77 replies to this topic

[EcoGraphic]

For an online design blog about Typography check out this website:

Typographica :: A Journal of Typography

G

[Martin Gamache]

Also a good place for Typophiles

[Nick Springer]

A new challenge for me has been fonts for use on web maps, where at small sizes only a few pixels have to communicate the character shape.  So I've experimented with the fonts, such as Verdana, that web browsers introduced, figuring they had been optimized for readablity in pixels rather than ink.

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Dennis is correct about web fonts (screen fonts in general). They are designed to be displayed aliased at specific sizes, usually 7.5, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 point. At 13 point and above they begin to use the outlines to interpolate the shapes. Matthew Carter designed Georgia, Verdana, Tahoma, and Nina for Microsoft.

Georgia is my favorite serif font for screen use. It has a large x-height for readibility at small sizes. It also has old style figures for a classy touch.

Verdana, Tahoma, and Nina are all variations of the same font, with Verdana being the wide version, Tahoma the normal width, and Nina the condensed.

I think Tahoma is a great sans serif font for screen display, however it is not on Macs so it is not useful for broad audience web sites.

Unfortunately Nina is only used in their Windows Mobile Smartphone UI and they have never released it to the public so it is not available for use like Verdana or Tahoma.

Note: I finally found a font that is an true rendering of the Leroy letting machine style. It's called Sublime from the Coniglio Font Foundry and it is available on MyFonts.com for just $33 until Nov. 10th. It is much better than VAG Rounded for a mid-century map look.

[woneil]

I finally found a font that is an true rendering of the Leroy letting machine style. It's called Sublime from the Coniglio Font Foundry and it is available on MyFonts.com for just $33 until Nov. 10th. It is much better than VAG Rounded for a mid-century map look.

Exactly what I've been looking for. Thanks!

[DaveB]

This is a very interesting discussion. Denis' analysis of fonts is very well written (I would expect no less from him), as is Woneil's and the other tidbits from the rest.

In the maps and templates I work on at ESRI I am usually restricted to Times New Roman and Arial (I usually ignore Courier) because those are the only fonts we "know" everyone has (on Windows).

In my spare time I have been looking into very "old-school" lettering and fonts, especially from the 16th and 17th centuries. I probably wouldn't use fonts/lettering like that on modern maps, but feel they can be useful to evoke the era on maps of historical subjects.

[franciscocartographer]

This is a font specifically created for cartography, Cisalpin. I think this will be money well spent.

http://www.linotype....v=93833#image06

[woneil]

This is a font specifically created for cartography, Cisalpin. I think this will be money well spent.

http://www.linotype....v=93833#image06

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It is a very neat face for cartography -- thanks for pointing it out.

It does seem to me that it would be smart to have a version with a narrow band of white or light gray around each character. I usually wind up putting a white background behind each of my characters.

Since the designer's e-mail address is given I think I'll suggest it to him for additonal fonts to add to the collection. While I'm at it, I'll tell him of our group.

[EcoGraphic]

It does seem to me that it would be smart to have a version with a narrow band of white or light gray around each character. I usually wind up putting a white background behind each of my characters.

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Nick has posted a tutorial on creating text highlights (a white outline around your text) in this thread:

Creating Text Highlights

Gillian

[Nick Springer]

This is a font specifically created for cartography, Cisalpin. I think this will be money well spent.

http://www.linotype....v=93833#image06

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I looked at that with some interest as well. It seems to closely resemble Frutiger but with modifications to some letterforms.

I was disappointed that there were only 2 weights and no condensed version.

[woneil]

I looked at that with some interest as well.  It seems to closely resemble Frutiger but with modifications to some letterforms.

I was disappointed that there were only 2 weights and no condensed version.

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I e-mailed the designer suggesting that more varieties would be useful. He responded that he is only a part-time type designer, as he cannot make a living at it, and there are too many competing fonts to make it likely that he could sell a lot if he did cut other varieties.

Too bad.

[EcoGraphic]

OK, P22 Type Foundry is now one of my favorite Type websites:

P22 Type Foundry

They have four different departments, with everything from fonts that look like they came off the Mayflower, to the Authentic London Underground Font. Not expensive either.

They also have an online journal about the art of typography:

The Terminal: Online Journal of Typography and Lettering Arts

Gillian

[EcoGraphic]

This is an interesting website if you need a particular display font for a Railway map project:

Rail Fonts.com

Lots of variety and the fonts look quite authentic.

Gillian

[DaveB]

OK, P22 Type Foundry is now one of my favorite Type websites:

P22 Type Foundry

Gillian

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I really like P22, also. Even purchased a font from them for my own personal use.

I came across this interesting, potentially useful site for identifying fonts. It's www.identifont.com and can be used to identify a font if you have examples of characters or to narrow down a search if you're looking for fonts with particular characteristics or possibly even to find digital fonts that come close to analog fonts. It does this by playing "twenty questions".

[Nick Springer]

OK, P22 Type Foundry is now one of my favorite Type websites:

Gillian

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Wow, awesome find. This will be great for my next historical project.

[Martin Gamache]

P-Type Pubs (P22) publishes Indie Fonts 1 & 2. Both specimen books come with many free high quality fonts, many from P22 and are quite a good deal especially heavily discounted on Amazon.
more info here