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Indra’s Most Underrated

FontBook Editorial
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Last edited July 08, 2014
winter
ultraviolets
Let us do the birds friend

FF Parable is a versatile text face designed with small text sizes (between 6 and 10 point) in mind, which makes it perfect for dictionaries, bibles, or any medium that requires a robust letterform, such as newsprint. FF Parable has low stroke contrast, making it sturdy and adaptable to many circumstances. It has a proportionally large x-height. This means that it appears larger than many other... Read More

safety
bureaucratic
Please stop to steal our newspaper

Rudolph Ruzicka designed his font Fairfield as a legible text font. His philosophy: "The reader expects optical assistance with reading. He does not want to be distracted while interpreting and understanding the ideas of a text." Fairfield font is based on the forms of Venecian Old Face fonts as well as on the designs and details of Art Deco, giving the font a distinctive appearance

brandy
japanophilia
The grass is smiling at you

ITC Esprit is the work of designer Jovica Veljović and blends the classic proportions of a serif typeface with the grace and charm of calligraphy. Highly legible even in small point sizes, the font can also be used as an impressive display face for use with sans serif text.

safety
enthusiastic
Math is easy, design is hard

Originally drawn in 1985, Jovica Veljović had intended to add a few kerning pairs and make some minor refinements to the letterforms. However, his work lead him to take a fresh look at the family. Veljović recalls, "… I soon realized that some characters could benefit by more refined shapes and proportions. By the time I was done, I had worked on just about every character in the... Read More

chalet
ultraviolets
Thank you for habitual drinking

This font is a late work of the famous Berlin font artist Martin Wilke. Presented by Linotype AG in 1988, Wilke is a lively font with eccentric, playful forms. Wilke was influenced in part by the letters of the Irish handwriting in the Book of Kells, written in the late 8th century, while the pronounced contrast in strokes goes back to the styles of the 18th century. the font's uniqueness is... Read More

safety
microphysics
Life is too short to follow the rules

Zapf International font is the work of German designer Hermann Zapf, formal enough for widespread use yet tempered with calligraphic warmth. Vigor in the italics is achieved more from design than from slant. One of the distinguishing characteristics of Zapf International is its graduation of weights. Light and medium are relatively close and equally eloquent for text. Demi is a full two... Read More

safety
zygapophysis
Smoking is friend of mental activity

Fournier was made by Monotype In 1924. The design is based on types cut by Pierre Simon Fournier circa 1742, some of the most influential designs of the eighteenth century. Fournier's types were among the earliest of the "transitional" style of typeface and were a stepping stone to the more severe "modern" style made popular by Bodoni later in the century. They had more vertical emphasis... Read More

chalet
microphysics
Go on with your bad self

The seventeenth century Dutch old faces have a distinct character of their own, and were the source for eighteenth century English type designs, such as Caslon. Christoffel van Dijck was one of the great Dutch typefounders, although this face, which bears his name, may not have been cut by him, it is nevertheless representative of the best designs from that period. The Van Dijck italic, for... Read More

grapes
hypothenuses
Funny is an attitude

Created at D. Stempel AG in 1977, Linotype's Gazette is a text typeface that was designed to withstand the rigors of high-speed newspaper presses and coarse newsprint. It is also guaranteed to result in legible texts despite long press runs.

grapes
microphysics
Keep table cleaned after dying

FF Olsen is a robust typeface made for small text sizes. The design merges both sans and serif models, combining the best of each for maximum stamina on the page. Up close, its Roman is almost a slab design, with firm wedge serifs not unlike those of Gerard Unger’s Swift. Such sturdy construction guards against the harshest environments. The italics follow a semi-serif structure. Before... Read More

always
japanophilia
Please no bomb into the ash here

Hermann Zapf's Melior font exhibits a robust character through classic and objective forms. Versatile and extremely legible, Melior font can be used for a variety of texts and point sizes.

always
wunderkinder
Smile while you still have teeth

“Legato” is a musical term, meaning that the notes are played in a “connected” manner. This idea of connecting discrete units to enhance overall expression can be applied to the letters setting a text in precisely the same way. In designing FF Legato, Evert Bloemsma studied the extent to which the characters of the alphabet visually connect and build proper word and line images, then setting... Read More

winter
wunderkinder
Don’t drink a car under alcohol

FF Advert is an idiosyncratic and good-natured sans serif family for text in four weights. Its design is an homage to Metro, W. A. Dwiggins’ humanized geometric sans. The family is appreciated by graphic designers for including two unique lowercase ‘a’ forms in each font: single-story and double-story versions. The typeface is the work of Dutch designer Just van Rossum. A sister design exists... Read More

