Oxford Street is a signage font that began as a redrawing of the capital letters used for street nameplates in the borough of Westminster in Central London. The nameplates were designed in 1967 by the Design Research Unit using custom lettering based on Adrian Frutiger’s Univers typeface, a curious combination of Univers 69 Bold Ultra Condensed, a weight that doesn’t seem to exist but which would flatten the long curves of glyphs such as O, C and D, and Universe 67 Bold Condensed with its more rounded lobes on glyphs like B, P and R. Letters were then remodelled to improve their use on street signs. Thin strokes like the inner diagonals of M and N were thickened to create a more monolinear alphabet; the high interior apexes were lowered and the wide joins thinned. The crossbar of the A was lowered, the K was made double junction, and the tail of the Q was given a baseline curve. K-Type Oxford Street continues the process of impertinent improvement and includes myriad minor adjustments and several more conspicuous amendments. The stroke junctions of M and N are further narrowed and their interior apexes modified. The middle apex of the W is narrowed and the glyph is a little more condensed. The C and S are drawn more open, terminals slightly shortened. The K-Type font adds a new lowercase which is also made more monolinear so better suited to signage, loosely based on Univers but also taking inspiration from the Transport typeface both in a taller x-height and character formation. The lowercase L has a curled foot, the k is double junctioned to match the uppercase, and terminals of a, c, e, g and s are drawn shorter for openness and clarity. A full repertoire of Latin Extended-A characters features low-rise diacritics that keep congestion to a minimum in multiple lines of text. The font tips the hat to signage history by including stylistic alternates for M, W and w that have the pointed middles of the earlier MOT street sign typeface. Incidentally, Alistair Hall (‘London Street Signs’, Batsford, 2020) notes that when the manufacturer of signs was changed in 2007, Helvetica Bold Condensed was substituted in place of the custom design, “an unfortunate case of an off-the-peg suit replacing a tailored one” and a blunder that has happily since been rectified, though offending nameplates can still be spotted by discerning font fans.

Shout is a “Hey, Look at ME” font. It is an attention-getting font for posters, flyers and ads. Its lineage includes the Haas Type Foundry’s 19th century advertising font, Kompakte Grotesk, which Jan Tschichold (1902-1974) dryly described as “extended sans serif” and which graphic designer Roland Holst (1868-1938) would have disapprovingly referred to as a “shout,” as opposed to the quiet presentation of information that he believed was the proper function of advertising. In 1963 Letraset released what appears to be an updated variation in multiple weights designed by Frederick Lambert called Compacta. Shout draws heavily on Compacta, as well as other similar fonts of the 50s and 60s like Eurostile Bold Condensed and Permanent Headline. In weight, it falls about halfway between Compacta Bold and Compacta Black, but with a relatively heavier lower case that is not so easily pushed around by the upper case. After all, one can shout while sitting down. Shout is the first font released with our new encoding, as noted in the All_customer_readme.txt. The Euro symbol has been moved to position 128 and the Zcaron/zcaron have been added at positions 142/158 respectively. Otherwise, Shout has our usual idiosyncratic glyph selection, with the German ch/ck instead of braces, a long s instead of the Greek mu and our usual Hand-in-Hand symbol. There are also left and right glyphs of a big mouth ]ing (135/137) and left and right glyphs of an angry man shouting (172/177). Please use Shout with discretion. Folks get tired of being yelled out. After awhile, they stop listening. Shout ML represents a major extension of the original release, with the following changes: 1. Added glyphs for the 1250 Central Europe, the 1252 Turkish and the 1257 Baltic Code Pages. Add glyphs to complete standard 1252 Western Europe Code Page. Special glyphs relocated and assigned Unicode codepoints, some in Private Use area. Total of 355 glyphs. 2. Added OpenType GSUB layout features: pnum, ornm, liga, hist & salt. 3. Added 266 kerning pairs. 4. Revised vertical metrics for improved cross-platform line spacing. 5. Revised hyphen, dashes & math operators. 6. Minor refinements to various glyph outlines. 7. Inclusion of both tabular & proportional numbers. Please note that some older applications may only be able to access the Western Europe character set (approximately 221 glyphs). The zip package includes two versions of the font at no extra charge. There is an OTF version which is in Open PS (Post Script Type 1) format and a TTF version which is in Open TT (True Type)format. Use whichever works best for your applications.

