Franklin Gothic/Charter
Franklin Gothic
Morris Fuller Benton drew Franklin Gothic in 1902. At first only a roman was released, but soon additional variants were added to the family. A condensed design was drawn in 1905, and an extra condensed in 1906. Five years later Benton finally added an italic to the family, and two years after that a shaded was offered as the last Benton addition to the Franklin Gothic series.
In 1980, under license from ATF, ITC developed four new weights in roman and italic. Designed by Victor Caruso, ITC's new weights matched the original face's characteristics, but featured an enlarged x-height and a slightly condensed lowercase. In 1991, ITC commissioned David Berlow to create condensed, compressed and extra compressed versions for the family.
Charter
Charter was the first original type design issued by Bitstream Inc. In 1993 ITC acquired the design through an exclusive license. The design follows traditional 18th century Roman types in proportion and form, but with some very untraditional traits of its own. Among its classic characteristics are the relatively narrow capitals, which are similar in proportion to late Oldstyle designs. The serif structure and the engraver's forms derive from types cut by P.S. Fournier in Paris in the 1740s. The serifs, however, are not as delicate. Also, the contrast in stroke weights is less severe than Fournier's.
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- 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. He is also responsible for editorial content for the company’s type libraries and Web sites.
- Prior to working for Monotype, Mr. Haley was Principal of Resolution, a consulting firm with expertise in fonts, font technology, type and typographic communication. He was also executive vice president of International Typeface Corporation.
- Mr. Haley is ex officio Chairman of the Board of the Society of Typographic Aficionados, and past President of the New York Type Directors Club. He is highly regarded as an educator and is a frequently requested speaker at national computer and design conferences.
- Mr. Haley is also a prolific writer, with five books on type and graphic communication and hundreds of articles for graphic design publications to his credit.