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Allan Haley

Blog Author

Rosella: New and Old Combined into Unique Elegance

Sabina Chipară’s research into Didot typestyles was the inspiration for her Rosella™ design. Like Bodoni, Firmin Didot approached his typeface designs as more than a medium of communication; they were also intended to be objects of artistic delight. Chipară realized that the 200+ year-old designs could be a . . .

Beefcakes: A Big Ole Charmer

Beefcakes™ recalls childhood memories of Jim Ford’s first “brush” with letters. “I remember going to local shops with my mom, as a kid,” he recalls. “They would have big hand-painted signs in the window, often in neon paint – you couldn’t miss them. Long before I was aware . . .

Arthur Baker Tribute

“The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” – William James Arthur Baker passed away late last year at the age of 86. While he is no longer with us, his calligraphy and typeface designs will surely be part of the typographic lexicon for . . .

Hombre: A New Design with Traditional Roots

Hombre™ is a sure-fire attention-getter. Drawn by Thomas Oldfield and loosely based on popular typefaces of the 19th century, Hombre offers all the gun-slinging swagger and rugged style of Jesse James and his crew of outlaws. But, like John Wayne, it’s at home in a lot . . .

Review: Explorations in Typography

There are scores of “entry level” books on typography. I know, I’ve written a couple myself. Much rarer are books that explore the more complex and sophisticated realms of typographic communication. Carolina de Bartolo’s Explorations in Typography, now in its second edition, is one of these books– and . . .

SST: The Strong, Silent Type

The SST™ typeface family is sure to wear well. Its subtle design traits provide a quietly handsome and consistently friendly typographic presence. Drawn to be a comfortable melding of orderly structure and an organic mien, SST can be used for just about any typographic application you can think of. And . . .

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The Process is the Inspiration

I can think of few books that are a better buy than House Industries’ The Process of Inspiration. If you’re a lover of type, the book is a celebration of House Industries’ 24 years of “hot-rodding the alphabet.” If you’re a print or interactive designer, it provides . . .

Featured Web Font: ITC Conduit

It’s hard to imagine someone referring to the ITC Conduit® design as being beautiful – or even handsome. “Quirky” doesn’t quite fit the description either; although many letters are clearly idiosyncratic. Somehow, its naive shapes and graceless proportions strike a familiar chord. As its designer, Mark van Bronkhorst says . . .

Top 100 Fonts.com Web Fonts for February 2017

Long a favorite of typographers and lovers of type, Caslon has always held a position of importance. Benjamin Franklin admired Caslon; which may account for why both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were first printed in this typestyle. George Bernard Shaw, another famous lover . . .

Introducing Masqualero

The Masqualero™ typeface family has charisma, unrelenting sophistication, and – like the legendary Miles Davis jazz composition of the same name – more than a little attitude. Davis once said, “Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.” Drawn by Jim Ford, a Monotype Studio designer, Masqualero isn’t . . .

Applied Sans: A Classic and Contemporary Fusion

The Applied Sans™ typeface family takes the charm of early sans serif designs and restifies it for the 21st century. The first sans serifs typefaces widely used in print were Germanic in origin – designs like Ideal Grotesk and Venus. Admired for their neutrality and simplicity, when compared to other typefaces . . .

Top 100 Fonts.com Web Fonts for December 2016

Linotype’s classic “Legibility Group” of typefaces are the earliest designs specifically created to be highly legible in a less than ideal reading environment. Designed in the 1920s, their goal was to improve the reading experience in newspapers of the day. The designers of these metal typefaces enlarged lowercase x . . .

Top 100 Fonts.com Web Fonts for November 2016

It’s as if the PMN Caecilia® family was destined for the web. Peter Matthias Noordzij combined classical ductus with a contemporary vibe to create this friendly and versatile slab serif family. In addition, its large x-height, open counters, simple character shapes and sturdy serifs all contribute to the . . .

Top 100 Fonts.com Web Fonts for October 2016

All the beauty of 18th century classic typeface designs, but adapted for today’s typographic requirements—that’s the ITC Fenice® family, by Aldo Novarese. Based on the Bodoni model but warmer and much easier to use, this neoclassical classic sits at number 58 in last month’s Top 100 . . .

Between: A New Type Family With Three States of Being

Monotype’s new Between™ typeface may seem to have an odd name – until you learn what it is all about. There are three states to Akira Kobayashi’s newest design and, while different from each other, they all offer a human-centered design to ensure that copy set in them . . .

Top 100 Fonts.com Web Fonts for September 2016

The Futura® typeface family was designed almost 90 years ago as fonts of hand-set metal type. It was made available for phototypesetting equipment about 50 years ago, as digital fonts over 20 years ago, and was one of the first typefaces to be made available as web fonts. Consistently . . .