This Week From the Desk
Type Network has been keen on capitalizing on the recent evolution in font technology: Variable Fonts. But it's going to take a little more education to make the promise of this new technology a reality. David Berlow, writing on behalf of Font Bureau, expresses his view of variable fonts published the second installment in a series on variable fonts: Opentype Font Variations.
It's a helpful guide to getting up to speed with everything that's been going on in this arena (as well as a thorough plug for Amstelvar, Font Network's highly visible variable collaboration with Google). Read about it all on the Type Network Blog.
A Whirlwind Tour Through the History of Monograms
The Illustrious Nancy Sharon Collins offered up this quick but fascinating walk through the history of monograms and cyphers on the Print Magazine blog, complete with plenty of visual fodder—enough to give Pinterest a run for its money. Read and see all the historical splendor here.
Regardless of how you feel about the world needing another large grotesque sans family, Marcin Antique was released this week and it's worth checking out. Feliciano Type Foundry presents their new 16-style family with historic context, design process, and a deep PDF Specimen. It's always fascinating to see how designers step up to the plate to take a swing at the Grotesques... this at-bat by Feliciano is worth a watch. Discover and buy Marcin Antique here.
Just a little visual inspiration this week: this instagram video posted by @klassethomas. Warning, you might get stuck watching this several times over.
It was announced this week that Paul McNeil of Muir McNeil will be publishing a reference compendium and review of printing types with Laurence King Publishers in September. McNeil describes the book as “a comprehensive, detailed survey of the major typefaces produced since the advent of printing with movable type in the mid-fifteenth century to the present day.” The book is now taking pre-orders. Can't wait to see what is presented in this volume.
The Loveliest Living Fossil Indeed
H&Co and been publishing a deeper look into some of the characters that don't often get their day in the sun. This week, the company focused on the Numero sign, presenting all you'd ever want to know about it—and a few other similarly obscure characters— in order to impress your friends at trivia night. A good read, and looking forward to more, H&Co.