fonts font optimized

forty9Release 49 | Summer/Autumn 2009:

ff Avance Pro, ff Dagny Pro, ff Dax Compact Pro, ff Duper Pro, ff Gateway OT, ff Jackie Pro, ff Kava Pro, ff Luggagetag OT, ff Meta 3 Pro, ff Tisa Pro, ff Typestar OT, ff Typestar OCR OT, ff Unit Slab Pro

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ff Unit Slabff Typestar OCRff Typestarff Tisa

ff Meta 3ff Luggagetag Twoff Kavaff Jackie

ff Gateway B Twoff Gateway B Oneff Gateway a Twoff Gateway A One

ff Duperff Dax Compactff Dagnyff Avance

Forty9Yves Peters

I sometimes get the impression (pardon the pun) that printed specimens are on the decline. With the ease and accessibility of broadband internet it seems a waste of resources to cut down trees and pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to produce type specimens on paper. On top of that the cost for physically sending off brochures can be prohibitive for companies that operate globally. The advantages of digital type specimens are manifold. There is no restriction on size nor page count, nor on colours or images – although detailing is limited to the resolution of the computer monitor at the end user side. pdfs can be made interactive and include direct links to additional information on the web. And file size is no real issue anymore, as current fast internet connections allow for pretty hefty files to be downloaded from websites. Yet despite all this many type lovers keeps clamouring for oldskool specimens, printed with real ink on tangible paper. Personally I also belong to that category. We've mentioned it before and we'll say it again – despite the ubiquity of text on the Web, most type was meant to be seen on paper. Ivo Gabrowitsch, Marketing Director of FontFont, was struggling with this dilemma, and decided to meet the world of the digital and the analogue halfway. He enlisted the design skills of Alexander Roth who had produced some great work while interning at fsi FontShop International last spring and summer, and asked him to showcase the FontFont 49 release. Forty9 can perfectly be navigated and viewed on screen, but is specifically designed to be printed, with a page size that accommodates the paper size of common printers. As it is only printed by the user, no resources are wasted. It truly is the best of both worlds.

The most striking characteristic of ff Avance is the use of asymmetrical serifs in the Roman weights, something we are only used to seeing in an italic. Upper as well as lower case letters have serifs in the upper left and lower right corners, remnants as it were of the connection between hand-written letters. In Evert Bloemsma’s earlier family FF Cocon these relics of handwriting were left away enti-rely. With Avance he had rediscovered the expressive qua-lities of such details which emphasize the movement and direction of reading. Bloemsma’s interest in contemporary design had made it difficult for him initially to consider drawing a face with serifs. He had this to say about them: “The serif has many purposes and possible origins, and it took some time before I felt ready to handle this item. The serif may carry a burden of outdated conventions, so apply-ing serifs is risky when trying to avoid the swamp of tradi-tions. Some aspects related to the use of serifs: Ornament/Decoration: Symmetry is found in all kinds of shapes. Often it seems to express balance, security, and cer-tainty. This static monumentality does not really belong in our present world. Calligraphy: A serif could be seen as a remainder of the movement of the hand in writing. But is writing – and espe-cially broad-nib calligraphy – still a valid inspiration? Think about how much we really write in daily life. Much text is produced using the computer’s keyboard. Soon, when

speech recognition is actually feasible, the amount of hand-written text will be even less. The self-evidence with which many type designers use writing as their main inspiration is not that self-evident anymore. On the other hand it will be difficult to invent another convincing foundation. No other design discipline relies so heavily on habit and there-fore on convention as type design. In the case of ff Avance a solution can be found in the design itself. A finishing touch: We sometimes seem to be afraid of an open end, just like that, plain. There is some psychological desire for a clearly delineated border between something and nothing. In the case of letterforms this would be the end of a curve or a stem. On the other hand some interes-ting properties of serifs which could improve the typogra-phic appearance: A more regular word image. The eye gui-ded along the line. The overall image of text could be more pleasant because serifs can bring more differentiation of forms, a wider spectrum of forms. An expression of dyna-mic movement, a stream of thoughts. Reading is moving. Serious contemporary typography should strive for trans-parent expression and prevent itself from building facades that disguise. Revivals of ancient masterpieces have a limi-ted value. Their superb qualities should find new means of expression, no matter how hard it will be to capture a simi-lar refinement.”

