fonts. From Avenir to Zapfino, the selection includes an array of design standards from premium sources such as Monotype, Linotype, ITC, Ascender and Bitstream.
But perhaps you’re thinking, “I know those typefaces inside and out. The real benefit of a font rental service is the access to designs that I haven’t worked with before.” Well then, you’ll be pleased to hear that we’re by no means finished adding to the inventory. Stay tuned, as thousands of more designs including those from many other sources are headed your way.
A handful of recommended typefaces to try through our SkyFonts font rental service. From left to right: Levato, Neue Haas Grotesk, Classic Grotesque, Akko, Biome, Neue Aachen and DIN Next.
For now, here are a few recommendations (pulled from the Fonts.com New Best Sellers list) that you may not have gotten your hands on before: Levato, Neue Haas Grotesk, Classic Grotesque, Akko, Biome, Neue Aachen, and DIN Next. Each design is available on SkyFonts allowing them to be tried for a few minutes for free, or rented for a day or month using credits. Credits are free during the beta, so if you haven’t signed up yet, join us at skyfonts.com.
Johnathan Zsittnik is the eCommerce Marketing Manager at Monotype Imaging. Johnathan holds both a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in business administration from Bentley University.
Tags: font rental, rent fonts, skyfonts
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Posted in Type for Print
5 December 2012
by Allan Haley
With just a roman and italic design, the Titanium Motors™ typefaces make about as small as a typeface family you can get. Compounding this, the design has no lowercase. But don’t let this lull you into thinking that the face is anything less than a commanding and powerful communication tool. Titanium Motors is retro and modern, built like a Mack® truck on steroids – and surprisingly versatile.
Titanium Motors’ muscular weight creates powerful headlines, logos and signage – all with attitude and swagger. Its geometric character shapes, and distinctive letterforms speak to the modernity of the typeface, while the high-waisted counters and stressed strokes give Titanium Motors’ a subtle Art Deco flavor. Words like “bold,” “dynamic” and “authoritative” immediately come to mind.
Check out the “hero image” on Fonts.com’s home page, created by The Heads of State, or the image accompanying this post to see just how formidable a graphic statement this typeface can make. If Vin Diesel were a typeface, he would be Titanium Motors.
A collaboration of Steve Matteson and Jim Ford’s design talents, Titanium Motors was initially drawn as a custom font for a computer game. Since then, it has been used in a bevy of applications. Consider it for posters, flyers, packaging, publication design or Web banners.
The Titanium Motors family is available as desktop fonts from the Fonts.com and Linotype.com websites. It is also available as Web fonts through the Fonts.com Web Fonts service.
Allan Haley is Director of Words
& Letters at Monotype Imaging. Here he is responsible for strategic planning and creative implementation of just about everything related to typeface designs.
Tags: fonts, monotype, the heads of state, titanium motors, typefaces, typography, web, webfonts
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Posted in Type for Print, Type for Web, Uncategorized
29 November 2012
by Ryan Arruda
Located in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, The Hamilton Wood Type Museum is an exceptional collection of printing history. Including over a million pieces of wood type in its care, the museum features a fully functioning studio not only for printing with wood type but also for creating it as well.
However, the museum is unexpectedly being forced from its present home. Perhaps needing to vacate its space in less than three months, this is both a monumental physical and financial feat – your help is urgently needed to assure the museum can continue its mission as a bulwark of typographic history.
One of the many delights the archive provides is that it is indeed a living museum; not simply host to relics to be looked upon, the museum fosters a deeper understanding of the forebears of contemporary type by conducting workshops for artists and scholars alike. Such opportunities of hands-on, tactile experimenting with type cultivates not only an appreciation for the true craftsmanship involved in type design, but also a respect for those vibrant analog methods of making.
Whether you are a designer, a typographic enthusiast, or simply intrigued by printing history, please consider supporting the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in its time of need. Your donations will help to assure that the museum can preserve its rich artifacts, and safely relocate to a new home. More importantly, your donation will help to further facilitate the study, appreciation, and utilization of wood type, a true treasure of design history and practice. Click here to donate and learn more.
Ryan Arruda is the Web Content Strategist at Monotype Imaging. Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Clark University, and an
MFA in graphic design from
RISD.
Tags: design history, display type, fonts, graphic design, graphic design history, letterpress, typefaces, typography, wood type
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Posted in Type for Print, Uncategorized
19 November 2012
by Ryan Arruda
For over three decades, Timberland has been a premier designer of foot and outdoor wear. Employing over 5,000 people, Timberland products are sold in specialty stores worldwide, including through their own retail locations.