EF Today Sans Serif H Volker Küster Elsner+Flake 1988
winter
japanophilia
Careful tiny grass is dreaming

Folio® was designed by Konrad F. Bauer and Walter Baum, and released in several weights and widths by the Bauer Type Foundry from 1956 to 1963. This legible sans serif family was designed around the same time as Helvetica, and in many ways it is quite similar to Helvetica. There are some notable differences in certain characters, like the lowercase a, and the caps G and Q. The designers of... Read More

safety
illustrative
Every encounter keep treasure

The Venus type family is a historic hot metal face with left slanted weights that is used for the german cartographic map production. There are also special typefaces required like the Roemisch and Topografische Zahlentafel type family.

brandy
enthusiastic
Schedule smell of panda droppings

FF Karbid is a contemporary interpretation of storefront lettering done between 1900 and the late 1930s and preserved due to the German Democratic Republic’s economy of scarcity. In the beginning of the 1990s, FF Karbid’s designer Verena Gerlach began documenting storefront lettering in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte districts. Sadly, these have since almost entirely disappeared, due to... Read More

rocket
hypothenuses
Beware of geeks bearing formulas

Aldo Novarese designed the Fluidum typeface in 1951. As its name implies, the design is very fluid. This high contrast script face curls and twists across the line. It is sort of a cross between Giambattista Bodoni's cursive letters, and Aldo Novarese's later, heavier designs, like Microgramma, Eurostile, and Sprint. Fludium should be set in very large pint sizes. It is perfect for invitations,... Read More

jungle
zygapophysis
The road to hell wasn’t paved in a day

The Roemisch type family is a historic hot metal face with left slanted weights that is used for the german cartographic map production. There are also special typefaces required like the Venus type family and Topografische Zahlentafel type family.

chalet
japanophilia
Beware of explosive dogs

ITC Legacy® was designed by American Ronald Arnholm, who was first inspired to develop the typeface when he was a graduate student at Yale. In a type history class, he studied the 1470 book by Eusebius that was printed in the roman type of Nicolas Jenson. Arnholm worked for years to create his own interpretation of the Jenson roman, and he succeeded in capturing much of its beauty and... Read More

replay
illustrative
Humor is reason gone bad

ITC Legacy® was designed by American Ronald Arnholm, who was first inspired to develop the typeface when he was a graduate student at Yale. In a type history class, he studied the 1470 book by Eusebius that was printed in the roman type of Nicolas Jenson. Arnholm worked for years to create his own interpretation of the Jenson roman, and he succeeded in capturing much of its beauty and... Read More

always
illustrative
Please do not chase slapstick

The full ITC Legacy collection of fonts, which includes faces that first became available in the early 1990s, is based on the Eusebius typeface by Nicolas Jenson, the French engraver, printer and pioneer typographer who created the design centuries ago in 1470. Jenson's original design featured distinctive slab serif shapes and asymmetrical foot serifs, which Arnholm carried over into his work.... Read More

Christopher Burke
FontFont 2002
František Štorm
ITC 2000
Rudolf Ruzicka and Alex Kaczun
Linotype 1992
Jovica Veljovic
ITC 1985
Jovica Veljovic
ITC 2010
Martin Wilke
Linotype 1988
Georg Trump
Bitstream 1938
Jakob Erbar and Walter Höhnisch
Elsner+Flake 1936
Hermann Zapf
ITC 1976
Monotype.Design Studio and Pierre Simon Fournier
Monotype 1742
Monotype.Design Studio, Christoffel van Dijck and Jan van Krimpen
Monotype

Linotype
Francesco Simoncini and W. Bilz
Elsner+Flake 1964
Morten Rostgaard Olsen
FontFont 2001
Hermann Zapf
Linotype
Gerard Unger
Bitstream 1992
Evert Bloemsma
FontFont 2004
Just van Rossum
FontFont 1991
Volker Küster
Elsner+Flake 1988
Walter Baum and Konrad Friedrich Bauer
Linotype
Bauersche Gießerei
Linotype
Gert Wunderlich
Elsner+Flake 1970
Arno Drescher and Nicolai Gogoll
Bitstream 1930
Verena Gerlach
FontFont 1999
Alessandro Butti
Monotype 1951
German Cartographic Design
Linotype
German Cartographic Design
Linotype
Stefan Hattenbach
MAC Rhino Fonts

ITC
Ronald Arnholm
ITC 1992
Ronald Arnholm
ITC 2009