LinoLetter 2009/01

FontExplorer X and several new font families

! Welcome to the Current Issue of the LinoLetter ! Subscribe Unsubscribe

In this Issue:



Introducing the new FontExplorer X product line
From one designer to another – Trade Gothic and Trade Gothic Next
Typeface design as a work of personal devotion – JP2
A new family with many sides – Meet Azbuka
Fresh type from Serbia – The ITC Nova Lineta family
Rod McDonald follows up a smash hit – Introducing Egyptian Slate, a new slab serif

Introducing the new FontExplorer X product line

FontExplorer X
We are happy to present the new FontExplorer® X Pro and FontExplorer X Server font management solutions. Equipped with an enhanced interface and many new features, the professional font management application is also now available in a server version. Font management from the font experts, tailored for the needs of creative professionals and organizations.
Visit the new www.fontexplorerx.com website to learn more.

From one designer to another – Trade Gothic and Trade Gothic Next

Trade Gothic Next
Linotype has redrawn the classic Trade Gothic® typeface from the ground up. Meet our newest heavy-duty family: Trade Gothic Next! The original Trade Gothic dates back to 1948, when Jackson Burke was Linotype’s Director of Typographic Development. Over the years, his family expanded, but without a unifying structure across all of its members. Akira Kobayashi, Linotype’s current Type Director, knew that Trade Gothic could be improved by refining details, such as the terminals, stroke endings, symbols, and the spacing and kerning. He supervised the addition of compressed widths and heavy weights for even more powerful headline setting, and he beefed up the Regular weight to enhance it for text setting.
Click here for a comparison of Trade Gothic and Trade Gothic Next.

Typeface design as a work of personal devotion – JP2

JP2
Last month, we introduced LinoLetter readers to Waza™, a formal script face by the Polish designer Franciszek Otto. To kickoff the new year, we are pleased to present another of his typefaces, an informal script inspired by the handwriting of Pope John Paul II. JP2™ is a rough but intelligent design with letters that slightly bounce along the baseline to mimic handwriting.
Try out JP2 for your next greeting card or invitation!

A new family with many sides – Meet Azbuka

Azbuka
One of Monotype Imaging’s newest typefaces is Azbuka™, a sturdy sans serif whose name means “alphabet” in Russian. Azbukah’s story is all about duality: its design is simultaneously cosmopolitan and utilitarian, and its creators – designers Dave Farey and Richard Dawson – drew inspiration from two unrelated pieces of industrial signage, one in London and the other in Prague. Azbuka may be used to set small text or large headlines. The family offers 20 fonts; there are eight basic weights, five of which have complimentary italics and seven with condensed variants.
What other surprises does Azbuka have to offer? Find out at Linotype.com.

Enliven packaging design with ITC Nova Lineta!

ITC Nova Lineta
ITC Nova Lineta™ is the debut typeface from Slobodan Jelesijevic. An experienced packaging designer, he saw the need in his own work for an informal typeface with a slightly cursive design – something that would be elegant while still remaining up to date. Since he couldn’t find anything to fit the bill, he created his own masterpiece! ITC Nova Lineta is a family of three weights; extended and condensed versions complement the normally proportioned base. This typeface’s letters are simple and direct while being warm, casual, and inviting. Their ample x-height, the open counterforms inside their letters, and distinctive strokes ensure a high level of legibility. Subtle serifs make their presence known at large sizes. ITC Nova Lineta is also an apt choice for all-around display type applications.
Enliven packaging design with ITC Nova Lineta!

Rod McDonald follows up a smash hit – Introducing Egyptian Slate, a new slab serif

Egyptian Slate
Just as the camera adds weight to human faces, serifs can add weight to typographic faces. Rod McDonald trimmed and adjusted his new Egyptian Slate™ design as it emerged from its sans serif predecessor, the Slate™ design. The result is a solid and stylish slab serif design that will look superb in the spotlight of your choosing. The Egyptian Slate family is available in six weights – from a svelte light to a commanding black – each with a complementary italic. The family is also available as OpenType Pro fonts which offer an extended character set that supports most Central European and many Eastern European languages.
Expand your contemporary text-setting palette with this new family!
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 February.

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.