A Venetian serif in 6 styles The Apolline typeface family was created by Jean François Porchez as a means to study the transition from Renaissance writing into the first printing types. Rather than sticking to the method commonly used these days for the creation of revivals of Jenson or Bembo types, it seemed more interesting to try and get in the same mindset as those exceptional designers during this pivotal period in the history of typography. Thus Apolline is an exploration of the design methods used by people like Nicolas Jenson and his contemporaries for adapting handwriting with its multiple occurrences (a, a, a, b, b, b…) into single, unique signs (a, b…). Initially Jean François made drawings modelled after his own calligraphy. They were done at a very small size on tracing paper (2 cm high for the capitals) to preserve the irregularity of human handwriting. Besides emphasising the horizontal parts of the letter forms, the serifs were designed asymmetrically to reinforce the rhythm of the writing. The final drawings were produced at a large size (10 cm high for the capitals) to allow for subtle optimisation of specific details. The very narrow and fluid Apolline italic Influenced by various concepts for an ideal italic by Van Krimpen, Gill, etc. Apolline italic was designed at 8° degrees. Although the structure of the letterforms were informed by chancery scripts, the italic has full serifs like the roman. Very narrow and fluid, its unique design creates a good contrast when used in combination with its upright counterparts. Thanks to the presence of the serifs similar to roman typefaces it sets very neatly in large sizes. The next step was digitising the drawings with Ikarus (the pre-Bézier-curves era) to create the final roman and italic fonts. Two years later, when the family was expanded to six series the same method was used, this time with Fontographer. This was necessary for correcting a few problems caused by the conversion to Bézier outlines, and to add intermediate weights. Before the advent of feature-rich OpenType, quality type families consisted of several separate fonts for each weight to provide users with various sets of numerals, an extended ligature set and alternates, ornaments, and so on. Introducing Apolline Morisawa Awards 1993

Bold, black and square. But was first drawn as a logotype for the magazine "BUT – Bilder und Texte" (pictures and texts) which was published by an experimentally-oriented non-commercial initiative. In consideration of the unusual dimensions of the magazine (6 x 14 cm / 2,4 x 5,5 inch), I decided to fill as much space as possible with the body of type. This formal idea refers to the meaning of the title by blurring the border between legible letters and abstract shapes. Because of its origin, But is ideal for short messages in headline point size. Despite its blocky shapes, But creates a friendly atmosphere. The details are as playful as the restrictions that are given by the concept allow them to be. Punctuation marks and other special characters contrast the boldness of the design since they are matching the thin parts of upper- and lowercase letters. This also avoids gaps when longer texts are set. But is available in open type format and has an extended character set (Latin extended A). Two sets of numerals, one matching the x-height and another one matching the cap-height, are provided.

A debut from the most anticipated vintage digital typefoundry by Gilang Purnama and Ilham Herry, who stucked their mind, body and soul back into the first era of 18th century. They build this intense visual-time machine that no one capable before. Started by the visual branding of the Ephemera Fonts, they bring every letters of it to the another level of journey. They called it Ephemera Sickles. Ephemera Sickles is a ornamented letterhead style typeface-inspired by the era of victorian (1800-1900) and this style was commonly used by engrossers at the turn of the century to embellish official documents, such as diplomas and other certificates. Carefully crafted for every single letters with the soul of Sickels Lettering, Spencerian, and some research from the Penmanship Journal book. The style is named after Charles Sickels, who headed the art department of Electro-Light Engraving Co. in New York City during the early 20th century. There’s no doubt that such a very strong presence typeface like Ephemera Sickles will bring a powerful identity to your visual project. Will be a perfect joint for a logo, visual branding, poster, beer label, packaging, classic bar decor, vintage hotel, et cetera.

Bon Air was one of a series of script typefaces cut into wood by the Hamilton Manufacturing Company for the Morgan Sign Machine Co. (makers of the Line-o-Scribe showcard press) in the mid 20th Century. These were some of the last new designs cut into wood by Hamilton until the museum revival in the early 2000s. Bon Air was created in 1958 and trademarked in 1961. The wood type made for Morgan was used largely in department stores to make their own signage. The script styles are reminiscent of sign painters alphabets and evoke a Mad Men era advertising aesthetic. The font was only cut in four sizes: 12, 18, 36 and 72 line. It was distributed by Morgan for use in their presses, but as type high wood type, it could be used on any press. The font was issued with several alternate letters and ligatures to simulate the effect of hand lettering. Its lively strokes and odd details give it an exotic flavor suitable for advertising display work. The digital version includes all of the original alternates plus new characters to fill out a full European character set.

The Augsburger Family is a product of the Art Nouveau period in Germany and Austria, reflecting the darker, heavier Jugendstil approach typical of the Secession movement in these two countries. Originally released by H. Berthold AG of Berlin and Bauer & Co. of Stuttgart in 1902, Augsburger has been attributed to the designer Peter Schnorr. This current version represents a year-long revision of the Augsburger Family. All three fonts have been updated to eliminate duel encoding, harmonize metrics, and review all glyphs. In addition, the following features have been included in the individual fonts: Augsburger Schrift: a total of 249 glyphs have been added, for a total of 467 and an increase of 114%. New are Tabular Numbers, Small Caps, a variety of Ligatures and the refinement of all accents. Augsburger Initials: complete redesign of upper case, inclusion of upper case from Schrift instead of lower case, plus inclusion of small caps and a selection of appropriate ligature. Augsburger Ornamente: includes some additional glyphs. Augsburger may be purchased as a complete family or as individual fonts. Each font package includes both TTF and OTF versions to allow you to select what is most useful to you.

A three-dimensional all-cap font for title use, Thorowgood Sans Shaded was released by the Fann Street Foundry of W. Thorowgood & Co. in 1839. Interestingly, it more closely resembles Figgins' Four-Line Emerald Sans-Serif Shaded of 1833 than Fann Street’s own Grotesque Shaded of 1834 (with light and shadow reversed). The idea of a shaded font is of an outline font whose letters have each been extruded through a die and then viewed from the lower right to reveal the third dimension. That third dimension has also been referred to as a shadow. Vincent Figgins' 1815-release of a shaded serif typeface was the first known of many shaded faces, as the other foundries rushed to bring out their own versions. Thorowgood Sans Shaded may be gainfully used today as a eye-catching headline font, just as it was so popularly used in the early nineteenth century. To assist with the usual all-cap letter-spacing problem, the following pre-kerned pairs are included: AT, AV, AW and AY. Be sure to download the Type Specimen showing the full character set, as well as a sample text. Live large - use it boldly.