evolutionary versatility

łåŗġê-şćãļè ŧřëŋđścomplexity for life on Earth

Random Mutation Genesfurther investigation is required

ff Avance | 2000Evert Bloemsma

Now available in OpenType and OT Pro

aa

A

x

y

g

a

z

m

Q

n

a

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U

b

i

g

t

e

K

Regular

Regular

Regular

Regular

Regular

Italic

Italic

Italic

Italic

Italic

Bold

Bold

Bold

Bold

Bold

Bold Italic

Bold Italic

Bold Italic

Bold Italic

Bold Italic

ff Avance

ff Dagny | 2009Örjan Nordling, Göran Söderström

New FontFont

In 2002, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (dn) changed from broadsheet to tabloid – a change that came along with a major impact on dn’s journalism, editing and design. Pangea design’s Creative Director, Örjan Nordling, had already worked with dn as a design consultant in 1996. In 2000, dn had been redesigned under the leadership of Mario Garcia. For the new design Nordling had created dn Bodoni exclusively for Dagens Nyheter. The change to tabloid called for a more compact setting and Pangea design was commissioned to produce a matching sans

serif for Sweden’s largest daily newspaper. This became dn Grotesk which now has evolved into ff Dagny. For the FontFont Library several adjustments were made, the contrast in stroke thickness was reduced for better legibility in small sizes and characters were redesigned together with the FontFont TypeDepartment. The family now includes a range of consistent weights from Thin to Black making it perfect for use in body text and all kind of other applications. The name Dagny is an abbreviation of Dagens Nyheter as well as an old nordic female name meaning “new day”.

Change in the Genetic Material

process of genetic recombination, sexual organisms can also exchange dna

The Encoded Genetic Information

reshuffling of genes through sexual reproduction

A gene pool is the complete set of alleles for a gene in a single population

all known species are descended from a common ancestorrandom changes

Mõđèŗń Ëvǿłūŧïôŋăŕŷ ŞyňťħëšíşCharles Darwin and Alfred Wallace

Origin of Species

small changes in genotype can lead to dramatic changes in phenotypeNatural Selection

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a a a a

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a a a a

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c w G s

ff Dagny

Light

Thin

Light Italic

Thin Italic

Regular

Extralight

Italic

Extralight Italic

Bold Bold Italic Black Black Italic

Thin Thin Italic Extralight Extralight Italic

Light Light Italic Regular Italic

ff Dax Compact | 2006Hans Reichel

Now available in OpenType and OT Pro

FF Dax Compact is a useful extension of the FF Dax family. The main difference in comparison to the regular version is that ascenders and descenders are relatively small and the upper case letters have the same height as the lower case letters with ascenders. That makes the typeface appearing larger and more compact,

although set in the same point size. The width is somewhere bet-ween FF Dax Condensed and FF Schmalhans. The FF Dax Compact is especially suitable for headlines in magazines, newspapers, for posters, flyers ... whenever a little more noise is needed.

EuropEan BadgEr

0.87"96'23:15.432

dISH oF gouLaSH

Meles, Arctonyx, Taxidea and Mellivora

carnivores that stalk their prey in open country

capable of fighting off much larger animals

Blood Sport of Badger-Baiting↑↓→↔←⇧⇩⇨⇔⇦⓪①②③…⑳

Ŝübfåmïłŷ Męĺļîvõříŋąē

ff Dax Compact

a

a a g A

a a a

Z e w i

r G t c

x h m S

Extrabold

Light

Black

Regular

Light

Medium

Regular

Bold

Medium Bold Extrabold Black

Light Regular Medium Bold

Extrabold Black weight Regular

ff Duper | 2009Martin Wenzel

New FontFont

Martin Wenzel’s original idea from 1998 evolved into a kind of informal ff Profile in the end. The new FF Duper has a home-made touch, but provides of course all typographic qualities of a contemporary OpenType font. FF Duper consists of Regular, Bold, Regular Italic and Bold Italic weights, supports more than 60 langu ages, has several figure sets and fractions and includes alter-native forms for a, g and y as well as a set of arrows, bullets and ornaments. And there is a special extra: All weights contain three

