Eiichi’s self-confessed shock is now hopefully more understandable – he was not simply being asked to rework an old typeface, he was being asked to touch up an acknowledged “Old Master.” Johnstone Sans - A Typeface for the Underground. [more inside]
posted by badrolemodel on Sep 18, 2009 - 25 comments

The unexpected (possible) history of the world's most famous typeface. Mike Parker, former head of typographic development at Morgenthaler Linotype, has challenged the standard history of Times New Roman. The typeface, Parker claims, wasn't designed by "the great persuader" Stanley Morison and Victor Lardent of Monotype in 1931, but rather thirteen years earlier by an American, William Starling Burgess, an airplane and yacht designer, published poet, and naval architect who married five times and whose daughter, also named Starling Burgess, described him as “a bird of paradise in a family of English sparrows.” By the time of that statement, she no longer shared his name, but had become the celebrated children's author Tasha Tudor. (via)
posted by ocherdraco on Aug 17, 2009 - 46 comments

Artist Julián Dorado puts together typographical creatures. The alphabet can be a little scary.... Typefaces. (via) [more inside]
posted by Kronos_to_Earth on Dec 1, 2008 - 6 comments

The story behind Comic Sans: The web's most hated typeface. Previously
posted by GuyZero on Aug 23, 2007 - 398 comments

How the new type standard for American road signage reduces halation and improves readability.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Aug 11, 2007 - 47 comments

Moon type, an embossed typeface invented by Englishman William Moon in the middle 1840s, seemed to have won the fight to bring reading to the blind. Online Moon type generator here. It was based on simplified Roman text, was easy to use by all, and once enjoyed the status as the most popular embossed typeface in the world (failed night writing system withstanding). Until Louis Braille developed his system, that is.
posted by luckypozzo on Oct 8, 2005 - 21 comments

Free the Olympukes. Fontshop, the 500-lb gorilla of type foundries, has released Jonathan Barnbrook's Olympukes dingbat font - which does a good job of reconciling the love/hate relationship many of us have with this most constructed of all sports events - for free. Barnbrook is the politically savage designer behind the Virus typefoundry, and is probably most well-known for collaborations with Damien Hirst and the typefaces Exocet and Mason (which was originally called Manson – and "intended to speak of the uncomfortable associations between elegance and violence" – but was renamed Mason in a fit of pique marketing), which are sold through the fine folks at Emigre.
posted by luriete on Aug 13, 2004 - 8 comments

Are you a typoholic? It starts so innocently. One day you're mildly interested in the difference between display and text typefaces. Soon you can distinguish between teardrop and beak terminals. Suddenly you're annoying everyone in the movie theater by yelling out the names of all the fonts used in the credits. What's so scary is that you never saw it coming. You, my friend, are a type freak.
posted by ColdChef on Apr 29, 2004 - 36 comments

A New Typeface for Yale The Yale typeface is available to Yale employees, students, and authorized contractors for use in Yale publications and communications. It may not be used for personal or business purposes, and it may not be distributed to non-Yale personnel.
posted by ColdChef on Apr 25, 2004 - 38 comments

Identifont is an amazing, free, font identification tool. Ever seen some nice text in print or on the web, wanted to use it yourself, but couldn't work out what font they used? By answering a series of simple questions (Does the 'Q' tail cross the circle? What shape is the 'g'?), all presented with handy example pictures, Identifont can quickly identify the name of the font you're looking for.
posted by chrismear on Apr 7, 2004 - 13 comments

Microsoft Typeface Recall and an apology offered: a Swastika happened to slip by the censors. But is it really all that offensive? (more inside)
posted by five fresh fish on Dec 12, 2003 - 54 comments

Typeface Smackdown. (via Kottke.)
posted by Vidiot on Jul 23, 2003 - 12 comments

Behind The Typeface Presents: Cooper Black. The gripping saga of one typeface's trials and tribulations, following its path from the dizzying heights of stardom to the brink of self-destruction and back again. (Flash 5, approx. 3MB.)
posted by youhas on Jul 26, 2002 - 31 comments

A bunch of display type hacks... who just happen to be the berries in my book. Ok, I'm a type geek, I admit it - and I've designed a couple of fonts myself... But the boys over at House Industries are without a doubt the hippest cats this side of a kerning table.
posted by grant on Nov 6, 1999 - 2 comments