We introduce our Variable Font from the high-complex BD Gitalona font family. Consisting of 3 axes; weight, optical size, and serif, that will give you a different experience extending the family of BD Gitalona. We don't want to mention how many families can be generated from this variable font. During the development process, we got up to more than 50 families and stopped to allow you to continue to play with the slide buttons. And again, BD Gitalona is filled with an explorative and experimental decorative version that we present separately. Figure out the decorative version BD Gitalona Moxa to make the aesthetic appeal of this whole typeface here! Inspiration The world of entertainment moves non-stop. One by one, figures appeared and left. We expect to create something to entertain previous trends with packaging more relevant to the present. More specifically, we admire and are inspired by some of the world's leading and top singers with a segmented nature. We imagine so many figures that can affect every viewer. However, each artist or singer has a segment because almost all of them have characteristics. The Design The basic design of this typeface begins with a transitional serif shape with sharp, shapeless corners. Then in the middle of the invention, there was an opportunity to explore it further from the readability side by adding an optical variable that can adjust the serif thickness when used together between large, medium to paragraph text sizes for editorials. The shift from serif to sans-serif with the contrast initiated by the shift of the serif family form as a different variable also makes this font richer in terms of the features it contains. Parts are expected to add to the user satisfaction with the complexity of this font. The Features BD Gitalona consists of one sub-family intended for body text with nine weights from Thin(100) to Black(900) and four other display sub-families such as Display serif, Flick, Harmony Sans and Contrast Sans. Each consists of four weights Thin(100), Regular Weight(400), Bold(700), and Black(900). And again, there are also retailed separately; the BD Gitalona Variable font, which is designed to accommodate all Subfamily in 1 font file, and BD Gitalona Moxa, an experimental typeface. A total of 700+ glyphs in each style. Advanced OpenType features functionally and aesthetically, such as Case-sensitive forms, small caps, standard and discretionary ligatures, stylistic alternates, ordinals, fractions, numerator, denominator, superscript, subscript, circled number, slashed zero, old-style figure, tabular and lining figure. Supports multi-languages ​​including Western Europe, Central Europe, Southeast Europe, South America, and Oceania.

After 13 months of hard work, Iza W and Intellecta Design are proud to announce Penabico. This is a free interpretation of the copperplate script styles to be found in the Universal Penman . London, 1741 , the monumental publication of engraved work by George Bickham (along with collaborators Joseph Champion, Wellington Clark, Nathaniel Dove, Gabriel Brooks, William Leckey and many others). This enhanced OpenType version is a complete solution for producing documents and artworks which need this kind of calligraphic script: 100s of stylistic alternates for each letter (upper- and lowercase), accessed with the glyph palette; 250 ornaments and fleurons (mostly in the copperplate roundhand renaissance style) encoded in the dingbats range and accessed with the glyph palette (plus a special set with over 50 of these ornaments accessed with the ornaments feature); an extensive set of ligatures (100s of stylistic and contextual alternates plus discretionary ligatures) providing letterform variations that make your designs really special, resembling real handwriting on the page; complete, intricate, ready-made calligraphic words; abbreviations (in many languages). The principal font contains the complete Latin alphabet, including Central European, Vietnamese, Baltic and Turkish with all diacritic signs, punctuation marks (including interrobang ). The German ‘ß’ (germandbls, eszett, sharp s) even has over six different alternate forms. And we don't forget to add the unconventional germandbls uppercase. In non-OpenType-savvy applications it works well as an English commercial script style font. Because of its high number of alternate letters and combinations (over 1500 glyphs), we suggest the use of the glyph palette to find ideal solutions to specific designs. The sample illustrations will give you an idea of the possibilities. You have full access to this amazing stuff using InDesign, Illustrator, QuarkXpress and similar software. However, we still recommend exploring what this font has to offer using the glyphs palette. Two last things — we have placed some of the ornaments, catch-words and other material in supplementary fonts, for easier access in non-OpenType-savvy programs. They are: Penabico Words (see the pdf user guide in “Gallery”), Penabico Abbreviations (free font), and Penabico Extras (free font). And, when buying Penabico you get the 'Penabico EPS Bonus Set", a gift pack containing various highly intrincated frames in EPS format, easy and ready to work with your preferred vector design software like Corel or Illustrator (see the pdf in the Gallery). Know too our other superscript font : Van den Velde Script at http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/intellecta/van-den-velde-script/

