LinoLetter 2007/04

New Catalogs and Hermann Zapf’s Alphabet Stories

! Welcome to the Current Issue of the LinoLetter !

Introduction:

Typefaces look best in print, and this month we have four beautiful books to present to LinoLetter readers: three catalogs from Monotype Imaging and a new monograph by Prof. Hermann Zapf about his life and work so far. But what would our monthly newsletter be without the fonts themselves? This April, we are proud to announce the release of a small sans serif family from Adrian Frutiger and Akira Kobayashi that has long been in the works: Nami. Also, we shine a spotlight on a little-known gem from the 1950s, Aldo Novarese’s Fluidum.

Have fonts of fun!

In this Issue:

Font reference books, close at hand – Three catalogs from Monotype Imaging
Alphabet Stories – The latest book by Prof. Hermann Zapf
Adrian Frutiger and Akira Kobayashi – Together again, with Nami
An Italian script that delights in its own informality – Fluidum

Font reference books, close at hand – Three catalogs from Monotype Imaging

Recently, we added three OpenType collections from Monotype Imaging to the selection of font libraries at Linotype.com: The Monotype Library OpenType Edition, The ITC Library OpenType Edition, and The Adobe Type Collection OpenType Edition. Customers who license these collections automatically receive a beautifully printed and bound corresponding catalog. Now these catalogs are available for sale as individual items for just 10 USD/EUR each! Concisely laid out according to typographic categories (Serif, Sans Serif, Display, etc.), the pages in these catalogs display three line samples of every font in their respective collection’s font families. Plus, all OpenType features in the fonts are quickly ascertainable via a series of helpful icons. Order your copy of these catalogs today while supplies last.

Browse fonts offline and make more informed font selections with these OpenType catalogs!

Alphabet Stories – The latest book by Prof. Hermann Zapf

Beginning with his childhood days in Nuremberg and leading to his newest typeface releases with Linotype, Prof. Hermann Zapf details his life and work in this illustrated, first-person narrative. Along the way, war and peace are documented, as well as Prof. Zapf’s progression from calligraphy to computer programming. Read first-hand about the changes in type design and typesetting, from handset letters to hot-metal Linotype machinery, and from photo type to digital fonts. Among the book’s many secrets are anecdotes about typefaces for musical notation, the history behind Palatino™, Optima™, and Zapfino’s development, a Cherokee syllabary, Donald Knuth, and even Steve Jobs. The book – typeset in Palatino nova and Palatino Sans – is also available in a German edition, titled Alphabetgeschichten.

Experience the wonder of calligraphic type design, as well as Prof. Zapf’s personal history.

Adrian Frutiger and Akira Kobayashi – Together again, with Nami

Nami, the Japanese word for “wave,” is the newest sans serif release from Adrian Frutiger. A design he began during the 1980s, Nami is a small family whose fonts include a number of rhythmic alternate letters. Among the alternates are a series of ancient, lapidary forms, which can be dropped in to completely change the appearance of a word or line of text. Completed together with Linotype Type Director Akira Kobayashi, the design received the name “Nami” not only because of Kobayashi’s Japanese heritage, but also because its letters contain a spirit of movement similar to that of the rolling ocean.

Dive into this new typeface today!

An Italian script that delights in its own informality – Fluidum

Not only are Italians the world champions when it comes to soccer (or football, depending on which side of the Atlantic one calls home), but their design tradition is also a powerful mix of elegance and spontaneity. Take Fluidum, for instance. Designed in 1951 by one of Italy’s most celebrated typeface designers, Aldo Novarese, the font’s design is very fluid, as its name suggests. The high-contrast script face curls and twists across the line like a mix of Giambattista Bodoni’s cursive letters and Aldo Novarese’s later, heavier designs, such as Microgramma™, Eurostile™ and Sprint™.

Dive into this new typeface today!

TypoTechnica 2007 registration

It isn’t too late to register for Linotype’s upcoming font technology conference, TypoTechnica! From April 27–29, many of the world’s leading font production specialists will gather in Frankfurt to learn more about recent advances and plan for the future of typographic development.

You can join them; register today!

The “Akira Says ...” Archives

By visiting the &ldquo:Learn About Type&rdquo: section of our website, you can browse the entire archives of Akira Kobayashi’s helpful column, in addition to a few other choice articles.

Improve your typography – browse through Akira’s column.

We hope you found this issue of the LinoLetter informative and useful. We highly appreciate your feedback at info@linotype.com

The next issue of this newsletter will be published and dropped in your mailbox in May 2007.

Your Linotype Online Team

This newsletter may contain forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements about the product, strategic or business plans of Linotype GmbH. Various important risks and uncertainties may cause our actual results to differ materially from the results indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the implementation of product changes, the adoption of our products by the marketplace, or our ability to obtain and enforce intellectual property protection. For
a further list and description of the risks and uncertainties we face, please refer to the the filings made by our parent company, Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc., with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements; whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise and such statements are current only as of the date they are made.