versions of each glyph and via an OpenType feature the three alternatives are used in succession, treating vowels and conso-nents separately and recognizing even spaces between words for a lively and hand-made appearance of the typed text. Preliminary versions of the typeface have already been successful in educa-tion and school projects, but there are surely more areas where FF Duper perfectly fits in.

MOLECULES

ALPHA TAXONOMY

Ğęńëţïċåļľŷ Ãbłē ŧǿ Ïŋţėřbŗéëđ

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an organism is any living system

any living structure capable of growth and reproduction

macromolecule are nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates and lipids

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ff Duper

a

g W s e

a a a

w o K n

H j b g

w r i O

Regular

Regular

Italic

Italic

Bold

Bold

Bold Italic

Bold Italic

Regular Italic Bold Bold Italic



ff Gateway | 1997Stephan Müller, Cornel Windlin

Now available in OpenType

LINETO, the Swiss studio specialized in technoide

minimum typography, has published FF Airport, after

FF Dot Matrix and FF Screen Matrix in 1994/95. This time, Pronto and Cornel succumbed the typographical charm

of LCD displays, freight waybills and boarding passes.

The mixture of mobility and speed have produced primitive

raster systems and brutal typographic measures: with

FF Airport till the low-end of aesthetic design where

Jan Tschichold and Jacques Tati say good night.

FF Gateway A and B are based on the display systems at

the Berlin airports Tegel and Schönefeld. Both fonts are

available in two versions: one for the use in up to 24 pt

and one for large sizes.FF Luggage Tag-One is derived from

luggage stickers. The font includes the underlying grid,

thus offering additional possibilities for the user.

FF Luggage Tag-Two refers to the touching retro-

modern boarding pass system of an airline based in the

most beautiful airport of the world: Paris Charles de

Gaulle.

AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

Integer:0123456789

AERODROMEäir.tråffïç.côñtrół

fixed base operator service

FAR Landing And Takeoff Field Lengths

PNEUMATIC_GEAR

ff Gateway

a

g s G c

a a a

W e n k

r A w d

x h t O

A One

A One

A Two

A Two

B One

B One

B Two

B Two

A One A Two B One B Two



ff Jackie | 2009Dario Muhafara

This underused roman/script is now much easier to use with all its swashes, ligatures, and alts intel-ligently combined into a single OpenType font for each style.

Inspired by the lettering on Jack Daniel’s whiskey labels, Dario Muhafara proceeded to design a font with a contem-porary look between a retro design and a serious script face. The idea was to create a font that it is very well suitable for

text in large sizes (above 16-point), but also useful in logo-types and short texts. FF Jackie comes with swash caps, alter-natives glyphs, ligatures, and also a block version with an old-fashioned slip shadow effect .

John Sailor’sJohn Sailor’s

BOURBONBOURBON

Original Mississippi Whiskey

Irish Annals of ClonmacnoiseČØĊÕŅŪŤ ÅŔŐMÂ

Fusel oils are higher alcohols than ethanol

Alcoholic Beverage

COGNAC FLAVOURclassified as grain neutral spirits or vodkaclassified as grain neutral spirits or vodka

ff Jackie

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G e x g

a a a

t k h W

r A s f

m y B c

Regular

Regular

Bold

Bold

Fill

Fill

Block

Block

Regular Bold Fill Block



Now available in OpenTypeff Luggagetag | 1997Cornel Windlin

LINETO, the Swiss studio specialized in technoide

minimum typography, has published FF Airport, after

FF Dot Matrix and FF Screen Matrix in 1994/95. This time, Pronto and Cornel succumbed the typo-

graphical charm of LCD displays, freight way-

bills and boarding passes. The mixture of mobi-

lity and speed have produced primitive raster

systems and brutal typographic measures: with

FF Airport till the low-end of aesthetic design

where Jan Tschichold and Jacques Tati say good

night.

