Oliver ReichensteinMay 19, 2023
New site is online. New structure, new typeface, new teasers, new videos, new support section, new buy, new everything. Still a little raw on the edges, here and there.
Tell me if you find broken bits and pieces. HTTPS://iA.net
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We build fast and beautiful information systems that focus on their core purpose.

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Show threadOliver ReichensteinMay 19, 2023
I've looked at these for a couple of months now from very very close. Fonts are code and the nature of code is that it's never perfect.
Show threadOliver ReichensteinMay 19, 2023
It had to be done, as the Garamond I wanted just didn't exist. Started feeling a bit weird after three months working on variable cap height regular, bold, 2 italics, and bold italics like a madman, so I brought it to a close. Two weeks ago, I read how Jony Ive spent the last 4 years on his Baskerville with a group of type specialists, and I went: "Ha!" https://www.fastcompany.com/90888571/jony-ive-spent-the-last-4-years-perfecting-his-typeface-heres-why-hell-never-be-done
Show threadOliver Reichenstein
We always deal with interpretations of music, and we always deal with interpretations of typefaces (printed, processed on different screens). Pure form, whether it's a triangle or a Garamond a only exists in our mind. A lot of the early Garamonds were photocopying the shape of the metal, ignoring both the nature of print and the the nature of the screen. That's one reason why early digital typefaces were lacking soul. Studying Garamond's original prints, f.i., is like reading sheet music.
May 19, 2023 at 7:38pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadMatthias OttMay 19, 2023
@reichenstein Started writing a note after reading your first post. I couldn’t agree more, obviously… 😁
Show threadPaul van der LaanMay 20, 2023
@reichenstein Early digital versions of “classics” were mostly based on master drawings for photo composition. These drawings were decades earlier usually based on prints of the largest sizes in metal. So they were already copies of copies. Adding insult to injury, early digital fonts were often digitised very hastily too in order to quickly fill the market gap.
Show threadOliver ReichensteinMay 20, 2023
@paulvanderlaan I see, I thought they simply transposed the shape in metal which would explain why most of them are so thin. I thought, yeah, "Metal is always thinner than the inked in letter and surrounding white light makes the letter look even thinner than the inked one". But being copies of copies and the hurry in which they were produced explains it even better. Thank you for the explanation!
Show threadPaul van der LaanMay 20, 2023
@reichenstein The large sizes in metal type that were used for the transition to photo composition were usually high in contrast with thin details. That’s the main reason why early digital fonts have become so skinny.
Show threadOliver ReichensteinMay 20, 2023
@paulvanderlaan I see. That's exactly what they look like.
Show threadKris SowersbyMay 20, 2023
@reichenstein @paulvanderlaan And some copied the relatively crude unit-isation from photo/metal as well.
Show threadPaul van der LaanMay 21, 2023
@klim @reichenstein I’ve heard similar stories how the 18 unit system can be found back in some digital Monotype fonts but never found any examples.
Show threadDan ReynoldsMay 21, 2023
@reichenstein @paulvanderlaan @klim Some time ago, @jenskutilek wrote some sort of app that analyzes fonts and reports how many widths they have. If I recall correctly, he could tell which fonts were still based on the 54-units system used by Linotype‘s phototypesetters
Show threadJens KutílekMay 23, 2023
@typeoff @reichenstein @paulvanderlaan @klim That's right. Some are even on the older 18 unit spacing grid. Once a font has been published, the spacing was unlikely to be changed, except for the "Next", "Nova", etc. reworked versions. This is an example of Stempel Garamond LT, where only the J and punctuation seem to have been adjusted. (I wanted to check a newer version of the font, but apparently MyFonts don't even sell Stempel Garamond anymore ...)
Show threadJens KutílekMay 23, 2023
@typeoff @reichenstein @paulvanderlaan @klim Ah, I forgot, later I made an interactive RoboFont window from the script, where you could switch between different unitization systems.
Show threadJens KutílekMay 23, 2023
@typeoff @reichenstein @paulvanderlaan @klim I've just updated the script for RoboFont 4: https://github.com/jenskutilek/RoboFont/blob/master/scripts/Histogram.py
RoboFont/Histogram.py at master · jenskutilek/RoboFont