Come one, come all, and see the beauty of Strange Alphabets. Inspired by the gilded book covers of the late 1800s and the iconic Siouxsie & the Banshees band logo of the early 1980s, this narrow Arts & Crafts typeface will transport you to another world. In OpenType savvy applications, the first and last letter of a word will receive a small diamond ornament, giving your words a touch of elegance. And if that’s not enough for you, words starting with M will have a single diamond that splits into three, while words starting with O will automatically use a tall O. But, if you want to force a tall O in the middle of a word, simply use a zero. Oolong lovers, rejoice! Words that begin with double O’s will receive a pair of tall O’s, while a pair of O’s in the middle or at the end of a word will be replaced by a linked ring ligature. But that’s not all! Accessing OpenType stylistic alternates allows you to change the A and H crossbars into small rings and remove all the diamonds from the M. And don’t forget about the hyphen, en dash, and em dash, which are replaced with ring ornaments. And if you’re feeling extra fancy, a separate diamond ornament ◆ is included under Unicode 25C6. Don’t let all these fancy features intimidate you. Play with your application’s OpenType features and see what happens. And if you want to disable the automatic OpenType substitutions, simply turn off your application’s standard ligatures feature. Experience the beauty of Strange Alphabets for yourself and let your words take on a life of their own. Most Latin-based European writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kurdish (Latin), Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec Zulu and Zuni.

The turn of the millennium marked a significant shift in the world of design. From the pulsating lights of Times Square to the glowing screens of our computers, technology became an essential part of our lives. Inspired by this futuristic aesthetic, the Xyzai typeface brings a unique blend of industrial elegance and scientific clarity to your message. Xyzai’s segmented LED-inspired structure and unusually wide letterforms are sure to catch the eye of any viewer. Its unconventional design allows for a voice that is both striking and sophisticated. Whether you’re creating a digital display, poster, or magazine layout, Xyzai adds a touch of boldness and sophistication to any project. This Y2K-inspired techno typeface comes in two styles—regular and italic—allowing for versatility in your design choices. Whether you’re looking to create a sleek and modern feel or want to add a touch of edginess to your design, Xyzai is the perfect choice. The ruggedness of Xyzai’s design is reflective of the technology that inspired it, giving it a raw, authentic feel. Its LED-inspired design is both innovative and timeless, making it a font that will stand the test of time. In conclusion, Xyzai is a typeface that bridges the gap between technology and art. Its industrial elegance and scientific clarity make it a must-have for any designer looking to create a bold and striking message. Choose Xyzai and embrace the future of design today. Most Latin-based European writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Gikuyu, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaingang, Kanuri, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kurdish (Latin), Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Nahuatl, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Uzbek (Latin), Venda, Venetian, Vepsian, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xavante, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec, Zarma, Zazaki, Zulu and Zuni.

