The Fine Press Book Association has the goal to promote well designed and produced books. This year the Association honoured typefaces—the grounding for books—from young type designers.

The Fine Press Book Association’s inaugural Student Type Design Competition sprang from the hope that by building bridges between printers and young type designers we might end up creating new material resources for the fine press community. Cash prizes were offered in two categories: text families and titling faces. The winning titling typeface not only won a cash prize, but also was to be engraved and cast in metal by Ed Rayher of Swamp Press. The jury was a lively mix of digital type designers and fine press printers: Ben Kiel of House Industries, Sara Soskolne of Hoefler & Frere-Jones, Louise Fili of Louise Fili Ltd., Chip Schilling of Indulgence Press, Andrew Steeves of Gaspereau Press, Bob Baris of the Press on Scroll Road, and Russell Maret. There were thirty-eight designs submitted by thirty-six designers, representing nineteen collegiate programs from around the world. The entries distinguished themselves, particularly in the text families, for their complexity and ingenuity. When compared to initial type releases of the hot metal era, these type designs encompass a breadth and completeness of which most metal foundries could only dream. After a number of rounds of judging, the jury finally reduced the field to six winning designs, submitted by students from Australia, France, Germany, Latvia, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Runner Up 2 of the Text Prize Winners is Isabel Urbina. As a Graphic Designer at Random House she grew up in Venezuela and is based in Brooklyn, NY. Her passion for reading, drawing and letters led her to graffiti, graphic and type design. She loves books and secretly hoards prints of all sizes and formats.

Her typeface Galea is a slightly condensed serif typeface with long extenders. Its elongated proportions and graceful terminals seek to bring femininity and elegance to any layout. Galea is a display face that works well at large sizes in editorial contexts as a headline, titling or introduction to a text.

The typeface is featured in the book Playing with Type: 50 Experiments by Rockport Press and was developed under the guardiance of Jesse Ragan at the Cooper Union (New York).

Dave Foster alreday made it to top of TDC Typeface Design Winners 2013, no question he made Runner Up number 1 in the FPBA Competition. Dave is an Australian designer residing in Sydney. He loves giving durable visual forms to the human language. The challenge of combining graphic sensitivity with the ability to make rationalised systems in order to achieve good results in type design is one he finds extremely fascinating.

The aim of Blanco was to make a high-quality and legible, classic typeface without the dusty feeling many serifs often have. It’s sturdiness is influenced by typefaces like Plantin, Caslon and Fleischmann.

It was created as his graduation project at the Type and Media masters in Den Haag with the help of Erik van Blokland, Peter Verheul, Paul van der Laan, Peter Bilak, Christoph Noordzij.

Jakob Runge wins 1st Prize of the text-face category. As being fascinated by shaping letters with lots of detail, his typeface Franziska was kind of journeyman’s piece for getting into regarding the overall image of a text-face.

Franziska is a contemporary text typeface that tries to combine noticeable caution and subtle distinctiveness. Half Serif, half Slab Serif it combines good readability in continuous text and interesting features in large point sizes. Franziska covers her dynamic substructure of the broad nib with static, classical dresses, speaks all Latin languages ​​and reveals whole new look within her italic.

The range of 20 font styles opens good application in editorial design. At this, the generous x-height makes a good representation even in small point sizes in print or pixel grid.

Franziska was developed as graduation project of Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design, in Kiel (Germany) under the guardiance of Albert-Jan Pool and Prof. André Heers.

As part of her Bachelor thesis at Muthesius Academy in Kiel, Carina Hoffmann has developed an interesting concept for a Magazine—called “Mondän”—by using “TJ Evolette A”.

The project has the task of developing a fashion magazine for women over the age of 55. Due to the demographic transition in Germany and its core—the irreversible ageing of society—in the very near future the average age of the population will be at over 50. Carina becoming aware of the topic by her parents feel very young at heart and the fact that there is no real offer on the market for them and their peers. With the magazine she wants to draw attention to this deficit and to convey that you are definitely at the age can also dress fashionably. The intention of the magazine is to arouse the recipient and to be encouraged to celebrate against the social conventions and the obsession with youth, the age, to feel beautiful and desirable, and this show is open to the outside world.