RoboFont extensions and scripts. Contribute to jenskutilek/RoboFont development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadDan ReynoldsMay 21, 2023
@klim @reichenstein @paulvanderlaan Also some years ago, @BijouType mentioned which Monotype fonts still have the 18-unit system traceable in their digital versions, but I can’t find the email now 😭
Show threadBijou TypeMay 21, 2023
@typeoff @klim @reichenstein @paulvanderlaan Monotype Modern and Monotype Grotesque are basically untouched, in regards to spacing
Show threadBijou TypeMay 21, 2023
@typeoff @klim @reichenstein @paulvanderlaan There are probably others, if you poke around the other digitized versions of Monotype families first manufactured before the 1960s — especially the ones that never became too popular as digital families. Paul’s account of how digitizations were done is exactly how Robin Nicholas explained it to me, with one corollary: some of the less popular families had better conversions, because they were a lower priority and were less rushed.
Show threadOliver ReichensteinMay 21, 2023
@BijouType @typeoff @klim @paulvanderlaan Amazing to be connected to type professionals like you all. It's not easy to find such precise information about how exactly digital type came to be (Dan: "can't find that email, but..."). It's also a bit scary, obviously. 😌
Show threadIndra Kupferschmid 💙💛May 21, 2023
@reichenstein @paulvanderlaan @typeoff @BijouType @klim If you want really weird holiday Lektüre, I recommend the books by Peter Karow, for instance Digitale Schriften https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Karow 🥳
Peter Karow - Wikipedia

Show threadOliver ReichensteinMay 21, 2023
@kupfers @paulvanderlaan @typeoff @BijouType @klim Thank you! I'm all for really weird holiday Lektüren of that kind.
Show threadIndra Kupferschmid 💙💛May 21, 2023
@reichenstein @klim @paulvanderlaan @typeoff @BijouType System Helvetica also still had the phototype unit system spacing (perhaps updated since 2012 or when @nicksherman and I made the NHG site for Font Bureau) https://designmodo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Neue-Haas-Grotesk.jpg (his illustration but website now offline)
Show threadKris SowersbyMay 21, 2023
@kupfers @reichenstein @typeoff @BijouType @paulvanderlaan @nicksherman Were Sabon’s Roman/Italic duplexed onto widths?
Show threadPeiran TanMay 21, 2023
@klim @kupfers @reichenstein @typeoff @BijouType @paulvanderlaan @nicksherman yes – working across Mono / Lino / cold metal was Sabon’s original design prompt
Show threadKai BernauMay 21, 2023
@klim @kupfers @reichenstein @typeoff @BijouType @paulvanderlaan @nicksherman possibly bold too iirc. One of the great achievements.
Show threadKris SowersbyMay 21, 2023
@nicksherman @kupfers @kai @paulvanderlaan @typeoff @BijouType @reichenstein There ya go Oliver — that’s probably why Sabon italic is wider than most garalde italics ✌️
Show threadOliver ReichensteinMay 22, 2023
@klim @nicksherman @kupfers @kai @paulvanderlaan @typeoff @BijouType That I knew. Aesthetically the text image ("Schriftbild") may be a bit irritating, I nevertheless like how readable the wider spaced Sabon italics are, compared to the traditional—intentionally space saving—designs. Italics are not used to save space anymore, so I guess we can give them more room, now, independent of printing technology requirements. 😊
Show threadTypographicaMay 21, 2023
@kupfers @reichenstein @klim @paulvanderlaan @typeoff @BijouType @nicksherman https://web.archive.org/web/20151208103634/http://www.fontbureau.com/nhg/features/
Neue Haas Grotesk — Features

The digital version of Helvetica that everyone knows and uses today is quite different from the typeface’s pre-digital design from 1957. Originally released as Neue Haas Grotesk, many of the features that made it a Modernist favorite have been lost in translation over the years from one typesetting technology to the next.

Show threadKris SowersbyMay 21, 2023
@reichenstein @BijouType @paulvanderlaan @typeoff Which is kinda amazing. Comparing digital (bad) to metal (good) Plantin is instructive, they’re like two different typefaces. But that doesn’t seem to have stopped people from using digi Plantin — the name carries weight regardless.
Show threadFrank AdebiayeMay 22, 2023
@BijouType @typeoff @klim @reichenstein @paulvanderlaan Indeed Neue Kabel revived by Marc Schütz or Classic Grotesque by Rod McDonald seem way less hasty than for instance Helvetica Now, the 2019 release – worst possible time ever as MT was then withdrawn from NASDAQ
Show threadKai BernauMay 21, 2023
@reichenstein It’s not like reading sheet music Oliver. Sheet music was written with the express purpose of being interpreted.
Show threadOliver ReichensteinMay 22, 2023
@kai 🤣 You mean Garamond did not create his fonts primarily to be studied by Webdesigners trying to find out what his idea was so they could adapt them to small screens? And Achilles didn't fight like a lion because lions don't fight to get Helena back, but for survival? It's the nature of an analogy that there are difference between two things that are compared. You can wag your index at the most obvious anology by refocusing on the difference instead of the similarity, Kai.