We introduce our high-complex typeface. A wide range of serifs for text and display titles are divided into one prominent sub-family and four display sub-families. Comes shifted from serif to sans serif to fulfilling the completeness of this font family that we named BD Gitalona. In addition to these massive things, this font family is filled with an explorative and experimental decorative version that we present separately. Figure out the decorative version BD Gitalona Moxa to make the aesthetic appeal of this whole typeface! Inspiration The world of entertainment moves non-stop. One by one, figures appeared and left. We expect to create something to entertain previous trends with packaging more relevant to the present. More specifically, we admire and are inspired by some of the world's leading and top singers with a segmented nature. We imagine so many figures that can affect every viewer. However, each artist or singer has a segment because almost all of them have characteristics. The Design The basic design of this typeface begins with a transitional serif shape with sharp, shapeless corners. Then in the middle of the invention, there was an opportunity to explore it further from the readability side by adding an optical variable that can adjust the serif thickness when used together between large, medium to paragraph text sizes for editorials. The shift from serif to sans-serif with the contrast initiated by the shift of the serif family form as a different variable also makes this font richer in terms of the features it contains. Parts are expected to add to the user satisfaction with the complexity of this font. The Features BD Gitalona consists of one sub-family intended for body text with nine weights from Thin(100) to Black(900) and four other display sub-families such as Display serif, Flick, Harmony Sans and Contrast Sans. Each consists of four weights Thin(100), Regular Weight(400), Bold(700), and Black(900). And again, there are also retailed separately; the BD Gitalona Variable font, which is designed to accommodate all Subfamily in 1 font file, and BD Gitalona Moxa, an experimental typeface. A total of 700+ glyphs in each style. Advanced OpenType features functionally and aesthetically, such as Case-sensitive forms, small caps, standard and discretionary ligatures, stylistic alternates, ordinals, fractions, numerator, denominator, superscript, subscript, circled number, slashed zero, old-style figure, tabular and lining figure. Supports multi-languages ​​including Western Europe, Central Europe, Southeast Europe, South America, and Oceania.

A true workhorse. The only Grotesk you’ll ever need. Allrounder Grotesk is a neutral, powerful Neogrotesk member of the Allrounder superfamily. An unobtrusive teamplayer as well as an excellent soloist, this hard-working sans-serif typeface is ready for any task you’ll throw it at. A workhorse that lives up to its name, Allrounder Grotesk consists of ten weights ranging from a delicate Air to a powerful Black with 900+ glyphs per font. Each weight is accompanied by carefully hand-corrected italics. Allrounder Grotesk supports more than 200 Latin-based languages, containing the complete “LatinPlus” glyph set developed by Underware. It also provides you with plenty of OpenType features and additional goodies: small capitals, ten sets of figures, case-sensitive forms, ligatures, superiors, fractions and arrows. Equipped like this, you’ll be ready for any kind of sophisticated typesetting scenario you might encounter. With Allrounder Grotesk, you’ve got a sans that works great for body text, yet looks crisp and clean in headlines and display sizes. Whether annual reports, magazine and editorial layouts, nonfiction books, branding and packaging work, large-scale advertising, forms and contracts, or contemporary posters: Allrounder Grotesk is up for it. This multitalented font family was developed in a 2-year process by Moritz Kleinsorge. It was the first release of the Allrounder superfamily, a series of typefaces sharing the same color and horizontal metrics (cap height, small cap height and x-height): a typesetting system whose components match each other perfectly. Any other part of this design kit, e. g., Allrounder Antiqua or Allrounder Monument, may be easily combined with Allrounder Grotesk. Perfect Pairing: Allrounder Antiqua + Allrounder Grotesk Allrounder Antiqua is the ideal complement to Allrounder Grotesk. They both share common vertical metrics and a common color. This allows you to pair both typefaces within the same layout—even within the same paragraph—without creating visual disruption. Head over to the Family Page of Allrounder Antiqua to get more information about this typeface. Design Trick: Bilingual Design With the Allrounder Superfamily Combining Allrounder Grotesk with Allrounder Antiqua is an ideal approach for bilingual designs, wherein both languages get the same emphasis yet are distinguished with two different typefaces. It's also best practice to set headlines in a different typeface than the body text if they harmonize with each other. Allrounder Grotesk and Allrounder Antiqua provide you with the perfect pair for this purpose. In any kind of design, in any type of medium, working with Allrounder fonts is effortless. That’s why Allrounder got its name.