About the choice of typeface Carina Hoffmann writes: “TJ Evolette A” is currently a very contemporary typeface and particularly fits good to the project: In direct contrast to the actual topic of the magazine and the target group. Particularly with a subtle self-mockery towards motives of fashion spreads it enhances the design and affects the magazine to appear different and modern. So the magazine not only appeals to the target audience but also awakens interest among younger generations

This article is in German only. Sorry.

This article is in German only. Sorry.

Even though Twitter left its niche existence quite a while ago, many still have reservations about the network. Even in design studies, the interest amongst students is rather small, at least in Germany. Nevertheless, the short messaging service is an interesting communication platform – especially for typophiles.

Most of you will be familiar with the concept. Twitter lets you send or receive short messages of up to 140 characters. If you subscribe to an account, you become its follower. The tweets of that account will appear in your timeline, together with messages by other users you are following. Links to websites as well as image- and video-sources can be included into a tweet. You can address one or more users directly by adding an @ in front of the username. With # (so-called hashtags) you are able to tag keywords.

The minimalistic communication principle is the major source of criticism from many. I perceive that limitation on 140 characters as something I benefit from. I tend to formulate lengthy, here I’ve got to limit myself to the essential. Due to the fact that tweets are short, you can absorb a large number of compressed, up-to-date information by many different people.

You don’t have to be put off by your first visit. Of course, there is a lot of marginal content. Who gets on Twitter should consider well from the very beginning, whom he follows. The quality of the tweets in ones timeline can be influenced by the selection criteria for followings. It makes sense and sharpens your profile to specialize on one or more subjects of strong interest (such as typography). In addition to that, if many of your tweets deal with that subject, it’s more likely that others with the same interest will follow you. Twitter is an ideal medium to reference student projects, your portfolio-site or the own blog. You can arouse the attention of potential followers by participating in discussions and by commenting and passing on tweets.

Some exemplary tweets from the last two month show, what you can read in a timeline with an emphasis on typography. Blog entries are announced, links to articles circulate, interesting websites are recommended.

I just posted ‘Spacing’ in the @glyphsapp blog. glyphsapp.com/blog/spacing/

— mekka blue (@mekkablue) 4. März 2013

I’m honored to be a new columnist on @alistapart. My first post: “Font Hinting & the Future of Responsive Typography” bit.ly/XugiNL

— Nick Sherman (@NickSherman) 22. Februar 2013

This site was built with 2832 lines of hand-coded HTML : theharrietseries.com Brilliant site, great type by Jackson Cavanaugh in Chicago

— erik spiekermann (@espiekermann) 15. Februar 2013

New fonts are rapidly appearing on the radar. There is a strong possibility that highly qualitative new releases are retweetet. In this manner, the news even spreads to users who don’t follow neither the foundry nor the designer.

Herausragende Schrift, herausragend präsentiert: @jakob_runge’s Franziska → slabandserif.com/franziska/maki…

— Christoph Koeberlin (@typefacts) 11. März 2013

U8, our newest typeface is now available… with a special release offer: 50% off today, 25% off this week. twitter.com/fatype/status/…

— Fatype (@fatype) 28. Januar 2013

From time to time, there are competitions on Twitter and contests or deadlines for the submission to awards are announced.

Want to be 1 of 4 lucky winners of 4 styles of your choice of GT Pressura? Follow us & RT this tweet to take part! grillitype.com/typefaces/pres…

— Grilli Type Foundry (@grillitype) 24. Januar 2013

Hey type lovers, it’s started! Testify and Win The Typeface You Love! fontfeed.com/?p=24808 #Valentype #typography #contest

— Yves Peters (@BaldCondensed) 8. Februar 2013

FPBA Student Type Design Competition deadline for submissions is March 15, 2013. More info: fpba.com/fairs/contests…

— ATypI (@ATypI) 25. Februar 2013

You can make use of your followers’ swarm intelligence when you ask a question. As everybody has to make it short, it’s very likely you get an answer.

