Selecting a Typeface - resource

[Bill Burk]

I was thinking of using a Transitional typeface for a booklet I plan to write, though an Oldstyle face has been suggested. I'm open to other ideas.

So to make sure I don't do something stupid like mixing Futura headlines with Caslon text, I went to look for some advice on compatible families...

This site came up easily in a search, I'm adding it to my favorites.

Also for those APUG members/subscribers who do wet plate... notice this little trick that "SAM" did (you might try this trick at home). Normally hand-set type appears mirror-image. So knowing the photograph would be mirror-image, he held the composing stick to look like a belt-buckle.

http://www.designingwithtype.com/items/itemsTwain.html

 

[Ian Grant]

Nice link, thanks.

ian

 

[NedL]

That's a neat page! Another place that's going to eat up some time, I can see already!

An aside, I've been using URW-Garamond with LaTeX for a number of years, and I built a special version of "small caps" from another source to make the set full. Somewhere I have a photo of a printing press that's in the Sacramento History Museum with all the handmade typesets on racks. Those are definitely analog.

 

[Rafal Lukawiecki]

I can't recommend anything more than Robert Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style", worth every penny, informative, accessible, and a lovely typeset book itself.

 

[Bill Burk]

Hey NedL... Did you ever cash that check from Knuth? (Just a TeX joke)...

I actually did poorly in "Design with Type" though I enjoyed the class and tried my best, I barely scraped by.

You won't believe the treasure I found at my friend's house. He's got a large collection of "The Heritage Club" books (his grandfather was publisher). I found an index which lists the books and fonts used in each book. That's where I spent the bulk of last night in a haze.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

Thanks for that link Bill. I have to admit I have been around designers for many years but I have always found fonts and their layout to be a bit befuddling. I have leaned on designers more than once in my life. It really is an under appreciated art if you ask me.

 

[Bill Burk]

Briefly, I imagined spending the $99 for the "Permanent Press" filter set here...

http://www.misterretro.com/filters/permanent-press

Because I like the look of letterpress and thought it would look great.

I reconsidered, because similar to my feeling about "the real thing" versus "a simulation" that I hold about photography here at APUG, I realized a simulation would not fit my current ideals.

No, if I had to have the look of "Original Oldstyle" by Linotype. Then I would specify lead and letterpress, and that's too much for now. For my current undertaking, it will be a digital font properly licensed and embedded in a PDF file. I have a limited selection, and from there I can make a fair decision.

 

[NedL]

No check but I had a long email exchange with Knuth about 25 years ago* about a difficult and interesting math/programming problem that had to do with the most efficient way to partition data given various constraints. I didn't realize until later that I was interacting with the author of TeX and The Art of Computer Programming, even though I used TeX in college ( when it was new and exciting ) and had spent a lot of time with TAOCP. Focused on the problem and didn't connect it or his name.

Have fun selecting your typeface, that's a good problem to have!

*BTW email was sort of exclusive and exciting then too.. pre-www.