The 14th Annual Fall Fonts Festival
...where DTG magazine presents the coolest and hottest in typography
Letterforms that shaped a generation
If you ever rocked out at a concert by the Doors, New Riders or Commander Cody in the San Fran bay area back in the day, then you already know Thomas Morris -- he created the concert posters! Today, he's still producing breath-taking graphics and superb typographic creations and we're going to take a little field trip to his studio ... Thomas Morris Design
Book Fonts: what are they, why do we want them
Typography expert David Bergsland talks about book fonts and why their readability, legibility, smooth type color and other characteristics are important to designers. We also show you some samples of David's just-released "Amitale" book font. Follow along as we answer the question What are Book Fonts, why do we need them
Fred's Famous Fonts Surf for 2008
In this year's surf we'll design some cool stuff with typography, introduce you to Linotype's Font Explorer; see how to prune excess fonts in OS X; check out a series of very cool tutorials, visit a Free Grungy Font Resource and look in on the foundries of some very special font creators. Oh, and all along the way, we'll see some fun and unique fonts! If you did not see it last month, go here... or join in the action at 2008 Fall Fonts Surf, Part 2
A Brief History of Typography
After teaching typography for years, We were pleased to find this essay by Thomas W. Phinney because of its accuracy. With permission, have taken the liberty of enhancing the texts, adding links and updating links that had gone dead. Part 1 of this essay will help all graphic designers learn and understand the History of Typography
If you only had ONE FONT
DTG went into Fred's LinkedIN network and asked this question: "If you could have only one font, which would it be and why?" These are just some of the responses we got. Some are thoughtful, some are crazy, all are enjoyable to read ... If you only had ONE FONT
Font & Type Fantasy
THE SERIF FAIRY has lost her wing, keeping her from performing magic. This is an amazing book for type aficionados and their children created by Rene Siegfried using typography and letter forms exclusively to create the playful illustrations. Then we look at "Hand Job: A Catalog of Type" that focuses on hand lettered typography for those sick and tired of seeing computer type! Two books you'll really like Font & Type Fantasy
Text on a Path with PagePlus
A lot of people think you have to purchase Adobe InDesign or Quark XPress to get all the features available to desktop publishers, but as we discover more and more powers in PagePlus X3 we're beginning to think there's a third choice! In this brief tutorial, we'll show you how simple it is to use PagePlus for Text on a Path
Gerald Gallo Fonts for 2008
Jerry has added more than 138 new fonts to the Gallo collection since we first met him way back in the Fonts Festival of 1998. This year he brings us three new ding-bats fonts, and a collection of Gothic titling and initial caps...
Gallo presents Gothic Initials and Floral Pictograms
Type faces speak to your readers... delivers the visual message
the next article in our series on publication design deals with selecting typography, type faces or fonts that evoke the theme, emotion, and personality of the message. All publications are aimed at a specific target readership -- it's the designer's challenge to purvey and reinforce the message to that readership using the best Type faces that speak to your readers
Timothy Donaldson ... luscious fonts with a brush
When he was two years old, Tim Donaldson amazed his parents by being able to name each of the ships that passed by his home on the Manchester Ship Canal, near Manchester, England. Today, this heightened awareness of minute details provides his insight into creating luscious letterforms and calligraphic typography like his Humana and Neo Neo fonts.
Neville Brody: Modern-day typography superstar
Here we visit the works of British designer, art director and leading-edge font designer of the ultra-quality fonts from Linotype Foundry :: Insignia: hip, cutting-edge sans with an attitude :: Industria: multi-purpose, killer condensed sans :: Arcadia: Art Deco styling, ultra-urban :: Neville Brody: Modern-day typography superstar
Live Typography in Illustrator Patterns?
Picture this: you've built a great pattern using letters or typography in Illustrator, and the client calls to update the text! OH NO! You'll have to start over. Not if you get plug-in for simultaneous interactive editing of multiple objects in this fantastic new plug-in Artlandia LivePresets for Adobe Illustrator
Typographics Part 2
Last year we introduced video into the Fall Fonts Festival and it was so well received we decided to do it again! So, here's another stunning line-up of great videos produced around the topic of type, typography and fonts -- including a special documentary featuring Steven Heller, and a superb presentation on letterpress printing. Hope you enjoy this years Typographics Part 2
2008 Font Resources of Note
...from some extensive typography and fonts research, I'll share some surfing and testing I've done regarding font tools including: FontVista * Charmas * FontCard * FontForge * Font Finagler * Art Text... and some tutorials on working with type and typography. You can never have enough type and fonts tools, so enjoy these Font & Typography Resources
TypeBook Creator: make cool font books
Veenix sent in this little fonts utility for Mac users and we immediately started making type books. The TypeBook Creator allows you to create and print type specimen books of your entire font collection -- it even categorizes types according to styles -- then prints from an assortment of layouts. We think you're going to like TypeBook Creator
Bodoni Open: elegant beauty of rhythm of form
Little did Giovanni Battista Bodoni know that when he chiseled his first font that it would become a timeless classic which would endure all time. To understand why Bodoni has been called the "father of modern typefaces" we revisit the many splendid uses of the elegant typeface Bodoni Open
Auntie Pat: extraordinary script from David Bergsland
Typography expert David Bergsland introduces you his latest masterpiece, the Open Type Pro script Auntie Pat. We call this a humanist italic that behaves like a script -- but hidden under the Gliphs palette, you'll find riches! ... ladies and gentlemen, meet Auntie Pat Script
Text becomes art, photos become text
We told you about ArText several years ago and now Simon Leung of ArText is back with art he specifically created for the 14th Annual Fonts Festival. He's been working on the software and now it offers some awesome new capabilities to use random Freestyle typography when generating art based on your digital photos! Fantastic! See the spectacular workings converting photos to text with Artext
We will be adding, and the Fonts Fest continues in OCTOBER
... and thanks for reading!
Fred Showker, Editor / Publisher of DTG Magazine
Continue for more 2008 Fonts Festival
We always invite you to share your favorite freeware or shareware fonts for the DTG readers. Got comments or suggestions? Just give us a shout.
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