@26plus It’s like A, B, C, D, E…

— akira yoshino (@akira1975) 6. März 2013

For the start, we have a Twitter-list with 50 recommendations. Who wants to learn a bit more finds links to the profiles with additional information at the bottom of this page. Almost all of the persons listed teach at a university in their field of work. Of course, this list is just a small selection. We didn’t include single foundries for example (except for the case a well-known person tweets exclusively with such an account).

Who spends some time on Twitter and keeps his eyes open when he visits websites, will find other accounts worth following soon. Not only typography and type design, all design disciplines are represented here: web- and graphic design, illustration, photography… together with other channels, for example of magazines and news-sites, blogs or musicians (for my sake catcontent), you can set up a news stream that’s easy to follow.

A few tips at the end: Get yourself an avatar and a concise description at the very beginning. The username, which can also be changed afterwards, becomes a part of the 140 characters of a tweet. A name too long will limit others who want to talk to you. One should recognize by the look at your tweets, that you concern yourself with typography. I consider it important to use correct quotation marks and hyphens, others think it’s superfluous, just as in e-mails. If you have a typographic case of doubt, don’t hesitate to look it up. There are a few special unicode glyphs you can use to tweet more nicely. The German page schöner twittern from typefacts is universally comprehensible and worth a visit.

People

@TimAhrens: Type designer, founder of Just Another Foundry
@TypeTweets: Caroline Archer runs the Typographic Hub at the Birmingham City University
@ilovetypography: John Boardly for the blog I Love Typography
@dberlow: David Berlow, type designer, founded FontBureau with Roger Black
@letterror: Erik van Blokland, type designer, founded LettError with Just van Rossum
@petrvanblokland: Designer, type designer
@okaytype: Jackson Cavanaugh, graphic and type designer, founder of Okay Type
@arabictype: Nadine Chahine, type designer at Monotype
@typographica: Stephen Coles’ for Typographica.org, type- und book reviews, blog
@gabrowitsch: Ivo Gabrowitsch, FontFont Marketing Director
@peter_glaab: graphic designer, typographer
@hardwig: Florian Hardwig, graphic designer, typographer
@opentype: Ralf Herrmann, type designer, founder of typografie.info
@jessicahische: Letterer und illustrator
@typefacts: Christoph Koeberlin, concentrated typography knowledge for his German website
@kupfers: Indra Kupferschmid, typographer, author
@boldmonday: Paul van der Laan, type designer, founder of Bold Monday with Pieter van Rosmalen
@JanMiddendorp: Designer and author
@BaldCondensed: Yves Peters, graphic designer, author of the FontFeed by FontShop
@jfporchez: Jean François Porchez, type designer, founder of Typofonderie
@typeoff: Dan Reynolds, type designer and typographer
@NickSherman: Designer, typographer at Font Bureau
@Fontblog: Jürgen Siebert for the Fontblog of the FontShop AG
@FredSmeijers: Typedesigner, founder of OurType
@espiekermann: I certainly don’t have to introduce Erik Spiekermann here.
@elliotjaystocks: Designer, publisher of the 8 Faces magazine
@ninastoessinger: Graphic-, web- and typedesigner

Blogs and Websites

@26plus: Me and Jakob don’t tweet any cat content
@FontsInUse: Fonts in Use, Onlineplattform for in-use examples of Fonts
@friendsoftype: Friends of Type, Lettering blog
@MyFontsDE: MyFonts.de, Blog of the German dependance of MyFonts
@TYPOLUTION: Benjamin Göck for the German blog typolution.de

Associations

@ATypI: Association Typographique International
@typedirectors: Type Directors Club New York
@typographische: Typographische Gesellschaft München

Academes

@CooperType: Type@Cooper of Cooper Union with the tdc, New York, USA
@typemedia: MA Type & Media at the KABK in Den Haag, Netherlands
@typefacedesign: MA Typeface Design at the University of Reading, UK
@UniRdg_Typo: Faculty Typography & Graphic Communication at the University of Reading, UK