FF Gateway A and B are based on the display sys-

tems at the Berlin airports Tegel and Schöne-

feld. Both fonts are available in two versions:

one for the use in up to 24 pt and one for large

sizes.FF Luggage Tag-One is derived from luggage sti-

ckers. The font includes the underlying grid,

thus offering additional possibilities for the

user. FF Luggage Tag-Two refers to the touching

retro-modern boarding pass system of an air-

line based in the most beautiful airport of the

world: Paris Charles de Gaulle.

SOLID ROCKET BOOSTERSSOLID_ROCKET_BOOSTERS

SpÄcÊ TrÅnspÔrtãtïÒn SystËm (STS)

NASA Vehicle Assembly Building

Next Station: High Moon OrbitNext Station: High Moon Orbit

Astronauts and Payload

réüŠåbłë làüñçh šystëm

LOW EARTH ORBIT

ERROR/MAILFUNCTION/ERRORERROR/MAILFUNCTION/ERROR

ff Luggagetag

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a a

t o

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A

G a k

a

a W

a K a

c a e

One

Grid

Two

One

Grid

Two

One

Grid

Two Grid One Two

Grid One Two Grid

One Two Grid One

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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ff Kava | 2009Yanone

New FontFont

ff Kava started out as a free typeface called Kaffeesatz, published by yanone in 2004 during the early stages of his type designing career. The bold weight was reminiscent of coffee house grotesk typefaces of the 1920s, while the lighter versions were supposed to bridge the gap to contemporary

type design. The current ff Kava family is a carefully revised, more rounded version of the old Kaffeesatz fonts. A black weight has been added as well as small caps and more figure sets to form now an attractive modern and soft sans serif type family.

Several species of small evergreen bush of the genus Coffea

A beverage as black as ink, useful against numerous illnesses

associated with rebellious political activities in Europe

coffee arabica

star o dust coffee

7.32-480:59Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia

Illustration of Coffea arabica

usually 100–150 millimeters long

Ķåffá ŗęğíõŋ ïņ ŵēŞŧęřŉ Ėťħĭőpĩå

ff Kava

a

a h c n

a a a

f g w N

A i e v

k Q x s

Black

Thin

Thin

Light

Light

Regular

Regular

Bold

Bold Black Thin Light

Regular Bold Black Thin

Light Regular Bold Black

ff Meta 3 | 2008Erik Spiekermann

The lightest weights of the FF Meta family are now available in OpenType. The new Pro version supports Greek, Turkish, Central European, and other Extended Latin languages.

FF Meta was originally (1985) conceived as a typeface for use in small point sizes. Against its intended purpose, FF Meta very quickly became one of the most popular typefaces of the computer era, and has been referred to as the Helvetica

of the 90s – not necessarily a compliment. It is used a lot in magazines, from the Normal weight in small point sizes for captions up to the Black version for large headlines.

System is a set of interacting or interdependent entities

Μυ Έψιλον Ταυ Αλφαstructure, defined by parts and their composition

the school of sports clockwise direction street-check

processing and outputs of material, energy or information

interconnectivity

Çőŋvëňŧïōŉ ŏf Přǿpęrţŷ

Soft Systems Methodology

μετά σύστημά

••←↑→↓↖↗↘↙••

ThThecbchckclctfbffffiffjfftfhfifjfkftfufvfwfyheqtsbschshskslspsttfthetitjttttfttittjtutvtwty

ff Meta 3

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a a g t

a a a

N c b a

e k G g

s R h r

Light

Hairline

Light Italic

Hairline Italic

Hairline Hairline Italic

Thin Italic

Thin Thin Italic Light Light Italic

Hairline Hairline Italic Thin Thin Italic

Light Light Italic Hairline Hairline Italic

Thin

ff Tisa | 2008Mitja Miklavčič

Mitja Miklavčič has added a Thin and Light weight to his award-winning ff Tisa.