New Lincoln Gothic is an elegant sanserif, generous in width and x-height. There are twelve weights ranging from Hairline to UltraBold and an italic for each weight. At the stroke ends are gentle flares, and some of the round characters possess an interesting and distinctive asymmetry. The character set supports Central Europe, and there are three figure sets, extended fractions, superior and inferior numbers, and a few alternates, all accessible via OpenType features. Back in 1965, Thomas Lincoln had an idea for a new sanserif typeface, a homage of sorts, to ancient Roman artisans. The Trajan Column in Rome, erected in 113 AD, has an inscription that is considered to be the basis for western European lettering. Lincoln admired these beautiful letterforms and so, being inspired, he set out to design a new sanserif typeface based on the proportions and subtleties of the letters found in the Trajan Inscription. Lincoln accomplished what he set out to do by creating Lincoln Gothic. The typeface consisted only of capital letters. Lincoln intentionally omitted a lowercase to keep true his reference to the Trajan Inscription, which contains only magiscule specimens. The design won him the first Visual Graphics Corporation (VGC) National Typeface Competition in 1965. The legendary Herb Lubalin even used it to design a promotional poster! All this was back in the day when typositor film strips and photo type were all the rage in setting headlines. Fast forward now to the next millennium. Thomas Lincoln has had a long, illustrious career as a graphic designer. Still, he has one project that feels incomplete; Lincoln Gothic does not have a lowercase. It is the need to finish the design that drives Lincoln to resurrect his prize winning design and create its digital incarnation. Thus, New Lincoln Gothic was born. Lacking the original drawings, Lincoln had to locate some old typositor strips in order to get started. He had them scanned and imported the data into Freehand where he refined the shapes and sketched out a lowercase. He then imported that data into Fontographer, where he worked the glyphs again and refined the spacing, and started generating additional weights and italics. His enthusiasm went unchecked and he created 14 weights! It was about that time that Lincoln contacted Bitstream about publishing the family. Lincoln worked with Bitstream to narrow down the family (only to twelve weights), interpolate the various weights using three masters, and extend the character set to support CE and some alternate figure sets. Bitstream handled the hinting and all production details and built the final CFF OpenType fonts using FontLab Studio 5.

Jugendstil Initials were designed by Heinrich Vogeler around 1905, based on the German blackletter tradition. A similar set of initials by Vogeler, but based on roman letters was released by Rudhardsche Geisserei of Offenbach at about this time. I believe the originals were woodcuts. The backgrounds to the letterforms may be seen as examples of Heimatkunst, an art movement within Germany that drew deliberate inspiration from the rural countryside. Like the Arts and Crafts Movement in England a little earlier, Heimatkunst may be seen, in part, as a romantic rejection of urban industrialization, while at the same time representing a back-to-roots nationalism. Like any river, it was fed by many streams. Jugendstil Initials is an experiment with which I am most pleased. It is far and away the most complex font HiH has produced and I was uncertain whether or not it could be done successfully. To oversimplify, a font is produced by creating outlines of each character, using points along the outline to define the contour. A simple sans-serif letter A with crossbar can be created using as few as 10 points. We decided to make a comparison of the number of points we used to define the uppercase A in various fonts. Cori, Gaiety Girl and Page No 508 all use 12 points. Patent Reclame uses 39 and Publicity Headline uses 43. All the rest of the A’s, except the decorative initials, fall somewhere in between. The initial letters run from 48 points for Schnorr Initials to 255 for Morris Initials Two, with 150 being about average. Then there is a jump to 418 points for Morris Initials One and, finally, to 1626 points for Jugendstil Initials. And this was only after we selectively simplified the designs so our font creation software (Fontographer) could render them. The average was 1678, not including X and Y. There was no X and Y in the original design and we have provided simple stand-ins to fill out the alphabet, without trying to imitate the style of the orginal design. We did a lot of looking to find a compatible lower case. We decided that Morris Gothic from the same period was the best match in color, design and historical context. We felt so strongly about the choice that we decided to produce our Morris Gothic font for the purpose of providing a lower case for Jugendstil Initials. The long s, as well as the ligatures ch and ck are provided. at 181, 123 (leftbrace) and 125 (rightbrace) respectively. This font was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it. I hope you agree.