Fonteditors

@Fontlab: FontLab Studio
@glyphsapp: Georg Seifert’s Glyphsapp
@roboFontEditor: RoboFont

Fora

@TypografieForum: RSS-Feed of the German forum at Typografie.info
@Typophile: Typophile.com, forum for typography and type design

Magazines

@8faces: 8 Faces, published by Elliot Jay Stocks
@codex: codex by I Love Typography on graphic design, typography, lettering
@slanted_blog: Blog and print magazine on typography and graphic design
@TypoJournal: German blog by Typografie.info and the print magazine Typojournal

Miscellaneous

@Typeradio: Typeradio, podcasts, i.a. with interviews on typography and type design
@motaitalic: Mota Italic, foundry of Rob and Sonja Keller with a gallery and boutique in Berlin

The past year attracts attention once more. The best-of lists haven been released in the first weeks of the new year.

The big resellers as FontShop, Myfonts and Youworkforthem have published their lists. The most important awards for typefaces like TDC² or Granshan follow another rhythm and have been announced last year. While the lists of resellers can only depict what has been added to the range and the lists of foundries like Linotype what has been approved to be part of the library, awards can only price what has been submitted. (Who wants to learn more about the composition of those lists or the procedure of awards should read Yves Peter’s article “Best Of 2012” in the FontFeed and have a look at the preceding discussion on Twitter.

These restrictions do not apply for the category of independent best-of lists. Though we still have to wait a bit for the highly anticipated “Our Favourite Typefaces of 2012” on Typographica. Three supremely recommendable lists were already released in January. Unfortunately, the descriptions on both the latter ones are only available in German.

»The best Fonts of 2012« by Christoph Köberlin (Typefacts)

»Die besten Schriften 2012« by Ivo Gabrowitsch (Fontwerk)

»Die interessantesten Schriften aus 2012« by Peter Glaab

The makers aren’t geared to sales figures, they can decide freely and have the clear view necessary to filter from the mass of new releases what is worth being highlighted. What makes those lists so appealing is that economical and marketing-related considerations don’t have to be taken into account. Even for someone who deals with typography several hours per week it’s almost comforting to know that at the beginning of the next year, personal, subjective lists will come out again, enriched with well-grounded expert and background knowledge.

Many thanks at this point for those who put the work into it. So many things that were overlooked, omitted too fast or simply forgotten – here you will come across them at the latest. That’s worth so much more than the 100th random selection of the alleged 100 best free fonts. Who holds a different opinion can comb through our spam folder.

For the future I would wish for more really good lists, more from outside the German-speaking area and last but not least: lists for non-latin scripts. In any case, the typography-haunted with expertise are out there.

The header is set in Blu which received an Honorable Mention by Typefacts.

Two days, one room, masses of scribble-paper, brushes, Mac, two typenerds ;-), ink & nib, balsa, the Glyphs-App, Input en masse, a projector plus 15 students keen on lettering and lettertuning. For the third time the quick brown fox visited the FH Düsseldorf.

Due to Daniel Seemayers dedication we were allowed to set off for Düsseldorf for the third time. We are pleased that the enthusiasm about our workshops continues just as your organizational endurance. We would be pleased to see some of you again in 2013… ;-) Here are some impressions from the workshop:

Happy New Year! This is about a call for entries for German Students.

Our advent calendar ended yesterday, you can page through the calendar sheets in the slideshow down below. On Facebook and Pinterest we have albums with our complete collection of 24 AdventsZeichen. We would like to thank all the contributors. We are happy about the feedback we received.

We would like to offer an advent calendar again next year. We didn’t decide yet on how it could look like. The same procedure as this year, the creation of 24 completely new characters or battles in which the letter has to be designed in reference to the one of the day before… you can share your ideas in the comments.

Today is Christmas Eve, December 24th and we end our our Advent calendar with a 24-ligature. That’s it for this year? Not exaxtly. There will be a short retrospect and a slideshow with our AdventsZeichen to page through at this place tomorrow. He who finds time to can pay us a visit between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

26+ wishes Merry Christmas to all of you!

Today it’s about interpolation. Sorry for not translating the German version.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.