Feb 11, 2010 0
The Oscars of Type by Ellen Lupton
Ellen Lupton (of MICA and Thinking with Type fame) has penned the article, The Oscars of Type for printmag.com. In her own words…
Assaulted with ceaseless buzz about the Academy Awards, I can’t help wishing that a well-wrought typeface could attract as much attention as a 90-minute film. Various type blogs and font foundries released their own best-of lists at the end of 2009. I sifted through them and cast my own votes. Each of the selections presented here comes from a published list of the year’s top typefaces. Most of these lists reflect the personal tastes of the editor, while some are based on a font company’s own sales figures.
The winners include:
- Best Typeface: GeoGrotesque, by Eduardo Manso, Em Type
- Best Actor: Mr Eaves, by Zuzana Licko, Emigre
- Best Actress: Liza Pro, by Underware
- Best Sans: Alright Sans, by Jackson Cavanaugh, Okay Type
- Best Serif: Calluna, by Jos Buivenga
- Best Superfamily: Trilogy, by Jeremy Tankard, Jeremy Tankard Typography
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Giorgio Sans, by Christian Schwartz
- Best Revival: Burgundica, by Gerrit Noordzij, The Enschedé Type Foundry
- Best Foreign Language Font: Nara, by Andrej Krátky with Nikola Djurek and Peter Bilak, Typotheque
- Best Visual Effects: Klimax, by Ondrej Jób, Typotheque
- Best Free Font: League Gothic, by the League of Moveable Type; revival of Morris Fuller Benton’s Alternate Gothic No.1
- Lifetime Achievement: Wim Crouwel
Quite the impressive list. Of these I am particularly fond of Calluna and Alright Sans.