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What would William Caslon look like if he were working today?

This is one of my favorite takes on Caslon (above) – editorial designed by Mark van Bronkhorst and written by John D. Berry.

It’s the 1998 front and back cover of one of the final print issues of Upper & Lower Case magazine (and as you can see, my copy is a bit mussed up). William Caslon would be wearing a blue suit today, such is the nature of the biz.

Inside U&lc was an incredible promo for the late Justin Howes’ historically accurate ITC Founders Caslon – one of the most faithful updates ever digitized. [Read more →]

Tags: design, design history, fonts, typography by steve
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Experimental typeface inspired by the work of Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964). Drawn in 1990 by Tobias Frere-Jones; now one of the co-owners of H&FJ.

I love how this face captures the orthogonals of the De Stijl movement, of which Rietveld’s famous Red Blue Chair was one of their icons.

Wish this Rietveld type were available somewhere.

Found via a book that I used to have – it vanished into a murky, dusty pile many, many years ago

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, fonts, typography by steve
1 comment  . . .   

Another Metropolis remix (above).

The complete, newly restored Metropolis (1927) will be showing locally at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento, September 11 and 12, 2010.

Found via Alex R. Trujillo

Tags: cool finds, design history, music by steve
1 comment  . . .   

‘Abbot Nicolaus Telegdi purchased the Vienna Jesuit press in 1577 and started to work immediately with its own worn typefaces. His first works were publications of his own speeches.’

Amondó Szegi’s take on Telegdi’s types are a well-worn set of fonts. With some kooky dingbats.

Snag em here. Or here.

Tags: cool finds, design history, fonts, typography by steve
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The Caslon family took type to much bolder heights in the 19th century. And a copy of their 1841 specimen book can be perused thanks to Google Books.

Go here.

Found via I love typography

Tags: design history, fonts, typography by steve
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‘I’m a Sexy Font’ poster, created by Obtenebratio

Back in the early 1990s, the Carol Twombly-drawn Adobe Caslon was one of the first font packages I ever purchased.

I’ve been in love with it ever since. I use it on just about everything – including this blog’s title, my own logotype. I’m a font designer myself, but still don’t consider my own letterforms to even come close to what was accomplished with this particular interpretation of Caslon. [Read more →]

Tags: design, design history, fonts, thoughts, typography by steve
4 comments  . . .   

‘How much should a revival of a typeface look like the original? Well, just as with performing an old song – an analogy Matthew Carter has made – there is something you have to like in the original in order want to revive it. And you can’t depart from the original too much, or you lose the charm of the old song that appealed to you in the first place.’

Over at I love typography, a look at William Berkson’s Caslon revival – and the work involved in such an endeavor. Read more here.

Available thru The Font Bureau.

Tags: design history, fonts, typography by steve
7 comments  . . .   

‘A revival of classic eighteenth-century type by William Caslon, featuring shorter descenders, and higher contrast giving the face a more useful, modern quality.’

I was lucky enough to see the Replay type family in production. And a got to play with some of the beta versions; used one for a fashion logo.

Stefan Hattenbach has been working on this beautiful Caslon update for a few years now. And like all his fonts, there is brilliance in the details.

Replay is available exclusively through Veer.

Tags: design, design history, fonts, typography by steve
3 comments  . . .   

“Caslon’ is an example of what became known in the commercial world of the 20th century as a ‘brand’: a family name that was not only widely recognised by customers but which stood as a guarantee of long-standing integrity.’

William Caslon’s types keep making a comeback.

One of the first revivals was made in the late 1800s by Chiswick Press, London.

Full story here.

Tags: cool finds, design history, education, fonts, typography by steve
2 comments  . . .   

‘It was Benjamin Franklin’s favorite typeface, and the first printings of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were set in Caslon.’

I am a history junkie.

And I loved the scene in HBO’s John Adams miniseries when Adams disputed the accuracy of the above painting (video, below). And how Ben Franklin’s approach to French diplomacy was more  . . .  ardent, than formal.

(I also loved how the miniseries used titled camera angles – like the United States was founded by villains from the old Batman tee vee series)

William Caslon’s fonts were the typefaces of the American Revolution.

Here’s some great reads on early American documents – as handy PDFs.

And here’s a link to John Adams on DVD.

Tags: art, cool finds, design history, education, fonts, typography by steve
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Pages from Recueil d’Alphabets à Dessiner by René Henry Munsch (1951).

More here.

Found via Biggest Apple

Tags: cool finds, design history, fonts, typography by steve
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