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Type Talk

Welcome to Illuminating Letters - a series of newsletters about the most significant and enduring typeface families.

Issue 5: Century (June 2010). The “super family” has become a staple of graphic communication. Scores of these typographic juggernauts have been developed over the last couple of decades. While they are generally considered to be modern design tools, the first typographic super family is over a century old.

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Issue 4: Optima (October 2009). With humble beginnings as quick sketches on an Italian bank note, Hermann Zapf refined the design that was to become the Optima® typeface into an elegant and powerful communication tool. The process of getting from rough drawings to fonts of type took years – but it was clearly time well-invested.

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Issue 3: Bodoni (April 2009). Bodoni is not easy to use. The Bodoni type style is not an all-purpose workhorse. It is, rather, a high-strung thoroughbred. Most interpretations are exceptionally handsome designs that perform best within a narrow range of functions, but in these they perform like few others can. Discover why in the latest edition of Illuminating Letters.

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Issue 2: Franklin Gothic (November 2008). Although it has taken more than 100 years, what began life as a single-weight typeface is evolving into a very large – and exceptionally useful – typeface family, Franklin Gothic.

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Issue 1: Garamond (March 2008). Garamond typefaces, in both their American and European flavours, are generally considered ideal book faces. The design is also an excellent choice for most other forms of continuous text. Magazines, annual reports, newsletters, lengthy advertising copy – for example – are all naturals for the Garamond design. Elegance, readability, warmth, and legibility are guaranteed.

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