Fonts in Focus, May 2007

Alternate Gothic was designed by Morris Fuller Benton for American Typefounders Company in 1903. All three weights of Alternate Gothic are bold and narrow. In fact, this face is essentially a condensed version of Benton’s other well-known sans serif types, Franklin Gothic™ and News Gothic™. In the early twentieth century, the modern concept of type "families" had not yet been formed - and though Benton designed these sans serifs to harmonize with each other, the foundry gave them different names. Robust, dark, and coolly competent; Alternate Gothic is a good choice when strong typographic statements must fit into tight spaces.

Brda™ originally designed by the Polish designer Franciszek Otto for the Powiat weekly newspaper. Powiat needed a new, dynamically drawn sans serif for its headlines, and Otto’s Brda fit the bill. Combining traditional Grotesk letterforms with witty subtleties, like the notched-joint seen in the capital G, Brda displays a novel design that works best when set large. The typeface is named after the Brda river, which runs through Bydgoszcz, Poland, the city where Powiat is published. The Brda family includes three weights, each with a companion italic: Regular, Bold, and Extra Bold.
The Brda family’s Extra Bold weight was one of the winners selected in the 2003 International Type Design Contest, sponsored by Linotype GmbH.

Part of the first typeface release package from ITC in 1970, Busorama™ melds Art Deco and 70s flower-power into a delightful sans serif design. Designed by Tom Carnase, this three-weight sans serif family still turns heads.

Cool Wool™ is part of the TakeType Library, featuring winners of Linotype’s International Digital Type Design Contest. This font was designed by A. Leonardi and P. Wollein, who took their inspiration from clothing labels and care instructions. Cool Wool is designed to look like it was stitched, a style of typeface which goes back to the hand embroidery of the time of Biedermeier. Cool Wool, however, is a distinctly modern font with a technical feel. The font is not suited for longer texts, but Cool Wool is good for shorter texts and headlines, especially because of the possibilities allowed by its three different styles, regular, stone washed (bold) and Cotton Club (outline).

Dante™ was designed by Giovanni Mardersteig. Mardersteig started work on Dante after the Second World War when printing at the Officina Bodoni returned to full production. He drew on his experience of using Monotype Bembo™ and Centaur™ to design a new book face with an italic which worked harmoniously with the roman. Originally hand-cut by Charles Malin, Dante was adapted for mechanical composition by Monotype in 1957. The new digital font version has been re drawn, by Monotype’s Ron Carpenter, free from any restrictions imposed by hot metal technology. The Dante font family was issued in 1993 in a range of three weights with a set of titling capitals. Dante is a beautiful book face which can also be used to good effect in magazines, periodicals etc.

Folio® was designed by Konrad F. Bauer and Walter Baum, and released in several weights and widths by the Bauer Type Foundry from 1956 to 1963. This legible sans serif family was designed around the same time as Helvetica™, and in many ways it is quite similar to Helvetica. There are some notable differences in certain characters, like the lowercase a, and the caps G and Q. The designers of Folio worked as a team on several other Bauer types, including Volta® and Impressum®. Konrad Bauer was also a notable typography teacher and historian; he wrote the book "Aventur und Kunst" in 1940. Use Folio when you need to communicate competence and clearness, and when you want something just a little bit different from Helvetica.

Galahad™ font was designed by the American artist Alan A. Blackman in 1994. It is a sans serif font with a calligraphic flair particularly suited for displays, although its open geometric forms make it a good choice for shorter texts as well. Galahad also includes old style figures and alternate characters, making it a very flexible font.

Take a look at our Galahad usage sample

Based on script handwriting and engraving used in formal announcements and invitations, Mahogany Script™ lends itself to typesetting in which an elegant mood is desired. The Mahogany Script font is an elegant design with a warm and informal feeling.

Designed by Dariusz Nowak-Nova in 1994, NoweAteny™ is a frantic handwriting font whose capital letters include technical-looking grid lines and end points. These seem to anchor the letters without reducing their volatility. The font consciously lacks elements that increase legibility, sacrificing them for the sake of more design-oriented ideals. NoweAteny is thus good for headlines in larger point sizes, especially when the look of the text is as important as its content.
Linotype Nowe Ateny is part of the TakeType Library, which features the winners of Linotype’s International Digital Type Design Contest from 1994 to 1997.

Released in 1993, Ocean Sans™ is a sans serif design created for Monotype by the talented Malaysian designer, Ong ChongWah. The Ocean Sans font family has a distinct contrast between thick and thin strokes which sets it apart from the rather austere Grotesques with their more monotone appearance. Ocean Sans italic is an unusual design for a sans face, a strong cursive influence gives it a flowing rhythm not generally associated with sans serif italics. Ideal for text and display setting, the freshness of the Ocean Sans font family will give the user further scope in the design of catalogues, brochures, advertisements and flyers.

This script collection is used in advertising, invitations, greeting cards, and wherever a formal hand-lettered or engraving look is desired. Original Script™ has an elegant connecting alphabet based on formal handwriting. The Original Script font is a safe choice for invitations to weddings and formal occasions, and personal stationery.

Parties™ Pi is a symbol font designed by Carolyn Gibbs. With a collection of 37 images, this is a versatile set of artistic elements great for instant illustrations, icons, or bullet points. Choose from opera masks, party hats, balloons, trumpets, candy, birthday cakes, martini glasses, and more! The icons in the Parties Pi are best used at larger point sizes.

Italian poet and author, Francesco Pastonchi was commissioned to produce a new edition of the Italian Classics but was unable to find types which satisfied his needs. He decided to embark on designing a new typeface, assisted by Professor Eduardo Cotti at the Royal School of Typography in Torino. Early printed works, manuscripts and inscriptions were carefully studied before drawings were presented to Monotype for matrix production. A process of careful refinement of the design was carried out in the Monotype Type Drawing Office before the typeface was ready for manufacture. Pastonchi is a Venetian style face with a fresh, almost exotic appearance, ideally suited to classical works such as poetry and short stories. The Pastonchi font family has beautiful character shapes that also make excellent display and advertising copy.