Slovenian designer Mitja Miklavčič drew ff Tisa to meet the technological and aesthetic requirements of modern magazine use. His primary goal was to develop a softer, more dynamic version of a nineteenth-century slab serif wood type. A large x-height and pronounced serifs make ff Tisa extremely legible in text sizes, its

unique design details, including slightly exaggerated ink traps and a fairly upright italic, becoming evident in display applications. The typeface was selected by the tdc judges for a Certificate of Excellence in Type Design in 2007.

taxus baccata

Especially the Longbow

sumatraPǿĩşőŋŏųš Āłķăľõíðŝ

▸ Botanic ● Gardens ◂the seed is dangerously poisonous

trunk diameters of up to 4 m

arils are mature in 6–9 months

0° 23' 0" South, 101° 46' 0" East

Bright Red Berry-Like Structure Called an Aril

ff Tisa

a

a a a a

a a a

a a g O

e W s r

t g B c

Regular

Thin

Italic

Thin Italic

Medium

Light

Medium Italic

Light Italic

Bold Bold Italic Thin Thin Italic


Medium Medium Italic Bold Bold Italic

ff Typestar | 1998Steffen Sauerteig

Now available in OpenType

FF Typestar from eBoy is a collection of five unaf-

fected fonts for the working world – the classic

typewriter meeting the demands of modern com-

munication. The four basic weights offer everything

necessary for office communication and the OCR

variation is a monospaced alternative for more me-

chanical moments.

TECHNOLIGIA

SEMICONDUCTORS

HARDWAREPARTICLE GENERATOR

Space Exploration

Code*0194783*

optical character recognitionTëçhñó-Prøgrêssìvïšm

Quantum Mechanics Theory 101

ff Typestar

a

a c M g

a a a

y O r e

s i o Q

B n t k

OCR

Regular

Regular

Italic

Italic

Black

Black

Black Italic

Black Italic OCR Regular Italic

Black Black Italic OCR Regular

Italic Black Black Italic OCR

ff Unit Slab | 2009Erik Spiekermann, Christian Schwartz,Kris Sowersby

New FontFont

When Erik Spiekermann and Christian Schwartz first started work on ff Meta Serif, they were also planning to do ff Unit Slab, either at the same time or right after ff Meta Serif was released. They figured that since ff Meta and ff Unit have so much in common, it would be smart to make two serif families that could be used together, along with either of the sans serifs. ff Meta, which has more organic details, was going to be the more

traditional serif text face. ff Unit seemed like it would adapt well to being a clean and contemporary slab serif, especially since the i and I in the sans already showed them what the serifs would look like. Kris Sowersby and Christian Schwartz actually worked together to rough out complete ranges of testwords for both families at the same time, and ff Unit Slab sat halffinished while ff Meta Serif was completed.

System of Measurementkilograms per second squared0123456789 • 0123456789 • 0123456789 • 0123456789

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

Ƶėŗǿ Męăŝůŗėmēŋŧ←↑→↓↖↗↘↙

Bureau international des poids et mesures

Express Occurring Quantities

metrology

ff Unit Slab

a

a a a a

a a a

a a a a

a a g s

e g c h

Regular

Thin

Italic

Thin Italic

Medium

Light

Medium Italic

Light Italic

Bold Bold Italic Black Black Italic

Ultra Ultra Italic Thin Thin Italic


FontFonts are available through fsi and its distributors. FontFont and FontFont typeface names are trademarks of fsi FontShop International GmbH.

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Documents

ff avance pro

ff gateway ot

ff duper pro

ff dagny pro

ff kava pro

ff jackie pro

ff tisa pro

ff typestar ot