Read between the leading

The Week in?Type I always write this introductory paragraph last. As I’ve been working on this post all day, my eyes are now burning, and I’m flagging; so, let’s just get started. Loosen your belts — this is a big?one

The Week in?Type

I always write this introductory paragraph last. As I’ve been working on this post all day, my eyes are now burning, and I’m flagging; so, let’s just get started. Loosen your belts — this is a big?one.

I’ll start with a beautiful photograph of a beautiful?thing:

There’s not much that’s more inspiring than to see young people (I’m not that old) talking about design and type. Aaron Heth and Matt McInerney recently launched a great new podcast, Read Between the Leading. Intelligent and enthusiastic discussion; and, I think, if they keep at it, then this show will be?big.

So whether you’re a student, or an old-timer like me, then subscribe to Read Between the Leading. They’re very open to suggestions, so leave them comments, or tweet @rbtlshow. The most recent podcast features an interview with Antonio Carusone (aisleone & the grid system), and they even have a prize for the best call-in. And, you can even subscribe via iTunes.

Resources

Another alternative to sIFR comes in the form of cufón a Flash-less text replacement generator. It’s all pretty clever using what is basically FontForge to create an SVG?font:

However, I can’t stress this enough: check your EULA, your font license. It MUST permit Web embedding. The documentation is comprehensive, and the actual font generator allows you to select sub-classes of glyphs; e.g. only convert, say, uppercase; a great way to reduce file?size.

Another sIFR alternative is FLIR (Face Lift Image Replacement), and there’s a comprehensive podcast tutorial on its implementation over at CSS?Tricks.

Good use of sIFR and H&FJ’s lovely slab serif,?Archer:

Flickermood 2.0, type in motion, by Sebastian?Lange:

Thanks,?Matthew.

Inspiration

Love this cover for Uppercase?magazine:

If you’d like to get involved with the magazine, then simply click on over.
Be sure to check out Uppercase’s Flickr too, with experiments like?this:

Was rummaging through ISO50’s archives and came across the work of Jeff Carham. Can’t believe I’d never heard of him. Fantastic?sign-writing:

Would love to get my hands on this (sold out) Exhibition catalogue from Blanka. 48?Posters:

Photo of the cover?here.

Clever little Letter Boxes from The Design?Office:

Via?swissmiss.

The type pantry by Samir?Zahran:

Great poster from Mr and Mrs M (Tim & Tom?Muller):

Via?WhyWeRock.

Typographic tree sculptures by Gordon?Young:

Thanks,?Peter.

Web?typography

TweetCC shows off some Palatino. Works pretty well at large sizes on screen. Though the letterspacing in the title is too tight (-2px). However, good use of text-shadow to give the white text that extra brilliance. A very fine looking?site.

Seeing more Cambria (one of the new-ish typefaces to ship with Windows Vista) referenced in style sheets these days. For example?TypeChart:

An interesting resource too. Allows you to compare type on screen, and then grab the resulting CSS. But what is it with Windows’ (not so) ClearType. It still looks dreadful when compared to Apple’s?ATSUI:

apple atsui

windows cleartype

Thanks to Frank and Gabe for the Windows screen grabs. For more on this topic, see Jon Tan’s Display Type & the Raster?Wars.

Letterpress

Compassion from Studio on?Fire:

FF DIN now has its own?micro-site:

A great interview with Font Bureau’s insanely talented Cyrus?Highsmith.

New?releases

Glosa Display by Dino dos Santos, and available through?TypeTrust.

Angel Script by Neil?Summerour:

Fiasco by Frederico Antunes, and available through?youworkforthem:

Bree Oblique by Cabinet, and available through?Veer:

Featured?faces

Lagarto from?Kimera:

Soon available through?FontShop.

Bodoni Script Pro from Parachute. Comes replete with 144 ornaments and 120 frame?parts:

Karmina & Karmina Sans, a fine serif/sans pairing from?TypeTogether:

I’ve never purchased a Harry Potter title, but if they looked like?this…

M.S. Corley’s wonderful reinterpretation of the HP covers, in the style of the beloved Penguin classics. Beautiful. In fact, these aren’t the first covers he’s redesigned. Here is my?favourite:

TTTType

I’ve recently started a ilovetypography FFFFound page, where 99% of the stuff I post is type-related. You might want to take a?look.

Competition

The Type Directors Club is kindly offering a free copy of Typography 29, a fantastic tour de force of the year in type, and an inspiration to?all.

To win a free copy, all you have to do is answer these two simple?questions:

1 In what year was the Type Directors Club formed?
2 Name 3 recipients of the Type Directors Club Medal awarded for achievements in the art and craft of type and?typography.

Send your answers to competitions@tdc.org. The deadline is Wednesday March 18th, 2009. A winner will be drawn from winning entries at the March TDC board meeting, Thursday 19th, 2009 by TDC President, Charles Nix. If you’re not the lucky winner, then I recommend you get hold of a copy. It’s a must?have.

The second give-away is a copy of FontExplorer X Pro, the font management?app:

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning a license, is simply append #font to a tweet. It might be a tweet about your favourite iLT post (but it needn’t be about iLT at all). I’ll announce a winner on Wednesday, March?4.

And?finally…

Apologies to those who missed out on the Helvetica Moleskines. They all sold out in about 4 minutes! More are on the?way.

I’m working on a number of iLT-related projects. Progress is slow (owing to work comittments, and too few hours in the day), but I’m quite excited about them, and hope to share more news about them?soon.

Hope that’s enough to sate your typographic appetites for now at least. Thanks for reading, and ave a great?week.