Who haven't heard the phrase that ‘any past time was better’?. Although I sometimes find this phrase a little too pessimistic (because I try to think that the best is yet to come), it may be true regarding my passion, typography. I'm too young (29) unfortunately, and this means I did not have the pleasure of being contemporary with maybe the man who has influenced my work the most (1). The man that showed that letters are more than just letters to be read. Herb Lubalin (1918-1981), also called sometimes as ‘the rule basher’ (2), smashed the taboos and sacred rules of type design and gave it personality. He rejected the functionalist philosophy of europeans in favor of an eclectic and exuberant style. To him, letters were not merely vessels of form, they were objects of meaning. (3). Nowadays, when looking at his portfolio, who dares to deny that the term ‘typography’ and ‘beauty’ may go hand-in-hand without any problem? Ed Benguiat, one of Herb’s partners, still likes making jokes with the phrase “screw legibility, type should be beautiful” and what I understand of this is not to forget the rules, but to know and break them carefully. In an era of pure eclecticism, we, the lovers of flourishes and swashes, can't do nothing but admire all the legacy that Lubalin, this wonderful type-guru, left. My font Lubaline read as “the line of Lubalin” is my humble tribute to him. Those who know his work, may see the influences easily like in his ‘Beards’ (1976) and ‘The Sound of Music’ (1965) posters; the art-deco forms in many of his amazing logos and practically in all his creations where letters seem to be alive just like you and me. I really hope that the future finds me still learning more and more about type-design and letterforms, and like him, always willing to make innovations in my field: Because letters are not just letters to be read. NOTES (1) These are some of my fonts in which some of Lubalin’s influences can be seen (in order of creation): Reina, Aire, Erotica, String, Beatle, Heroe, Selfie, Model, Seventies, and many others that are still in progress. (2) (3) Steven Heller. Herb Lubalin: Rule Basher. U&lc (1998) http://www.printmag.com/imprint/my-favorite-lubalin/

TT Nooks useful links: Specimen | Graphic presentation | Customization options TT Nooks is an experimental font family that includes a high contrast serif, TT Nooks, and an upright italic, TT Nooks Script. Despite the difference in style, both subfamilies get along well, which is partially thanks to their similar proportions. Each of the subfamilies includes 4 weights: Light, Regular, Bold and Black. The main subfamily is TT Nooks—a stylish high-contrast serif with a light touch of self-centeredness. If TT Nooks were a person, it would be an elegant lady with an independent and firm personality. In the original sketches of TT Nooks there were traces of a broad pen, but in the course of further evolution the typeface moved away from this style, retaining only the high contrast of strokes. In addition, in the process of design searches TT Nooks has obtained a touch of geometricity. The serifs in TT Nooks stand out especially visibly thanks to their geometric shape that resembles slippers. In addition to their peculiarity, such serifs add stability to the font and allow better compensation of the black and white ratio within the letters. TT Nooks has small capitals for Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, as well as a set of stylistic alternates (including some figures) that makes the typeface a bit more geometric. In addition, we have drawn more than 25 ligatures, including ligatures for capital letters, slashed zero and many other useful OpenType features. TT Nooks Script is a complementary family designed to harmoniously extend the main family and expand its scope. The forms of the characters in bold and light fonts of TT Nooks Script are quite different. For example, Black & Bold have high contrast strokes and an open aperture, and in Regular & Light the aperture of the characters is closed. TT Nooks also has small capitals for Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, ligatures, oldstyle figures and other OpenType features. In light faces, TT Nooks Script is more humanist and has artifacts inherent to the continuous movement of a flat pen. In bold faces, TT Nooks Script has a very dense and dynamic typing rhythm, and the shape of the letters begins to geometrize. We had had the difficult task of preserving the continuity of forms between bold and light faces, and we have managed to solve it thanks to the found rhythm, which united different fonts, and proximate stylistic solutions.