New Additions: October 2024
31st October 2024
From the hundreds of fonts we add to the Identifont database every month we chose a selection of the most interesting recent additions, and interviewed the designers about their approach to each design:
Mark Simonson – Skin & Bones (Mark Simonson)
You’ve written that Skin & Bones was originally designed by Douglas F. Jones in 1972 for Visual Graphics Corporation, for photo-typesetting. What gave you the idea for this digital revival?
I learned about Doug and Skin & Bones when I was a teenager. My uncle, who was a graphic designer, gave me a copy of a graphic design magazine. In it was an article about the latest VGC typeface releases with short profiles of their designers, including Skin & Bones. The article sparked my interest in the idea of designing typefaces.
I posted a story about this on my blog in 2013. Doug wrote to me after seeing my post in 2017 and told me about his experiences with Skin & Bones. I was shocked at how little he made from it: $240 in all, in spite of its popularity. There was no official digital version published (just a badly done free one), so I proposed that I do a digital revival, with royalties going to Doug, to which he happily agreed. It took a while, but I finally got it released this year.
What materials did you have available to work from when creating the digital revival of Skin & Bones?
Doug no longer had the original drawings he did for VGC, so I had to dig up the highest quality reproductions I could find, primarily from VGC catalogues, advertisements, and rub-down lettering sheets. Interestingly, some of the lettering sheets were unauthorized and included characters not designed by Doug, which I didn’t use.
Skin & Bones has a large number of OpenType alternates which you can either select for individual characters, or by selecting one of five different sets. Were these alternates part of Douglas Jones’s original design?
About half of the alternates were part of Doug’s original design. I came up with the rest. I also added many characters that were not included in his original character set that are normally included in modern fonts. It was a fun challenge to extend Doug's double-line motif to so many other characters, including subscript figures, foreign characters, and currency symbols. I consulted with Doug on all the additions as well as to make sure my digitization was faithful to his design. Both Doug and I are pleased with the result, and I’m glad to make this classic typeface available again to graphic designers.
Arne Freytag – Whiteblack (Fontador)
Whiteblack is a slab-serif font with two alternative styles to accommodate text displayed as black on white, or white on black. It’s one of only a small number of families to provide this (see Positive/negative fonts). What prompted you to design it?
As a designer myself I also approach type from the user’s perspective when I’m using fonts. Many of my fonts have been created to fill a specific need I encountered in my own design projects, where I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for – or at least, nothing that performed exactly as I needed. In the case of Whiteblack, I wanted a typeface that wouldn’t appear to “over-glow” in reversed settings, particularly on digital screens where white text on a dark background tends to look heavier and more intense due to the way light is emitted.
Variable fonts allow some control over this glow effect through adjustable weight, but I wanted a solution that would be quick and easy to implement. With Whiteblack I created an additional preset style tailored for negative settings, as the adjustments go beyond just weight, influencing how the type interacts with different background contrasts.
Has there been research on the correct difference in weight to balance positive and negative text, or is it only possible to determine it by experiment for each font?
Yes, there has indeed been research on this effect, known as “luminance contrast” or “simultaneous contrast”. Studies indicate that our perception of stroke weight shifts depending on the background, due to the eye’s adaptation to varying levels of light and contrast. A key factor here is the contrast sensitivity of human photoreceptors, particularly those attuned to bright versus dark settings. However, the optimal weight adjustment varies from font to font. In the case of Whiteblack’s slab serifs, for instance, the serifs help mitigate the optical contrast effect by defining the letter edges more distinctly, thereby reducing the impact of over-glow.
The closest earlier slab-serif font I could find to compare with Whiteblack on Identifont was PMN Caecilia. Was that or any other font an influence on the design?
PMN Caecilia is indeed a beautiful typeface that anyone interested in slab serifs is likely familiar with. I aimed for Whiteblack to have a subtly humanistic character as well, but my primary focus was really on handling contrast dynamics. I worked with lighter weights, more open counters, and gentle curves to ensure optimal readability and visual balance in both positive and negative settings.
Do the same principles apply to negative text on a computer screen, and negative text on a printed page, and did you have both applications in mind when you designed Whiteblack?
