What the iPad is Missing (No, it’s not a Camera)

http://colorschemedesigner.com/

http://new.typemedia.org/blog/2010/mar/29/noordzij-on-drawing/

More pictures in the TypeMedia flickr group. (via Erik van Blokland and the TypeMedia Blog)

The article in highly astute.  As someone who has been thrust into the “creative hermit” model of type design, I feel his insights are poignant. Of particular note for me was this passage:

A common example of problems connected to scale effects arises whenever a student follows a writing tool too closely as a guide for designing typeforms: whereas the ductus (the movement of the stroke) and and the modulation can be preserved across scales without much difficulty, the details of stroke endings and joints cannot; typographic scales demand a sensitivity to optical effects that simply do not apply at writing scales.

• 26 Fonts
• 18-Style text family with italics
• 9 Figure Styles
• Advanced Text Handling
• 4 Numeral Fonts
• 3 Frame Fonts
• Smart Ornaments Font

My undying admiration and fascination with all things Eames is only heightened by this collection, and hope to have my order in time to get the limited packaging.

1. a slight emphasis on display faces,
2. entry fees limit the ability to get as wide a range of submissions,
3. the anonymity of submissions makes it  impossible to make out if a submitted typeface is a new creation by a certain designer, or someone emulating his/her signature style,
4. there is no standard entry form for the type designs,
5. showy display type tends to get awarded more often than text faces, because the text face rely on subtly and  detail,
6. jury composition.

I know this may sound like a lot, but these were not overly harsh critiques—and don’t believe were intended to be. As someone engaged in type design, I would like to see a standard entry form. Plus, I’d like to see verification that a design is a new creation. On balance the TDC, to me at least, is a great thing, and one I would intend to submit entries to.

Update: Mr Peters has included an overview of the winners.

The basic blackletter styles—Textura, Rotunda, Bastarda, Fraktur, and “Experimental.” While many contemporary designs fall under the lattermost category, classical revivals are still being undertaken across the blackletter spectrum. Understanding classification schemes can be the key to choosing the right typeface. For example, a German Fraktur would be a poor choice for an English Pub, while almost any style could look right on a certificate, depending on its overall design. Old English, & Gotisch designs are further evolutions of the Textura idea. Gotisch (gothic) alone has several styles… from the Romanticist Fette Gotisch (pictured) to the so-called “jackboot grotesques” of the 1930s (not pictured). Schwabacher is a style of Bastarda that has been traditionally used in Germany. Indeed, Fraktur itself could even be classified as another Bastarda, but I have given it its own category, because it became the most-widely used blackletter text style in German typography. Evolving out of late medieval and early renaissance handwriting, the various blackletter styles also influenced each other over time. Another Bastarda gené, Civilité, was common in late 16th century printing in France & the Low Countries—not areas one would call “German.”

I appreciate the conciseness of this primer.  This blackletter primer is only a small part of the excellent article.  He also covers the library of the Gutenberg Museum (which I have to visit the next time I make it to Mainz).  All told, and excellent read.