flâneur

Grit and Patchwork: Designing Community Gothic | Frere-Jones Type

frerejones.com · 3,136 words · saved by 1 readers

In most typeface revivals, a type designer starts small. A single piece of reference, perhaps a name chiseled into stone or a line of type on an old train ticket, is studied in detail, and then extrapolated into a complete set of letters, weights and widths that follow the same consistent construction, free of contradiction. The operation is a precious one, where every curve of the original is carefully studied and meticulously ushered into the 21st Century—translated from ink on a page to a network of carefully placed points and handles on a set of vector drawings. These typical revivals could be thought of as a process of growth, wherein a unified set of styles expands outwards from a single origin point to create a group. A family. But there are many ways that typefaces, and individuals, can come together to form a network. Whereas a family emerges out of a sense of continuity, other forms of grouping operate more like a chosen family: happenstance, sure, but formed with intention a

In most typeface revivals, a type designer starts small. A single piece of reference, perhaps a name chiseled into stone or a line of type on an old train ticket, is studied in detail, and then extrapolated into a complete set of letters, weights and widths that follow the same consistent construction, free of contradiction. The operation is a precious one, where every curve of the original is carefully studied and meticulously ushered into the 21st Century—translated from ink on a page to a network of carefully placed points and handles on a set of vector drawings. These typical revivals…

related reading