From the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, by way of Toronto, comes Martie's handwriting. Martie Byrd is a school teacher in Roanoke, Virginia, and a friend of Canada Type's Rebecca Alaccari. After years of admiring the cheer and clarity of Martie's handwriting, we asked her to write out full alphabets for some cool font treatment. The intent was to do three different versions of her writing in two different pens, then use the auto-magic of OpenType to determine letter sequences and rotate character sets on the fly when the fonts are in use. A successful endeavor it was. Take a look at the images in the MyFonts gallery to see the character rotation in action, along with a visual explanation of why Martie is not just another handwriting font. Unlike other available felt tip and ballpoint handwriting fonts, the regular and bold variations are style-based, not weight-based. They are the handwritten expressions of two different Sharpie pens: The fine point one (Martie Bold), and the ultrafine one (Martie Regular). The style-based variation considerably helps the realism needed in design pieces that take advantage of the contrast of two different handwriting fonts. Weight thickening in handwriting is an obvious mechanical effect that only happens with computers. Weight changing by replacing pens is what happens in the real world. Martie Pro and Martie Pro Bold each contain three different character sets in a single font. Language support includes Western, Central and Eastern European languages for all three sets. This translates into each Pro font containing over 750 characters. Add OpenType code and stir, and you have true handwriting fonts with versatility unavailable out there in anything else of the genre. A software program that supports OpenType features is needed to use the randomization coded in Martie Pro and Martie Pro Bold. Current versions of QuarkXpress and Adobe applications (Photoshop, Illlustrator, InDesign) do contain support for the randomization feature. But if you don't have one of these apps, you can still use the interchangeable Type 1 or True Type fonts and change the characters manually to achieve the appearance of true handwriting. The Martie fonts come in a variety of price packages, from the affordable single fonts to value-laden complete sets. All the proceeds from these fonts received by Canada Type will be donated 50/50 to two primary schools: One in Roanoke (where Martie teaches), and one in Toronto (where the 10-year old, real Canada Type boss goes). So next time a design project needs a handwriting font, do the write thing and use Martie to keep it real.

Keep Calm is a family of fonts developed from the now famous World War 2 poster that was designed in 1939 but never issued, then rediscovered in 2000. As well as the original Keep Calm font, the medium weight of the poster, new weights are now available – Keep Calm Book (regular weight), Heavy and Light – and each weight comes with a complimentary italic. Version 2.0 (2017) is a comprehensive update which consists of numerous refinements and improvements across all weights. The family now contains a full complement of Latin Extended-A characters, Welsh diacritics and Irish dotted consonants. The four italics have been optically corrected with revised, ‘true italic’ forms of a and f. The crown motif from the top of the Keep Calm poster is located at the plus minus ± and section § keystrokes (Alt 0177 and Alt 0167 on Windows). The lowercase g follows the Gill/Johnston eyeglass model, but also included is an alternative, single-story g at the Alt G keystroke (Alt 0169 on a Windows keyboard), the normal location of the copyright symbol which has been relocated elsewhere in the fonts. An alternative lowercase t, without the curved wedge cutaway, is provided at the Alt T (dagger) keystroke (Alt 0134 on Windows). When I first saw the Keep Calm and Carry On poster, I wrongly assumed the letters to be Gill Sans. Recent research at the National Archive by Dr. Bex Lewis of Manchester Metropolitan University has revealed that the original poster was hand drawn by the illustrator and painter, Ernest Wallcousins. The Gill Sans influence is apparent, in the R particularly, the M’s perfectly pointed vertex is redolent of Johnston’s Underground, and the most anomalous character, the C, resembles the ‘basic lettering’ of engineers that provided the vernacular sources for the Gotham typeface. Developing the Keep Calm typeface has been an exercise in extrapolation; an intriguing challenge to build a whole, high quality font family based on the twelve available capitals of the Keep Calm poster, and on similar lettering from the other two posters in the original series. This has required the creation of new lowercase letters that are believably 1939; that maintain the influence of Gill and Johnston while also hinting at the functional imperative of a wartime drawing office. Wallcousins’s lettering balanced intuitive human qualities and the pure pleasure of drawing elegant contemporary characters, against an underlying geometry of ruled lines, perfect circles, 45° terminals, and a requirement for no-nonsense clarity.