The company’s website features an excellent implementation of display typography: overlaid upon photographs, a rotating carousel of large headlines are set in the bold weight of the ITC Lubalin Graph family, while supporting text employs the Bold Condensed No. 20 weight of the Trade Gothic collection.
Both faces are exceptionally structural in their design, yet quite complementary. ITC Lubalin Graph – with roots in the Herb Lubalin–inspired ITC Avant Garde Gothic family – possesses an overt kindly charm.
Subheadings are set in Trade Gothic Bold Condensed No. 20. Despite being a slightly more stoic typeface, the diminutive use of the family on the Timberland site prevents it from undoing ITC Lubalin Graph’s cheerful disposition.
ITC Lubalin Graph is available in 18 styles, from a delicate extra light weight, to a industrial strength bold. A condensed width featuring the same weights round out this versatile collection. The Trade Gothic family is available 14 styles, and is comprised of both regular, condensed, and extended widths. In addition to online use, both type families are available for desktop licensing through Fonts.com as well.
Ryan Arruda is the Web Content Strategist at Monotype Imaging. Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Clark University, and an
MFA in graphic design from
RISD.
Tags: fonts, herb lubalin, itc avant garde gothic, itc lubalin graph, trade gothic, trade gothic bold condensed no. 20, typefaces, typography, web, web fonts, webfonts
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Posted in Type for Print, Type for Web, Uncategorized
8 November 2012
by Allan Haley
Jovica Veljovic was living in the former Yugoslavia when Aaron Burns, the president of ITC, met him in the mid 1980s. Upon seeing the young calligrapher’s work, Burns immediately realized that he was in the presence of exceptional talent and encouraged Veljovic to take up typeface design. The ITC Veljovic typeface family was first of many he drew for ITC.
In his storied career, Veljovic has gone on to develop typefaces for Adobe and Linotype – as well as ITC. Although he spends much of his time today teaching typography and type design near his home in Hamburg, Veljovic has continued to draw new typeface designs. All started out as brush and pencil sketches.
None of Veljovic’s designs were first imagined as constructed outline drawings. It was only after the basic shapes and proportions were finalized in brush form, that Veljovic would construct letters as digital outlines.
“For me, it is important to begin a new typeface by drawing with a brush or pen,” says Veljovic. “This is especially true when I am making a new text typeface. The first text faces grew out of calligraphic writing and I think it is important to maintain this tradition.”
The Agmena family, announced this week, is no exception. The first sketches for the design were roughed-out by Veljovic with a broad-edged brush. These became the basis for more refined drawings, which were then transferred to the computer for yet further development. The end result is a distinctive family of four weights – each with complementary italics – based on calligraphic, Renaissance “old style,” design traits and proportions.
The complete Agmena family is available as desktop fonts from Fonts.com, as well for Web use through the Fonts.com Web Fonts Service.
Allan Haley is Director of Words
& Letters at Monotype Imaging. Here he is responsible for strategic planning and creative implementation of just about everything related to typeface designs.
Tags: agmena, fonts, jovica veljovic, typefaces, typography, web, web fonts, webfonts
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Posted in Type for Print, Type for Web, Uncategorized
6 November 2012
by Ryan Arruda
One of the goals we had when the new Fonts.com debuted in May was to make visiting the site a truly engaging visual experience. In addition to providing typical type specimens, we wanted to also incorporate expressive typography at the heart of the homepage.
As you’ve probably noticed, each month Fonts.com features four new images on its masthead, all showcasing a different typeface available on the site. These large main graphics – known as hero images – are meant to expressively present the character and nuance of not only our new releases, but best-selling and hidden gem type families.
In addition, another goal of the new site design is to celebrate the type and design community across the spectrum – each month we feature guest designers providing their interpretation of one specific type family. Whether established pros, or up-and-coming young guns, we wanted the opportunity to inspire our customers with typographic compositions from folks creating some of the most well-crafted design work today.
We’re happy to announce that we’ve created an archive of all 28 hero images which have debuted on Fonts.com so far this year. This will be a living collection, constantly updated with information on which typefaces are featured, links to purchase them, as well as links to the sites of the talented designers who we’ve had the pleasure to work with.
The image used as this post’s header was designed by Monotype Imaging’s Creative Director – Dennis Michael Dimos – and is the hero offering for Linotype’s handsome new Agmena family. On the Fonts.com homepage you’ll also find image designs from Nancy Harris Rouemy – who showcased the flowing, graceful flair of the Reina family – as well as John Passafiume, who crafted an amazing drawn version of the stately ITC Edwardian Script collection. Rounding out November’s designs, Alex Perez presents a dimensional treatment of the robust, slab serif Lexia family.
