Typography

Williams Caslon

‘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 . . .

Replay: Stefan’s Caslon

‘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 . . .

Recasting Caslon

“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 . . .

‘Shitty piece . . . It is very bad history’

‘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)