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For
July 2001 |
A monthly
feature to help you get more out of your fonts and dingbats.
This month:
Our improved version of the Arts and Crafts font
P22's based its Arts
and Crafts font set on the lettering made famous
by Dard Hunter for the prolific Roycrofters' many publications.
Hunter's alphabet had no lower case, so we chose to
include some alternate versions
of the caps, which we placed in the lower case positions
in the P22 digital redesign of Hunter's lettering.
In the first version of our Arts and Crafts font (made
available in 1995), there was a second "L" in the lower
case l position that was designed to be used onlyas
a nesting L into the larger L in words such as Lloyd,
silly, and illuminate. There was also a truncated I
and H designed to fit under the T. We intended these
ligatures to be used only with certain letter combinations,
not to be typed just like any upper/lower case font.
As the saying goes, "Never assume... yadda yadda yadda."
We have seen very expensive print jobs that used the
small nesting L floating next to any old letter, and
little I's with no apparent purpose. Strange though
these appeared to us, no one else seemed bothered by
them.
Call it the emperor's new clothes syndrome—if it's
on a computer, it must be intentional. Wrong, wrong,
wrong! Never assume. Your desire to use a font other
than Helvetica or Times shows that you have an innate
sense of style. You've made an aesthetic decision. So,
trust your judgment, even if you don't consider yourself
a designer or "arty." If something looks wrong to you,
it probably is wrong.
We have tried to rectify our unintentional typographic
crime by releasing a slightly more foolproof version
of Arts and Crafts that requires a multi-key maneuver
to get the double L ligature and other tricky ligatures
that could cause serious harm if used improperly.
Examples: |
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We created the phrase, ORIGINAL VERSION, using the
first Arts and Crafts font. We used the shift-I and
the shift-L to prevent the "floating" I and L from
appearing. If we had not done so, the phrase would
have had the awkward appearance of the examples below.
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We created the phrase, LATEST VERSION, with the current
Arts and Crafts font. We did not have to devote any
special attention to this phrase to give it a professional
look. |
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The word, ILLUMINATE, above appears awkward but we
could have made it appear like the newer version to
the right by typing the first L and the second I using
the shift key. |
You can achieve the polished look that the
LL combination above affords in two different ways;
we explain them in detail in the keychart accompanying
the font. |
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In the above example, the LL issue appears
again. The I after the T works well but the second
one does not. The first H after the T looks good but
the second is inappropriate. |
If you follow the keychart to obtain the
special characters, you get the more hand-arranged
feel; if you pay no special attention to the letters,
you get the second example. |
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In conclusion, the H, I, and L have variations in
the upper and lower case positions and should be used
with caution. |
For the new version we have made ligatures
in separate positions rather than try to anticipate
the users need...we have left these options as options,
and therefore much easier to use...casually or intently.
These are just a few of the dozens of alternate options
found in Arts and Crafts |
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If
you own the first version of Arts
and Crafts, you can upgrade to the newer, easier to use
set, which includes 52 ornaments rather than the original
36. To obtain the upgrade, which costs $7.50, provide proof
of ownership by sending us a fax or e-mail copy of your disk.
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