Get your Aussie on! The new typeface, Ainslie, with its mix of influences from Oz, makes its mark as the first semi-serif from insigne Design. Ainslie, named for Mt. Ainslie and Canberra’s inner suburb of the same name, was originally developed for the Canberra Australia Centennial Typeface Competition. Canberra is Australia’s capital, and it’s a planned city designed by American Walter Burley Griffin, a contemporary and one-time associate of Frank Lloyd Wright. Griffin’s plan involved a distinctly geometric design with several focal points--one of which was Mt. Ainslie. This same purely geometric scheme is now the basis for insigne’s new release. Similar to the Chatype project in its scope, its challenge, and the way its concept was developed, Ainslie incorporates influences from Canberra and surrounding areas to form a font that is uniquely Australian. In comparison, Chatype was developed for the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee by insigne in conjunction with designer Robbie de Villiers. Chatype took elements from Chattanooga’s industrial character and Cherokee past and merged them with the area’s technological influences. Likewise, Ainslie takes Canberra’s distinct, geometric design and blends it with the organic, flowing effect of aboriginal art. Add in touches from the smooth, aerodynamic design of the boomerang and Ainslie gives you a look uniquely Australian yet usable in a wide range of applications. The fashionable typeface includes a multitude of alternates that can be accessed in any OpenType-enabled application. These stylish alternates along with a number of swashes as well as meticulously refined details with ball terminals and alternate titling caps keep the font well accessorized. Also included are capital swash alternates, old style figures, and small caps. Peruse the PDF brochure to see these features in action. OpenType enabled applications such as the Adobe suite or Quark can take full advantage of the automatic replacing ligatures and alternates. This family also offers the glyphs to support a wide range of languages. While Ainslie wasn't selected as the final font in the Canberra competition, the outcome allowed for additional adjustments to the typeface. Several approaches were attempted for the final product including a technological hexagonal concept, which may still be developed to another form later. Some of the organic forms were removed and substituted with more abrupt endings, leaving the face looking pretty spiffy and a fair bit more legible. In the end, Ainslie was pulled back to the basic forms from which it was started. Give it a go for your next project. It’s guaranteed to be anything but a barbeque stopper.

Claude Garamond (ca. 1480-1561) cut types for the Parisian scholar-printer Robert Estienne in the first part of the sixteenth century, basing his romans on the types cut by Francesco Griffo for Venetian printer Aldus Manutius in 1495. Garamond refined his romans in later versions, adding his own concepts as he developed his skills as a punchcutter. After his death in 1561, the Garamond punches made their way to the printing office of Christoph Plantin in Antwerp, where they were used by Plantin for many decades, and still exist in the Plantin-Moretus museum. Other Garamond punches went to the Frankfurt foundry of Egenolff-Berner, who issued a specimen in 1592 that became an important source of information about the Garamond types for later scholars and designers. In 1621, sixty years after Garamond's death, the French printer Jean Jannon (1580-1635) issued a specimen of typefaces that had some characteristics similar to the Garamond designs, though his letters were more asymmetrical and irregular in slope and axis. Jannon's types disappeared from use for about two hundred years, but were re-discovered in the French national printing office in 1825, when they were wrongly attributed to Claude Garamond. Their true origin was not to be revealed until the 1927 research of Beatrice Warde. In the early 1900s, Jannon's types were used to print a history of printing in France, which brought new attention to French typography and the Garamond" types. This sparked the beginning of modern revivals; some based on the mistaken model from Jannon's types, and others on the original Garamond types. Italics for Garamond fonts have sometimes been based on those cut by Robert Granjon (1513-1589), who worked for Plantin and whose types are also on the Egenolff-Berner specimen. Linotype has several versions of the Garamond typefaces. Though they vary in design and model of origin, they are all considered to be distinctive representations of French Renaissance style; easily recognizable by their elegance and readability. ITC Garamond? was designed in 1977 by Tony Stan. Loosely based on the forms of the original sixteenth-century Garamond, this version has a taller x-height and tighter letterspacing. These modern characteristics make it very suitable for advertising or packaging, and it also works well for manuals and handbooks. Legible and versatile, ITC Garamond? has eight regular weights from light to ultra, plus eight condensed weights. Ed Benguiat designed the four stylish handtooled weights in 1992." In 1993 Ed Benguiat has designed Handtooled versions.