Maybe fundamentally, yes, but there are key differences. Screens and light boxes are backlit and emit light, which can lead to over-glow and make letters appear bolder than intended. On paper light is reflected, resulting in a different perception of contrast. My focus was mainly on digital screens, but I also considered applications in lightboxes, such as signage and wayfinding systems or retail displays.
Lucas Pozzobon – Formiga (TipoType)
Formiga is an informal sans-serif typeface. What inspired you to design it; was it for a particular application?
Formiga is my first typeface; initially I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted it to look. The only thing I had in mind was that I wanted to design a typeface for titles that would allow me to explore the glyphs graphically in an expressive way.
Formiga has some quirky characteristics that give it a playful appearance, such as the ‘K’ arm, the ‘R’ leg, the ‘g’ tail, and the cursive ‘k’ shape. What inspired these features?
These characteristics emerged from a desire to visually explore each glyph detail in an expressive way. To better understand these relationships, I analyzed the formal and aesthetic aspects of various typefaces with similar characteristics, which helped shape Formiga’s look and develop its unique style.
Some of the characters have ink traps, which is unusual in a humanist typeface; for example the ‘M’, ’N’, ‘Z’, ‘b’, ‘d’, and ‘w’. What was the thinking behind these?
This was also a design decision from the beginning. Ink traps have become an aesthetic feature in contemporary digital fonts, and the idea was to apply them consistently across as many characters as possible, creating a distinct visual unity while further exploring counterforms. This use of ink traps brought a contemporary and functional character to the font, while also enhancing its expressiveness, balancing practicality with a unique visual appeal.
Did you have any particular applications in mind as you were designing Formiga?
Since it was designed with a focus on titles, Formiga was intended for impactful applications, such as expressive headlines, brand identities, packaging, and other contexts where typography is a prominent visual element.
Julia Uplegger – Alison (TypeMates)
Alison Text and Alison Head are elegant serif typefaces for text and display respectively. Where did the idea for the family originate?
Alison was inspired by historical street signs in Hamburg-Altona, a borough of Hamburg in Germany. They were found by my former type design teacher and later project partner, Albert-Jan Pool. The idea was to create an independent typeface with a feminine appeal, capturing the bold, extravagant charm, one that embraces its unique personality just as Altona does – a blend of edgy sharpness with refined elegance and feminine confidence.
One of the most distinctive features of Alison is the tapered vertical stroke on the ‘J’, ‘f’, and ‘j’. I only recall seeing it as a feature of the lower-case ‘j’ in fonts such as Monotype Modern Condensed, but not in the upper-case ‘J’. What inspired this aspect of the design?
After designing letters like ‘a’ and ‘c’ with these unique serifs, I first developed an original solution for the ‘f’ – a contrast between a strong stem and a dynamic, delicate hairline from which the serif hangs. This plays into Alison’s concept of bringing lightness into the typeface design, both in individual letterforms and in letter and accent combinations. It then felt natural to apply this tapered stroke to the ‘j’, and finally, the ‘J’.
Alison Head has razor-sharp serifs, although you’ve provided a OpenType Strong Serifs stylistic set that makes the serifs thicker, similar to those of Alison Text. What application do you foresee for this?
The Strong Serifs stylistic set can be used just like the default Alison Head. It serves as a versatile bridge between Alison Text and Alison Head, expanding creative options for designers. With Alison, I wanted to experiment with classical Didone forms and explore how changes in design parameters could influence the typeface's character. This led to the idea of creating a display typeface that, in its default setting, honours Altona’s roots, while the Strong Serifs option offers both expressive variety and a harmonious transition to Alison Text.
You’ve written that Alison is a companion to your typeface Altona, which you've released at the same time. What’s the relationship between the two typefaces?
Altona originated in the golden 1920s of Hamburg. Alison draws inspiration from this unique charm and Altona’s idiosyncratic historical details but takes a completely new path 100 years later, embodying something distinct in the form of two sisters. All three – Altona, Alison Head, and Alison Text – carry a direct, Nordic clarity. Altona and Alison share a straightforward character, expressing this openly. However, Alison, as a more feminine typeface, breaks away from the typical feminine softness associated with Didone type faces, diverging from conventional teardrops and curvature. In addition to its warm sharpness, it brings a powerful, expressive individuality into an elegant form.