We hope you enjoy and are inspired by all of the hero images we post – keep an eye out for more as we debut four fresh designs each month!
Ryan Arruda is the Web Content Strategist at Monotype Imaging. Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Clark University, and an
MFA in graphic design from
RISD.
Tags: fonts.com hero image archive, hero images, typefaces, typography, web, Web font Awards, web fonts, webfonts
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Posted in Type for Print, Type for Web, Uncategorized
2 November 2012
by Ryan Arruda
For nearly 80 years, MGM has been a staple of motion picture creation and distribution. Founded in 1924, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.’s oeuvre has spanned not only generations of moviegoers, but also the gamut of film genres; the company is responsible for seminal Hollywood classics such as Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, as well as contemporary releases, such as the upcoming James Bond installment – Skyfall – which it co-produced.
The MGM website features the Albertina typeface family: the medium weight for main navigation, as well as the typeface’s bold weight for sub navigation. Originally designed by Chris Brand as a metal type offering, designer Frank E. Blokland utilized Brand’s original drawings as the cornerstone of this digital interpretation of the family. As a dignified old style design, Albertina is a befitting typeface for a company with such a rich cultural heritage as MGM.
Albertina is available through the Fonts.com Web Fonts Service in regular, medium, and bold weights, each with a matching italic design. For desktop licensing, Albertina is also available as a suite of complementary small caps designs.
Ryan Arruda is the Web Content Strategist at Monotype Imaging. Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Clark University, and an
MFA in graphic design from
RISD.
Tags: Albertina, type, typefaces, typography, webfonts
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Posted in Type for Mobile, Type for Print, Uncategorized
1 November 2012
by Johnathan Zsittnik
By now, you may have heard of our SkyFonts service. If not, SkyFonts is a first-of-its-kind font rental service that allows you to try fonts for a few minutes for free, or rent fonts using credits for a day or a month. SkyFonts was created with two primary goals. First, we wanted to provide designers with a better way to experiment with type before making a purchase. Second, we wanted to introduce a rental model that would allow designers to pay for type only as long as they needed it.
SkyFonts debuted in private beta last month and the feedback has been incredibly enthusiastic and positive. You’ve expressed interest in both trialing and renting fonts through SkyFonts and we’re excited to unveil new features and font releases that will improve both aspects of the service. We’ve accepted over 1,000 participants into the beta – just a fraction of the applicants. We’ve kept the test group small to allow us to keep up with the feedback. But if you’re still waiting to get in, good news awaits! We’re preparing to open the proverbial floodgates on the beta. Stay tuned to your inbox. Your invite isn’t far off.
We have even better news for those already participating in the SkyFonts beta. We’ve just released over 350 fonts to the service giving us a selection of more than 2,000 quality fonts. We pulled some of the biggest names from our Monotype and Linotype collections, so you’ll see some familiar faces. Highlights include Monotype’s Abadi, Neo Sans, Rockwell and Soho families and Linotype’s Avenir, Eurostile, Frutiger and Univers designs.
Visit SkyFonts.com to sign up for the free beta and to try your hand at renting fonts.
Johnathan Zsittnik is the eCommerce Marketing Manager at Monotype Imaging. Johnathan holds both a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in business administration from Bentley University.
Tags: fonts, frutiger, Rockwell, skyfonts, typefaces, univers
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Posted in Type for Print
25 October 2012
by Johnathan Zsittnik
At Fonts.com, we’ve always prided ourselves on the vast selection of fonts we offer. Today that selection improves with the fonts of one of our closest and longest standing partners. We’re very pleased to announce the release of Adobe fonts to our Fonts.com Web Fonts service.
This initial batch includes the most recognizable designs from the Adobe Originals collection including the Chaparral, Minion, Myriad and Adobe Caslon families among others. Over the years, these families have served as the typographic foundation for countless brand identities and design projects. Now our customers can easily extend these brands and projects to the Web.
Each of these fonts has been hand-tuned for optimal screen quality by Adobe’s team of type experts, ensuring they’ll look every bit as good on screen as they do in print. More Adobe fonts are on their way. If you’d like to see the release of a particular family prioritized, let us know in the comments section.
You can browse the selection of Web fonts from the Adobe foundry page by clicking the ‘WEB FONTS’ tab. They are also available in our inventory of hand-tuned fonts adding to a selection of more than a thousand of our highest quality designs. These typefaces are available immediately to all our Standard and Professional plan subscribers. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and add one to your project.
Johnathan Zsittnik is the eCommerce Marketing Manager at Monotype Imaging. Johnathan holds both a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in business administration from Bentley University.
Tags: adobe, fonts, typefaces, typography, web fonts, webfonts
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Posted in Type for Print, Type for Web
