ITC Galliard/ITC Serif Gothic

ITC Galliard

The ITC Galliard story begins with Robert Granjon, a Parisian-born type designer who lived roughly a generation after Claude Garamond. In the 1560s, Granjon labored in Antwerp. Four hundred years later, the punches and matrices he left behind would become the beginnings of Galliard.

When Mathew Carter joined Mergenthaler Linotype as a staff typeface designer in 1965, he and Mike Parker who was the Director of Typographic Development at Linotype at the time, planned to produce the best possible interpretation of Granjon’s work. According to Carter, “The object of designing Galliard was to make a serviceable, contemporary, photo-composition typeface based on a strong historical design… not a literal copy of any one of Granjon’s faces – more a reinterpretation of his style.”

Galliard was released by Linotype in 1978. In 1981, Linotype provided the rights to the family to ITC. ITC Galliard was announced in the December 1981, issue of U&lc magazine.

ITC Serif Gothic

ITC Serif Gothic was one of the first typeface families released by ITC. It was first made available as a two-weight display family in 1972. These were met with such popularity that four additional weights were added in 1974. While the first designs were a collaboration of Herb Lubalin and Antonio DiSpigna, the latter were just drawn by DiSpigna.

The design grew out of handlettering for one of Lubalin’s clients. As the name implies, ITC Serif Gothic follows the pattern of “copperplate gothics,” in that its serif structure is essentially slightly pointed stroke endings rather than full serifs.

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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.